Mindless Self Indulgence - Shut Me Up - Jhonen Vasquez
Watching this video I thought the setting of the scenes where interesting especially that they set in the checkout of a supermarket. The clothes worn in this music video were the kind of clothes people normally when going shopping and the main character/singer is wearing a suitable staff uniform.
The shots used are good using wide shots for the beginning and end of the music video and there are also a variety of close-ups and mid-shots that show a lot of emotion and body language.
There is a interesting mix of visual effects and editing particularly the black box with white text appearing over the lead singer's mouth during the chorus. The director's use of lazer effects to build up to the last chorus was effective and there is a restricted colour palette to give it a cartoony feel as the music video has similar feel to it. Editing was snappy and accurate to the beat of the song.
The lyrics are sung in the music video by the lead singer and the customers in a humourous fashion increasing the music video's appeal because of this.
The music and visuals are brilliantly linked to produce a well timed rhythm that emphasized the action in the video.
There is little intertextuality except a puppet appears in a comic book that appears twice in the video.
Characteristics of the music style where aggressive, angry, upbeat and funny.
The music video is a mixture of Concept, Performance and a basic Narrative.
The video promotes the band as being edgy, energetic, punky and comedic. I enjoyed the liveliness of the band.
I feel that the intended audience are rockers and alternative. The fans have responded like "weird vid...you Gotta Love It!!!", "i love this song" and "im going to marry this song and video"
Aha - Take On Me - Steve Barron
I thought that this music video had really interesting mise-en-scene as it's a mixture of hand drawn comic book and real world cafe and bedroom. The band is dressed in fashionable clothes of the 80's and the main character is dressed in casual clothes under a coat.
There are a lot of close up of the main character and the band to show there emotions on there face also mid shot of the band members playing there instruments and the character body lanuage.
This music video is very interesting as there mixture of comic book pictures and live action scenes which is unique and interesting as there are not a lot music video done like this for example the girl dragged into comic world by the lead singer of the band.
The song are sung the band in the music video and sometimes the song is sung over scenes of the song.
In the beginning of the when it's at the motorbike races the pictures change on the beats which makes the music and visual well timed and linked.
There no obvious intertextuality.
The genre of this music is pop. Pop music videos needed to be interesting and grab the viewers attention because in the eighties videos were one of the few ways bands could promote their work visually.
The music video is a mix of concept, performance and narrative, but the narrative is the stronger element of the video. The format is basically 'boy meets girl' but is presented in a Sci Fi genre, with the storyline breaking the laws of science. There are band performances within the video and the concept is the comic book setting.
It is really effective at promoting the band as they are visually portrayed in both animation and live action. What is interesting is that they are still within the comic book setting, even though they switch from animated to their actual selves.
The video is aimed at fans of eighties pop music, particularly females (with the romance element in the story line). However, the appeal is far more widespread as people who wouldn't normally listen to that type of music would be attracted by the visual elements of the video. Viewers on Youtube have described this music video as being "One of the best music videos ever." and "A-ha are.... lyrically and musically one of THE most creative groups ever."
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