Jess: Auteur's Music Videos

Context Auteur:
Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham was born in Reading (Berkshire) in 1970, and grew up in Suffolk.

Chris Cunningham is a well known director who works in music videos, commercial, and video art. In the early 90’s, Cunningham first made a name for himself in the art departments of major motion pictures by designing robots and creatures for Clive Barker and David Fincher. In 1995, Cunningham’s work on “Judge Dredd” boosted him into work with the late Stanley Kubrick on his then-unfinished project A.I.Cunningham directed his first music video whilst working with Kubrick: “Autechre's Second Bad Vilbel”. A series of videos with various alternative English rock bands pursued where Cunningham learned the ropes of filmmaking.In 1997, Cunningham directed “Come to Daddy”, a video which landed him on the radar of every artist on the planet. Cunningham directed six videos and seven commercials, over the next two years.In 2000’ Cunningham directed two short films for the Anthony D'Offay Gallery which were called: “Flex and Monkey Drummer”. These works showed a very modern and hyper-realistic take on the world. “Rubber Johnny” by Cunningham was released in 2005, it was a six-minute short that showed a vision Chris had. Since his first production for “Autechre”, Cunningham has had close ties to Warp Records. Cunningham’s most famous music video is Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy". His video for Bjork's "All is Full of Love" won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. His video for Aphex's Twin's "Windowlicker" was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Brit Awards 2000.

Deconstructing Two of Chris Cunningham’s Music Videos:

Placebo- 36 Degrees
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RuPesIYaVN0

Mise-En-Scene
Cunningham has decided to open the video with a dark shot of the main singer’s face surrounded by dark water, creating a sense of mystery. The main singer’s face is covered in white make-up, and he is wearing black eyeliner. There are shots of the band playing underwater as if performing on stage. Costume: band wearing mainly black or white clothing, which is alternative to classic fashion. Lead singer sports long black hair. Lights on band under the water, giving the set a sense of being at a concert, yet underwater. Bubbles. Swamp-like place, full of mud- gives sense of isolation. Lead singer’s bare back and bare chest allowing the audience to look at his body. There are lots of shots of the bands instruments: guitars, keyboards etc...

Camera Techniques
The music video opens with a mid-shot of the main singer’s head which is sticking out of the dark water; creating an enigma. The camera then zooms into a close-up of the main singer’s face singing, his face blurring. This close-up suggests to the audience that this artist is the person who is being advertised through the music video. Mid-shots of band playing, which then turns to close-ups as camera zooms in to instruments. Close-up of a black and white shoe creating an enigma as the audience may wonder what the shoes has to do with anything. Lots of close-ups of the main singer singing, his face blurred giving him a sense of having a lack of identity. High-angle shot on main singer making him seem somewhat vulnerable in the water. Low-angle shot as he swims higher up to surface making him seem important- which is effective as he is the main artist. Birds Eye View shot of lead singer lying on seabed, making the audience into voyeurs. Close up on the lead singer’s mouth as he sings emphasizing the words: “To Stay Alive” and “36 Degrees” which is the title of the song.

Editing
Quick editing in time to the music. Guitar floats up to the surface of the water on the final strum of the guitar, leaving the music video to end with the guitar floating on the water, which then fades out to a black background. This fits in well to the rest of the video as it is a black and white music video.

Sound
The camera moves to the beat of the music. Music changes as man dives into water. Music video ends with a strum of the guitar which slowly softens, eventually fading out.Special EffectsMain singing suddenly disappears into water and sings whilst in water. Band seem to be performing under the water as if they were on land, able to breathe. Main singer’s face becomes fuzzy whenever the camera zooms into a close-up of the lead singer’s face.

Goodwin
Genre characteristics
Alternative rock. Long hair and abstract fashion sense (motif).The notion of looking is used as the main artist is seen looking at his reflection in a large mirror underwater.

Relationship between visuals and lyrics
Close-ups of him singing close-ups of the band playing their instruments. Refers to the lead singer feeling as if he is going to suffocate and needing to breathe, which is ironic as he is breathing underwater.

Relationship between music and visuals
He moves often in time to the music and the camera cuts in time with the beat. Object falls into water, hitting the surface as the music changes. Foot kicking the water making it splash in time to the music. Lead singer repeated pushes back his hair in time to the music.

The Horrors- Sheena is a Parasite
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gZMrwZItOGE

Mise-En-Scene
The video opens with a woman standing in the dark wearing a strappy white dress. Suddenly there is a man pointing to the audience, making him seem quite threatening, singing. Blue lighting surrounds the girl as she puts her hand out towards the camera as if to say “stay away”, making her seem dangerous. The set is dark and eerie creating an enigma is the audience may wonder why the atmosphere is so gloomy. The band are wearing dark clothes apart from the girl who is in white. The band are wearing eyeliner and have messy hair, which is conventional of the rock genre.

Camera Techniques
The video starts with a mid-shot of a woman standing in the darkness. Suddenly a man singing moves into the shot, making the shot become a close up of his face singing. There are lots of close ups of the lead singer singing, this establishes him as the artist. There are lots of mid-shots of the woman dancing, allowing the audience to look at her body; this is an example of the male gaze. She is not wearing very revealing clothing, however, her shoulders are basically bare and she is only wearing a dress. There are several mid-shots of the band playing which shows the audience who they are listening to.

Editing
The music video begins with a woman standing in the darkness, the lighting flashes in time to the music. The camera zooms in and out of the man’s face singing in time to the music. Smoke at the end of the music video which disappears and then there is a flashing blue light which eventually fades out into darkness.

Sound
The music speeds up as the lighting flashes quickly on the girl looking up. The editing changes in time to the music.

Special Effects
The woman starts by shaking her head; the movement has been sped up, in time to the music, giving her an immortal quality. There is a drummer playing on the drums, his drumsticks moving impossibly fast as the shot has been sped up. The woman is seen shaking her head which keeps morphing into a parasites head when the lead singer makes reference to the fact “Sheena is a parasite”.

Goodwin
Genre characteristics
Rock genre. Messy hair, abstract fashion sense- black and white clothing. The band are all wearing eyeliner which is typical of rock genre artists.

Relationship between Visuals and Lyrics
Every time the lead singer sings the words: “Sheena is a parasite”, the title of the song, the woman changes her posture and hunches over as if she has become an insect.

Relationship between Music and Visuals
The band are all moving to the music in this video, even though most of the time their actions have been sped up. The guitarist nodds in time to the beat whilst playing. The woman moves in time to the music, shaking her head and dancing.