Planning: Textual Analysis of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Drinking Scene)

Media Studies Textual Analysis

Lock stock and Two Smoking Barrels – Drinking Scene

This scene from Lock Stock epitomises the feeling we want to convey instantly to the audience who watch our music video: young people having a good time and forgetting their troubles.

The scene starts with a mid-shot of one of the protagonists. In the foreground and focus blurred is a spirit bottle, clearly connoting that alcohol is being consumed and in heavy flow. The character quickly consumes three shot glasses full of spirit in time with the music. When the drink is being consumed the camera speed slows down but when the glass is being lifted the camera speed hastens tremendously and, when coupled with the kinetic camera movement (throughout the scene it’s not still once), provide a feeling of upbeat excitement and movement. It then speeds up again as the camera pans out to reveal two other characters reaching in to the shot and slapping a playing card to his forehead, denoting that drinking games are being played. A shot showing a table littered with cards, alcohol, spilt alcohol and glasses is interspersed into the scene before we see the next shot: a slow motion display of three drunken men with cards stuck to their foreheads play fighting. The slow and fast paced video mixed with the kinetic camera work really works well to connote inebriety and this is definitely an element we want to emulate in our music video. More post production editing comes in to play when not only do they again speed up the video but also turn the camera upside down digitally, even further reinforcing the joyous vibe and lack of sobriety. The scene continues on in a similar vein, mixing fast and slow video speeds with a fast paced of editing and constant kinetic (sometimes upside down!) camera work. 

Planning: Textual Analysis of Cibo Matto; 'Sugar Water'

‘Sugar Water’ by Cibo Matto, is a dance, alternative, track created by two Japanese artists. As there is no explicit meaning to the lyrics in the song, Michael Gondry, director of the music video, was able to interpret it in any way he liked. Therefore the storyline is not related to the lyrics at all. Neither is the editing in harmony to the beat of the track. The only thing related to the song choice in the video is at the very beginning where the lyrics are ‘sugar water’ and that is being written up on a window in the video. There is also lip synching, though it only becomes apparent that it is synchronous to the music half way through, as it begins in reverse.

This video is shot with a split screen, with the screen on the left playing forward, and the screen on the right playing in reverse. This clearly shows a creative use of artistic licence. The stories in these two scenes interact with each other in the middle, so much so that the characters swap over, into each other’s frames. This is also one continuous shot, so there is no edits or cuts made to the film.

The camera is used to get lots of different angles and shots however. There is an extreme high angle shot at one of the women walks up the stairs, and the other walking down the stairs, which then tracks them to their destination. There is use of wide shots so that the audience knows the context of what is happening and to enable them to make sense of the story. Close ups are used on the women’s faces to get an idea of what is going on in the on screen narrative. They were also used when the women were getting undressed, presumably so the video would not be explicit. The fact that the women have to get undressed in the video, does nothing for the narrative, suggesting that it is probably just for sexual desire, which is typical for the representation of women in music videos.

Planning: Textual analysis of Black Eyed Peas; 'I gotta feeling'

The ‘I Gotta Feeling’, worldwide, number one electro-pop hit by the Black Eyed Peas is not only a hugely memorable and exciting song, but has a video to match. This is a high end music video, archetypical of this genre of music, set in Hollywood Boulevard, with many famous faces making an appearance, at a club and a house party.

What really makes this videos verisimilitude successful is their winningly realistic mise en scene. There are party scenes which their target audience could clearly relate to, with people drinking a lot, dancing together, girls on their laptops and everyone laughing. This clearly represents the high energy associated with these party scenes that we could expect to see in a video of this genre, and it would certainly be in those situations where an electro-pop song would most likely be played. We see Fergie at the beginning getting ready to go out, represented very sexually (classic for women within music videos of this genre music), wearing nothing but her underwear, getting ready in the mirror by putting on her makeup. The fact that she is so scantily clad could represent the promiscuousness of young women at nightclubs and house parties when under the influence of alcohol. We also see a number of girls stumbling home in heels after the night out, presumably drunk. These use of props clearly make the story come alive, and the narrative successful. In the club, we get a sense of disorientation by the use of a lot of flashing lights, and loads of bright colours.

 There are a lot of extreme close ups used throughout the video, on drinks, makeup and dancing, to add detail and emphasis onto these things. These are included in a range of shots including aerial shots and low angle, to further the feeling of disorientation and give us the impression of the room being filled with people, having a good time at a party, stereotypical of this time of music genre. There are several extreme close ups of girls legs, breasts, bums, and girls dancing against each other. One that in particular that stands out is a close up pan going up Fergie’s leg, when she is in the shower. This is a technique classically used in pop videos to show women to be objects of sexual desire, and represents that gender to be simply there for the pleasure of men. In this video there is also interaction between the people acting and dancing, and the camera. There are many mid shots where people are either lip synching, dancing or laughing directly at the camera. This engages the watcher, and makes them feel a part of the fun, and want to join in at a party; typically the sort of mood a track like this is trying to achieve. These are mostly men, so it may represent their need for attention by playing up, in a social situation like this one.

The editing of this video begins slowly, as the beat is slow. This synchronicity between the tempo and the speed of editing continues throughout the video, representing the link between the two. Late on in the song, there fast paced editing between two different scenes. One of these is quite bright, which seems to be a house party, and the other is a dark scene, at the nightclub. The quick flashes between these is a bit disconcerting, but gives the uneasy feeling that one experiences when they are intoxicated, as these people are at the party. This representation of young people could be portrayed at quite negative, but it is the archetypical way they are portrayed in popular music videos. At one point in the film, there is a slow motion fall from one of the band members onto a chair, which occurs when the main beat stops, and it’s only the bass line that we can hear. This mixing up of time and space is an affect used by Radiohead in the ‘Street Spirit’ music video, where they alternate between real time and slow motion effect. This editing to the beat could possibly show a change of scene or emotions within the video, or it could be synchronous to the lyrics coming up.

Within this video there is occasional lip synching by the band members, which clearly is synchronous to the lyrics of the song, and is used to detract slightly from the narrative, to show the band members partaking in the video. They sing whilst dancing, to show the vigor of the scene and in turn, the song. The narrative of them getting ready and going out to a party and a nightclub, ‘having a good night’ is largely related to the lyrics of the song, but not entirely literal. This track starts out quite slowly, as does the editing, but when the beat speeds up significantly, the cuts go with it. Coupled with this, when there is a large drop in the beat, the screen fades to a black slug, and resumes again in a second as the beat kicks back in. This is making the video very dynamic and in tune with the music.

Planning: Textual analysis of Basshunter; 'Now you're gone'

Basshunters Eurodance hit, ‘Now you’re gone’,  is a song that was designed to be danced to, so would be most commonly found at a modern nightclub, aimed at young people with its memorable electro beat and singable lyrics. In a music video of this genre music, we would stereotypically see a club scene, young men and women drinking, kissing and dancing together. We would expect to see a lot of flashing colours, and a variation of light and dark. Stereotypically, the girls would be quite scantily clad, with their hair and makeup perfectly applied.

Throughout most of this video, particularly at the very start, the narrative of the on screen story is directly synchronous with the lyrics being sung. For example, we see a girl looking at and holding pictures of her ex boyfriend, whilst the lyrics at that moment are “pictures on the wall”. This clearly reinforces what the lyrics are trying to say, and the negative emotions that they are trying to portray. Within this narrative, there is no lip synching to the music, meaning the story relies on the sound of the beat and lyrics along with the acting along. To exemplify this, there is a use of the classic shot reverse shot to show an unspoken communication between the two main characters, where words cannot be used. Midway through the song, the beat completely changes to a surreal electronic beat. At this point, the scene completely changes to a silhouette of a dancing woman, with a bright light behind her, changes colours through the spectrum. This synchronous dancing emphasizes the change in the beat, again underpinning the genre of this track. There is a lingering shot of the couple kissing at the very end of the song which fades into a black slug as the music fades away to nothingness. The wraps up nicely both the song and the story of the pair in the narrative that we have got to know, who are finally reunited, leaving the viewer happy with the outcome, and therefore positive feelings towards the song, hugely significant as the point of this song is to get people up and dancing.

The editing of this music video is fairly synchronous at with the beat of the music, generally, as the beat speeds up, as does the speed of the editing. So in this case, it begins slow, speeds up, slows down again, speeds up for the club scene, and then slows does to a fade for the ending. This clearly shows the change in tempo, and for a song of this genre, this type of editing is archetypal. At one point, about 15 seconds in, the beat really picks up and there are several very quick cuts between the boy and girl every time a beat drops. This is classic for many ‘club’ songs, though only happens this once in this particular song. There are however, points where there are a lot of cuts, in comparison to other bits of the song, but not on every beat. When the two groups of people get to the club, and there are the typical ‘club shots’ of people dancing and having a good time, there are a huge number of cuts between both groups, and a range of close up and wide shots to create the disconcerting atmosphere with the feeling of adrenalin and high emotions. At the end of the song, when the pair embrace, the camera clearly shows them in the centre, in a mid shot, but the editing has meant that the background is faded, and they are in complete focus. This represents their importance in the story, and also the equality of their genders, as it is not just one in the main focus.

There are a lot of close up shots of girls holding each other and dancing, highlighting their young age, but also the role of women in a lot of these ‘dance’ music videos. At this stage, where they are dancing together, they are not adding anything to the storyline, and are just used as objects of desire. This is an idea by Laura Mulvey, which she has named the ‘male gaze’. The shots of the two groups of people together before they leave to go out are generally taken in a wide angle. This shows clearly what is happening so we can get a sense of the true narrative, and feel intimate with the characters. Then, however, when we move onto the club scene, most of the shots are either close ups, or extreme close ups. This represents the feeling of euphoria, but also disorientation, which is often felt in a club, which the young audience watching this will usually be able to relate to. To further this feeling of high energy, none of the shots are static in the club when they are of the people dancing, using flashing lights and loads of dancing within the realistic mise en scene. They are all dynamic with a lot of fast pans and tracking shots. This is in complete contrast with the type of shots used when the camera is focused on the main pair of the story. These shots are all stationary to represent and reinforce the idea that they are the subjects of upmost importance within the video.

The narrative of this video follows two separate stories, which eventually intertwine. We see a group of girls getting ready at a house, which through the use of props in the mise en scene, we can tell is a typical girl’s bedroom, for example, the pink bedspread. The other story line is a group of boys getting ready together in a typically male bedroom, with blue walls. The simple uses of these props help set the story and stress the opposition between the two parties. To give the difference between the group of girls and the boys even more prominence, we see the girls come in and all hug each other, the boys walk in and start dancing and sitting around. The costumes used in this scene also highlight the difference, with the girls in pajamas, the boys already ready to go. This could represent the fact that girls as a gender are more comfortable with each other, in comparison to the boys. We then see the girls helping each other to get dressed in front of a mirror and put on makeup together. All these elements of the mise en scene help create the verisimilitude of the story.