On Friday, we got the chance to learn from someone directly involved in the media industry. Jake Wynne told his story of how strived to become a feature film director to how he detoured into editing and directing music videos.
I was particularly impressed by the relentlessness of the first music video he directed for Sony's Nojahoda, which ultimately acted as the foundation to his directing career.
I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and I'm looking forward to filming the music video with him soon!
The music video I have chosen is Propane Nightmares by Pendulum.
1) Instant impact!
The video doesn’t open with an instant impact more an enigmatic build up, by creating questions in the narrative such as who are these people and what does the church have to do with the content of the song. The impact however is still explosive and fast paced due to it being of the drum and bass genre and the video shows this through the increase in pace in the action like when the priest begins to speak and by showing the band for very brief moments.
2) Non-linear editing
This video follows the narrative for much of the song before the action breaks out meaning that the editing at first remains linear. However, once inside the church, the song gains pace and we start getting very quick cuts, each shot being shown for no longer than 1 second, with clips jumping between the priest, the man on crutches and the band (although we only see the band a few times).
3) Repetitions
We are repeatedly shown the lead singer’s face from the right hand side, however there isn’t too much in the way of repetition in this music video.
4) Strong sense of artist identity
Although we only see a few clips of the band as a whole and that is altogether, we get many enigmatic close-ups of the lead singer at the microphone where we can see just below his eyes particularly his distinctive beard and the we see his eyes and the faces of other band members.
5) A performance
In this music video the performance highlights the action of the narrative, showing the audience the several stages of the song: the entrance to the church, the transformation inside the church, and the running away of the man who has been cured and so no longer requires the crutches and of another young woman. In the few shots we see of the band as a whole they are very much into the music they are playing creating excitement, exhilaration and chaos.
6) Visual Pleasures
The grading of the video at has a subtle sepia tone to it and a desatureft; og-fgedation of colours which immerses the audience since it creates enigma. The song alone creates an adrenaline rush, and this is complimented in the music video through the quick cut action which satisfies the audience. And of course, you have the attractive girl that runs away with the guy; very much attracting a male audience.
7) Wow Factor!
The narrative of the video isn’t necessarily what the song is describing, however I feel that the use of religion, heaven and hell is a suitable, indeed effective representation of the lyrics and overall atmosphere of the song.
8) Provoke a reaction
The use of Christianity over other religions can be seen as controversial since it is showing perhaps the positives and negatives of the religion, creating a talking point amongst the audience.
9) Works on different levels
Although we are shown the typical conventions of a drum and bass genre music video we are not shown any recognisable fan-based jokes or not similar showing that overall this in an unconventional music video.
10) Pop culture
This song is mainstream and very current by being drum and bass which indicates that the audience targeted is today’s youth and young adults. The music video further targets these primary audiences by being controversial, a bit quirky and chaotic!
