Sven Carlsson's theory is that binary oppositions drive the narration of the music video forward, e.g black and white theme. Also that there are two main types of music video; performance and conceptual. Performance clips where the video mainly shows an artist (or artists) singing and/or dancing. Conceptual clips are where something else is shown during the song's duration which may have symbolism or an artistic meaning.
There are three main types of performance clips: song performance, dance performance and instrumental performance. A way of telling if a clip is performance is that the artist(s) is likely to be shown in more than one setting.
In one type of performance, the performer is not a performer anymore, he or she is a materialization of the commercial exhibitionist. He or she is a monger of their own body image, selling everything to be in the spotlight – selling voice, face, lifestyle, records, and so on. This commercial exhibitionist wants success and tries to evoke the charisma of stardom and sexuality, he or she wishes to embody dreams of celebrity, to be an icon, the center of procreative wishes.
An example of a commercial exhibitionist would be Meghan Trainor in All About That Bass, it promotes her lifestyle and targets the younger girls to want to aspire to be like her, with body confidence. This video is in the performer category due to her lip-syncing on stage to her back-up track.
Another type of performance in the music video universe is that of the televised bard. He or she is a modern bard singing banal lyrics using television as a medium. The televised bard is a singing storyteller who uses actual on-screen images instead of inner, personal images. Sometimes the televised bard acts in the story – sometimes he or she is far away and inserted images help him or her tell the story. The greatest televised bards create audio-visual poetry. They transform the banal story of the lyrics employing on-screen images to create a story about life and death. Too often, however, the televised bards only contemplates her or his own greatness and unfulfilled wishes.
Rihanna can be considered the televised bard as in her music video for the song 'Stay', this is because although she is seen to be lip syncing the song, she is promoting her lifestyle and fame. This video is mostly about her emotions and when she does not lip sync her song, her body language still manages to convey the story she is trying to tell.
The third type of performer is the electronic shaman. Sometimes the shaman is invisible and it is only her or his voice and rhythm that anchor the visuals. He or she often shifts between multiple shapes. At one moment the electronic shaman animates dead objects or have a two-dimensional alter egos (as in cartoon comics), seconds later he or she is shifting through time and so on. The electronic shaman is our guide on a spiritual journey through blipping images and magical attributes. And the electronic shaman promises that there is a hidden meaning in everything; he or she promises that we live in a magical, mythical reality. The electronic shaman’s voice and rhythm form the life-line that connects images and sound simultaneously creating new experiences and associations for those involved in the conscious-streaming journey outside time and space. The electronic shaman's performance, and the other two types of performance, can be seen in Cher's music video Believe (1998)
Another example of Electric Sharman is Sia's music video 'Chandelier'. She never appears in her music videos and gets Maddie Ziegler to perform a dance routine over her song in the background.
If a music video clip is most appropriately understood as a short silent movie to a musical background, it is a narrative clip. A narrative clip contains a visual story that is easy to follow. A pure narrative clip contains no lip-synchronized singing.
An example of a pure narrative clip is Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire, this is because he is not seen performing this song directly at all. Another example of this would be Sia's Elastic Heart.
Sia's video features two dancers/actors playing the roles of Sia and her father and features symbols that explains their relationships and the highs and lows of their situation. Sia's father has a mental condition of Bi-Polar and it restricts him from making a strong bond with his daughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment