Symbolism

Production Diary #5

After analysing a previous student's work much like when I analysed the Primadonna music video; I learnt that an effective music video would be one that visually displays the song by following the lyrics, the editing has to match the beat of the song, the whole 'image' of the music video has to be based on the song's genre e.g. Eminem's music videos can be controversial, personal or humorous but all together it conveys his hip-hop rap star persona often evoking his life in the beginning which was tough and his current successful life which he portrays from his split personalities Eminem/Slim Shady (evil) and Marshall Mathers (nice). Beyonce also does this by having an alter ego 'Sasha Fierce' in effort to separate from her own shy personality to in-cooperate to the R&B, hip hop, pop genre that conventions involve a strong performer. Also, I think it's important to hold connotations and symbolism throughout the music video which is what the student did when I analysed her music video, holding connotations of nostalgia and innocence with the props of a balloon and ribbon.

I came across music videos by The Neighbourhood that I thought held good symbolism and editing. I thought the music video successfully, visually displayed the meaning of the song to the viewer which the viewer might not have thought when listening to the song alone as the lyrics can hold different interpretations.



The mise-en-scene of the dark lighting and the dark shadows masking the characters' faces adheres to the theme of the music video: evil and death. Although, the filter is black and white the colour black is heightened throughout the music video especially on the scary woman who looks like death, who violently drags the girls to what looks like her burial. The opposition of the girl attempting to fight this woman off reinforces the symbolism of evil and death and how she is vulnerable to the woman this coheres with the lyrics 'die die die' and 'I think I found hell'. The contra-panel of the shot of the normal, suburban houses juxtaposes to the child's life which is anything but normal due to her parents who constantly fight in front of her, the violence put on her and alcoholism conveyed by her dad. This could also suggest how everything may appear 'normal' on the outside, like the houses but on the inside there is a lot that no one knows about which corresponds to the lyrics 'don't tell them anything'. The child is living two lives. However, towards the end of the video of what looked like her burial was in fact the child burying her tragic past and moving on. This is realised when a close-up of her holding someone's hand is illustrated with the lyrics 'I think I found love' instead of 'I think I found hell'.



Much like the music video above, in this music video 'Let It Go' there is dark lighting and shadows to enforce the mood of the song 'depression' and the editing consists of contra-panels to evoke what the protagonist is feeling on the inside which is different to what she is appearing on the outside. When conveying the outside, it almost looks like an old 50s advert, staged and forced with a stereotypical woman in the kitchen cooking, cleaning, doing her make-up to look appealing and fending for her husband with a big, fake false smile whilst she is doing all this. At this part, there are no shadows, although there is  a black and white filter the lighting is bright and the lyrics at this point are light. As the dynamic and tempo of the song increases into the chorus it reveals the true colours of what the protagonist is feeling with dark shadows highlighted on her face, a miserable facial expression, the breaking of objects and the protagonist screaming is a evident juxtaposition to how she was before. The lyrics 'let it go' suggests of her dismissal to everything she desires as it is not important in the 'ideal world' she lives in. Perhaps the band is proving a point of feminism that a woman's opinion is not as important as to those of men. I like the use of the prop at 2:16 when the protagonist takes off her glasses as if she is putting it on the viewer to portray the reality of what is happening in the scene. This involvement with the viewer allows the viewer to see matters in the protagonist's perspective. In this case, when the businessmen, one which is also the woman's husband is shovelling money down their throats in a greedy manner revealing their true intentions. Proving they are materialistic and corrupt for money. The fast paced montage after this displays all the struggles the protagonist has to face on a daily basis permitting the viewers to emphasise her.

Although, I have not yet determined the song for my music video as I want to be 100% certain, thus I'll be working with the same song for the next couple of months and don't want to regret it later on. I have a few songs in my mind that I would possibly use and would probably post later on to this blog.