 |
| (Click pic to enlarge) These screenshots provide a sense of this act's approach |
Dir: Arcade Creative, 1996.
Eurodance/Happy hardcore (Dutch).
Lyrics. Wiki.
Videography
(eurokdj.com), YT Channel.
NB: Dance music is a genre I have some familiarity with, but lack a broad enough knowledge to be picking up on intertextual links with other dance vids; if you spot any, let me know via a comment below. At the end of this post I've also added a couple of pointers on how to go about blogging on a single track.
SUMMARY OF KEY FEATURES:
 |
| 1ST SHOT contains many key characteristics of the vid |
- CGI is very evident; very sophisticated at points, fairly simplistic (intentionally low-tech/non-realism?) at others.
- Playful, surreal and offbeat (visual at times) humour, with characters that could be in a David Lynch movie; there is no coherent narrative (beyond getting off a bus, walking, and re-boarding). Pomo playfulness, aka deconstructionism, is evident, eg revealing the daft fake moustache.
- Interesting gender countertypes with the male a mostly decorative, passive presence; also notable that overt sexuality (clothing, framing/shot selection, dance moves) largely absent.
- Cinematography has an Anton Corbijn feel: monochrome with occasionally oblique angles and framing. Panning and tracking are common, but vertical movement is limited, with smooth, steadicam action (and no zooms). Also signifiers of Soviet realism through lighting, framing, angle, subject choice and facial expression?
- Editing pace isn’t frantic but still zips along, with no take more than a few seconds, and increased pace/cutting to the beat for only short periods in the track. Cross-fades are common.
- Diegetic intro and outro.
- Lipsynched MCU 2-shots are dominant, but there is considerable cross-cutting between these and non-lipsynched 2-shots, plus other characters and even CGI creatures and a vortex; successful in shot variety terms despite the simplicity of the setup.
1ST SHOT (see screenshot above):
Diegetic intro: ELS of bus, rapid editing (ellipsis to
ensure this isn’t a slow start) + good shot variety; beach setting; narrative
enigma: where is this/who’s getting off bus?; surrealism – bus on beach!;
monochrome/B+W
 |
| Standard rock mode of address? Positioned in male POV... |
COSTUME + REPRESENTATIONS:
(screenshot below) moody, enigmatic black male: shades, all-black
clothing; brighter but not too objectified white, blonde (long flowing hair
caught by wind) female does most of singing (mostly lipsynched): skintight
white t-shirt cropped at navel, braces oddly round sides of her bust, thick
(pink? light colour) lipstick + heavily made up, significantly wearing baggy
trousers NOT short skirt or figure-hugging shorts. Costumed as binary opposites:
he wears white trousers, black top, she white top (tho’ black jacket) and black
trousers, tho’ this can also be read as their being in symbiosis.
 |
| Objectified view of women; compare with 2 Brothers vid |
Its notable that overt sexuality is absent: the costume and framing are quite modest. Its worth asserting though that dance music vids in general
don’t so commonly use the explicitly, casually misogynistic tropes of the rap
videos that came after the likes of 50 Cent took over from politically aware
acts such as Public Enemy.
You could equally compare with Welcome to the Jungle, wherein vocalist Axl Rose steps off a Greyhound bus and gawps at a passing woman, who we view simply as long legs and a short, tight skirt.
 |
| Whilst heavily made up, can we really view this as male gaze? |
Pomo playfulness/deconstructionism? Corbijnesque/Lynchian?
 |
| Such surrealism would be at home in a David Lynch movie |
The use of B+W and the surrealism of oddball characters and
props wouldn’t be out of place in an Anton Corbijn Depeche Mode video. The mix
of moodiness with understated humour – the male is positioned as decorative ‘other’
beside the dominant female singer, and keeps as taciturn as a ceremonial guard
on duty … then bursts into life for his short rapping stint – can be read as
deconstructing the faux-artistry of other dance videos, as well as the
traditionally dominant role of male performers.
 |
| Tears of a clown given a sureally comic edge |
CGI
The CGI is of variable complexity; the mic-bird
eventually becomes an independent avatar; the detailing is kept low, seemingly
not due to technical limitations but through choice, and we continue to often
see relatively low-tech CGI renderings today. The vortex that comes in likewise
isn’t aiming for tentpole movie realism, and the editing is once more playful, surreal
and humorous: we enter this vortex through a low angled cow’s nostril!
 |
| CGI is quite complex at times, with distinct sci-fi connotations |
 |
| ...but also kept simpler and unrefined at others |
Lipsynching, (lack of clear) Narrative + Shot variety:
 |
| We cut in + out of lipsynching; odd characters add variety too |
Lipsynching is the default mode but we still frequently
cut in and out of lipsynched shots with LS/2-shots of the pair walking, as when
we meet our 2nd oddball character with no definite lyrical link, the
woman with flowers (0:55). Lipsynched shots mostly in MCU 2-shots.
This is actually quite key; without breaking away from the lipsynching, the video would swiftly become tedious.
 |
| Is he part of the band?! |
 |
| Deconstructing even simple cliches: cones replace sand castle |
The use of strange characters with no apparent
conceptual coherence, sometimes by walking across the frame or panning across from
a 2-shot to reveal them, also ensures that the video, which is cut at a brisk but
not frenetic pace, maintains interest. The section from 2:00 to 2:16 is a great
example: we cut to a clown, back to 2-shots, back again to the clown with his
glasses off, back to 2-shots and then pan across to see a mother and child
(watering traffic cones?!). Only a few very short takes of lipsynching are
included. The camera continues to pull back until an inanely grinning man is
revealed g2 Brothers…?
azing straight into the camera – possibly part of the act
The risk of monotony is
further undermined by adding CGI sci-fi style props; the 3D rendering of
something akin to a moon buggy (see above) spins around the screen for a short period, further
breaking up the basic pattern and adding more variety.
 |
| 1920s/30s Soviet realist style? |
Cinematography:
panning and tracking are common, tho appear to be achieved
via a steadicam rig – the action is very smooth with limited tilting, and I
didn’t spot any zooms. Seemed to be fixed rather variable focus too.
 |
| The deadpan, earnest performance works well |
Soviet realism? This is Eurodance
after all. The sequence of shots around 1:09-14 carry connotations of the style
seen through 1920s/30s Soviet film: dark foreboding skyline and ominous low
angles plus the hairstyle of the ‘flower woman’, and the sombre expression, all
reinforce this reading.
Variation of pace:
 |
| The playful surrealism is a consistent feature |
 |
| Variation from dominant MCU 2-shot; CGI evident, as above |
It is at the point of the 'flower woman' that we come to the track’s ‘drop’,
where the relatively placid, slow beat shifts up several gears into a much
faster bpm rate; once more we get a cross-fade, from the slo-mo’d flowers being
flung in the air to another MCU lipsynched 2-shot. The mournful, unchanging
expression on ‘flower woman’, who we cut back to in a surprising long take,
counters any expectation of leaping into rapid-fire editing, though there is a
very brief four shot sequence of jumping between MS to MCU/CU cut to the beat at
1:22-4. We get another brief cut-to-the-beat four shot sequence when a clown
appears in MS (1:30-34), including one sideways shot.
(More on) Shot Variety:
 |
| A literal example of deconstructionism |
The track itself finally offers up some variety around 2:40
as the silent male begins to rap. This is skilfully managed, with the 3D
renderings morphing into a microphone which descends; variety is provided by
changing the 2-shot to one with a particularly silly pirate/naval dandy missing
half his fake moustache and with the goatee beard misplaced to one side of the
chin, the wilful deconstructionism continued when we shortly see another unpeel
and replace his fake moustache. The dated but still impressive CGI continues
with the mic morphing into a robo-bird, while the shot variety also continues
with tightly-framed CU 2-shots.
 |
| Poking fun at the cheesy image of Eurodance perhaps? |
The consideration given to shot variety and thus retaining
audience interest/entertainment is observable in another simple, but crucial
example – yet another 2-shot around 310 gradually reveals a man with a cow; by
315 we cut to a dutch low angle of the cow’s mouth, with the farmer just in
frame above.
 |
| We enter the vortex through the cow's nostril... |
The final shot:
Given all the preceding quirkiness and surrealism, it’s a little
disappointing that the ending is a simple fade-to-black from an ELS of the bus.
 |
| Such techno-imagery as the vortex remains common? |
POINTERS ON ANALYSING/BLOGGING ON VIDS:
Screenshots are the key. Moreover, renaming screenshots as you go is key. I number these and rename them to denote what I might want to say, without going completely overboard on file names.
I also make notes in Word (or pen/paper) as i go, rather than try to blog as I view. If you're blogging as you're viewing you're not taking the time to consider what the key points, themes or conventions are, and your analysis will be necessarily shallow. I haven't with this post, but its not a bad idea to highlight specific technical terms like this for example.
I don't always stick to this, as I run so many blogs, but it is a good idea to settle on font, colour, size and other elements for headings, quotes, sub-headings, bullets, technical terms - and stick to these across your blog (a style guide).
Copy/pasting a heading and 1 line of text saves you from having to remember and repeat formatting steps over and over again.
In this case I've gone into considerable detail - so I felt it vital to provide a summary. If blogging as a student, more specifically this could be 'KEY POINTS I/WE CAN USE' as much as an overall summary.
I carried out brief research into this, skimming through the lyrics (which I've made some references to; you can't really claim to grasp any video without some consideration of the lyrics, and the relationship between these and the visuals/editing), Wiki, a page of other vids by the act, etc. That was just 2 simple google searches, resulting in these tabs:
 |
| All the tabs I needed to complete this post |
Here's a screenshot of the folder with my screenshots and other images used; I didn't use (nor did I intend to) all the screenshots, but I took enough to make it easy to recall key points I wanted to raise. Numbering made it easy to remember how these were sequenced - with some I specifically noted the track timing so I can immediately find it should I want to look at it again or maybe use a sequence within a vodcast. For one GnR screenshot I kept the YT timing visible.
 |
| 21 screenshots, carefully renamed; I didn't seek to cram them all in. Some shots from other websites/vids were useful too |
No comments:
Post a Comment