'Suede' Music Video Analysis

The music video being analysed within this post is 'The Beautiful Ones' by Britpop band 'Suede'. Suede formed in 1989 in Camden Town. Their single 'The Beautiful Ones' was released in 1996. Below is the link to the official YouTube video. Britpop was a reaction against the 1990's grunge movement from America. The songs written in the Britpop style were based on very British subjects and the era of Britpop originated from an area in London known as 'Camden Town'.



This video reflects Goodwin's theory excellently. It uses five out of six of his methods.

The first rule of Goodwin's theory is that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. This music video achieves this by the band all wearing plain black clothes but also the band shots are edited into black and white. Instead of the band doing a dance routine etc which would usually be found in a pop music video they simply perform the track which has been synced up to the song.

The next rule of Goodwin's theory is that there must be some relationship between the lyrics and the visuals on screen. This is where this video comes into its own. The music video is laced with visual images that are either the words being heard in the lyrics or relate to to subject matter of the lyrics being sung. Below are some screen shots from the video where this method is used.

A third method of Goodwin's theory is that the music video should include multiple close ups of the band/artist and that the artist may develop certain motifs/trademarks such as a visual style. This music video uses plenty of close ups and shots of the artist. One style/motif that Suede created for themselves involved their haircuts which are seen clearest on Brett Anderson (lead singer, left) and Neil Coddling (keyboard player, right).

These were typical Britpop haircuts and incredibly stylish at the time.
In the chorus there are no images used and is simply just the band performing. This gives the band a large volume of time to market themselves with interesting camera shots and multiple close ups of each member of the band. The two shots above are close ups of Brett Anderson and Neil Coddling, seen below are the three other members; Richard Oakes on lead guitar (top-left), Simon Gilbert on drums (top-right) and Matt Osman on bass guitar (bottom).

 

The last point of Goodwin's theory which is used within this video is the notion of 'looking' and voyeuristic imagery. This is accomplished through the use of objects like television sets or telescopes etc. Suede also use this method but only once. They have a television set with the bands name on it and then this television proceeds to explode. This can have multiple interpretations to the audience.

 

Another Suede music video which inspired some of our shot is the beginning of the 'Animal Nitrate'. The music video is embedded below. The shot which inspired our sped up shot is seen at 0:15-0:25. This inspired our sped up graffiti wall shot and other sped up shots which are frequently used within our edit since they conform to our music videos genre's style.

This is England

Within this post I will look at the collective identity and how it is achieved in Shane Meadows 'This Is England'.

This is England is set in 1983. On the way home from school the protagonist Shaun meets a group of 'skinheads' after being bullied all day. This group is comprised of Woody, Gadget, Milky, Pukey and Kez along with several other minor characters i.e. Woody's other half 'Lol'. This group take pity on him and accept him into their group. They soon become best of friends until an old friend of Woody's, Combo,  turns up uninvited to a party and tries to convince them to join the National Front. Shaun (who the audience discover has died fighting in the Falklands War) joins them and departs from the gang to join Combo.

The gang have a collective identity however of being 'skinheads'. They achieve this identity through several methods.

The first being the way in which each of them dress (costume). Below is the typical clothing for a skinhead.

Harrington Jacket

Turned Up Jeans

Braces To Go Over The Shirt

Doc Marten Boots

'Pukey' Wears Blue Camouflage Trousers

Each of the gang wears this style of clothing. Through wearing these clothes they create a collective identity because they can be instantly recognised as the social group they belong to.

The second method is their hair. Within the film they all have shaved heads. There is a scene within 'This Is England' where Shaun has his head shaved and it is treated almost as a right of passage by the gang because he is then truly accepted into the group.



Having a shaved head was all about rebellion against the norms of society. This is what skinheads stood for. Anarchy and disruption to the norms of everyday life. 
Notice as well that in This Is England they all smoke and drink. This is a third method of identity.

A character which arises later on in the film is Combo (pictured below)

Combo believes that because there are 3.5 million British people unemployed it is wrong that people from foreign countries should not be allowed into this country and put people out of jobs because it is cheap and easy labour. He convinces Pukey, Gadget and Shaun to stay and join the National Front. This fight is still going on nowadays and was recently being shown in the city where I am currently studying, Norwich, Norfolk, UK. However instead of the National Front it was the English Defence League however they both hold similar views. Below is a link to a local newspaper article on it and one from the BBC.

 http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/gallery_we_are_norwich_march_against_edl_in_norwich_1_1688782

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-20279687

Actors Costume Within Music Video

In our video we are trying to reflect the stereotypical costume of the Metal genre i.e. leather jackets and hoodies. The lead singer Solay is wearing a leather jacket and red trousers. The leather jacket is paying tribute to the old bands who use to use leather such as Steel Panther, Motley Crue. Although these bands are more hair/ glam metal, it is still a sub-genre of Metal. The red trousers are to connote the violence and anger associated with Metal. Metal is an incredibly angry genre (as i have previously explained in my post 'The Origins of Metal').



Below is a picture of Motley Crue displaying the fashion of leather. Wearing leather was seen as to be rebellious and against the norms which were being enforced on society.

The bass player, Sam, is infact a huge fan of the genre. He also is wearing a leather jacket. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of him from the back because on the back of his leather jacket are multiple badges of metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Slipknot and Rancid. These simply help to show his passion about this type of music. This could also influence the bands unique sound of Metal bass lines etc. Accompanying the leather jacket is black skinny jeans which again come from the hair/glam metal era.

Glam metal bands dress outrageously to rebel against society and make a statement. Hair and glam metal bands include bands such Skid Row and Kiss (pictured below).

Nick (the drummer of The Upgrade). Nick is not wearing a leather jacket however his jacket is black connoting the darkness of Metal such as the leather. Underneath that he is wearing a opened checkered shirt and a white t-shirt under that. The red checkered shirt could be influenced by genres such ans country and western.

The combination of their different characteristics influence their music as a band/as a whole. They have songs heavily influenced by funk, jazz, heavy rock, 1980's love ballads etc. This gives them a unique sound as a whole band which is a perfect unique selling point from a commercial point of view.

In Search of Metal Prezi

In Search of Metal on Prezi

Idea Within Music Video

We are wanting the lead singer of The Upgrade (Solay Elibol) to nod at the rest of the band and have them follow him. This idea can be related to another music video called 'Not The Only One' by a band named 'Rumble Strips'. Since the video is not available on YouTube I am unable to embed it so below is a link to the video on vimeo.com.

http://vimeo.com/4766044

Below are screenshots from the music video 'Not The Only Person' - The Rumble Strips. These shots inspired some of our own ideas about the two members following Solay and walking behind him.

At 1:44 the woman hidden under his overcoat is incredibly similar looking to the girl in Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' released in 1927. See picture below:

The city in Metropolis in which the film is set is a dystopia. The dictionary definition of 'dystopia' is

"An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one."

Below is an image of the city within 'Metropolis'.

Notice that a film which is easy to relate to this is a slightly more modern one. It is Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner', (1982). The city in which it is set is incredibly similar to that of 'Metropolis'. Of course these two films, both of which are set in dystopias, are never going to be set in similar places because each dystopia is a subjective view of the directors vision of a dystopia. A screenshot showing the city in Blade Runner is below.

Music Video Storyboard

Below is some of our ideas in terms of plot and cinematography that we want our music video to contain. The first frame was an idea we had yet had no space on our page because we thought of it after we had filled in the first page. Thus it is a frame on its own.

Possible Location Shots

The shots posted above are possible location shots. These were taken in Anglia Square, Norwich, Norfolk, UK. The mood/tone of video we are looking for is quite dark and unpleasant hence the graffiti and shattered glass. We are wanting our music video to have a very industrial and rough feel to it. A majoriy of shots we will hopefully be using will not be structured stationary shots but rugged handheld shots. We are planning to incorporate a handful of stationary shots to give the video a proffesional look but these will simply be used to fade in and out of.

The genre of metal is and always has been a very industrial and rough genre. We are simply trying to create a mise-en-scene within the music video to reflect this and conform to the metal stereotypes. This is why we are using multiple images of graffiti, abandoned office blocks and warehouses, run down areas of Norwich, Norfolk, UK.

One location we were incredibly interested in was the abandoned and derelict buildings scene in pictures 9, 10 and 11. Notice in picture 13 (one up from bottom) the very uniform looking lines of the layers of the car park. This building can be seen as very pleasant with this style of lighting e.g. blue sky contrasting the orange brickwork. However on the inside it appears incredibly vast and empty.

However our music video is going to be edited into black and white. So a shot like the one posted above, of the interior of the car park, actually looks like the picture edited below into black and white.

(The two pictures above of the interior of Anglia Square Car Park were not taken by me. These pictures were found on websites. The top one was taken from 'flickriver.com' and the bottom one was taken from 'flickr.com'. I am including this additional information so as to avoid plagiarism issues.)

Alternative Metal Moodboard

Above is a moodboard containing elements which influence the alternative metal genre. This items on this moodboard were influenced by the questions asked on http://www.findyourtribe.co.uk/. Such questions involve:
"What are your favourite magazines?"

 "What are your favourite radio stations?"

 The reason why the 'Download Festival' logo is on the moodboard is becuase alternative metal music is frequently played at Download due to it being a metal music festival.