My Three Favorite music videos
Wuthering Heights (version 1) - Kate Bush
Released in January 1978, it became a No.1 hit in the UK singles chart and is known as Kate Bush’s biggest-selling single. Other songs (that I also love) that came out that year were ‘Heart of Glass’ (Blondie) and ‘Roxanne’ (The Police), comparing these videos to each other, ‘Wuthering Heights’ is the most abstract, yet there is a key element of extermination with lights and filming during this year to shape music videos. The song was inspired by ‘Wuthering Heights’ (the novel written by Emily Bronte) after Bush saw a BBC adaptation, and is written from the perspective of Catherine Earnshaw (a character in ‘Wuthering Heights’) using quotes as lyrics. ‘Wuthering Heights’ had two music videos created, the first was a UK release, while the second was produced for the American release. The first version was directed by Nick Abson and focuses on Kate Bush in a white dress, in a dark room and surrounded by mist and fog, she dances and sings to the music, using movement and her face as a way of expressing the music. Choreography is a key element in the music video, she presents her movement as ghost-like, which relates to the scene she is depicting from the novel that inspired the song. Various colour lights shine down upon Kate as she sings, with different camera angles edited together, showing multiple versions of Kate performing.
This music video is so interesting and individual, because of the story behind it. When listening to the song the audience may not be able to understand specific points, such as the fact Cathy is a ghost; however, when viewing the music video, it can be interpreted this way and backed up with the context of the novel. It creates such an effect (not only using movement, but also the specific video edits) of surrealism, which correlates to the scene and the bizarre appearance of Cathy’s ghost. There is a lot of mirroring used throughout the video; Bush performing cartwheels, spins and other dance movements, which in post editing looks a lot more mysterious and ghost-like as Bush’s actions merge and create a layered and transparent (relating to her being a ghost) effect on the screen. Another editing tool used is having the same performance of Bush in different frames and showing two images of her, one being a full body shot (showing full body movements) and one being a medium shot (to show expressions and a closer view of Kate Bush). Around halfway through the video, the camera shows a medium shot of Kate Bush as she performs, and the camera slowly moves and zooms into a shoulder shot of the singer as her movements are softer and slower. However, as her movements become more exaggerated and the music starts to build up to the chorus, there is a (gentle) reverse zoom, the camera moves back to show a full body in a master shot, to establish the chorus. Although the most impactful moments of the video are the close mid-shots of Bush’s face while she sings and dances, the camera keeps the eyes in the top third of the shot, making the audience feel as though they are making eye contact with the singer and therefore making the moment more powerful.
Overall, the video works in favour of the song, the mysterious, ghost-like elements work in favour of Kate Bush’s dramatic soprano vocal range (the song is in C sharp). The coloured lights work best on the beautiful white dress that Bush wears, as the changing colours was a popular, experimental element used in music videos during the 70s. However, it differs from most music videos during this time as it focuses more on the storytelling of the song.
Promises - Beach Bunny
The music video for Promises was released February 7th, 2020 as a single by Beach Bunny, under the Indie Rock/pop genre. It was directed by Everyone’s Baby (everybodysbaby.co), who are a group of filmmakers from Chicago (which is where Beach Bunny is from) and have worked on other Beach Bunny music videos. The video focuses on the lead singer of the band (Lili Trifilio), following her in different places as her bed is transported to random outdoor and indoor locations. No one really seems to acknowledge her or the random misplaced bed, as she moves around and sings about the heartbreak and pain of an old relationship.
The song opens up with the title of the song with a lighter in the foreground and the blurred image of Lili in the back, as she flicks and lights the lighter, the beat is in time with the spark, this technique commences the song and video. She lies back in her bed and seamlessly falls asleep; however, as she awakes, she and her bed are transported to an outdoor location besides a train. At first, she seems confused and the viewer may assume it is a random location; however, as she walks around, it is revealed to show a picnic, as the camera cuts to her face she appears less confused and more upset, implying that this is one of the good memories she has from her past relationship. She goes back to the bed and tries to sleep again, but is transported to a bridge, which other people walk across, yet no one acknowledges her, implying that this is a personal experience just for her. She makes her way over to a padlock that has been attached to the bridge and touches it before running back to the bed, implying that this is another memory from her past relationship. She is then transported to the middle of a room where a party is taking place, with people drinking and interacting with each other, yet none of them notice Lili, further implying that this is a personal experience for her to take and she doesn’t need other characters to interact with. This time, she appears a lot more fed up and annoyed with the situation, trying to approach people and even jumping on the bed and passionately singing the lyrics “part of me still hates you, how could you love someone and leave? When you’re all alone in your bedroom, do you ever think of me?”, almost as if she’s trying to talk to someone, but no one is listening.
She starts jumping on the bed, and there are flashes to different locations and memories, with Lili jumping on the bed throughout them.
The third quarter of the music video has a slower pace with an instrumental break as Lili enters a duller house, she moves away from her bed and makes her way to a bedroom where a person is sleeping. Her posture, actions and the lyrics imply that this is her ex-partner, he is turned away from her and alike everyone else in the video doesn’t acknowledge her. As the pace quickens again and the drums become more impactful, she removes her jumper and throws it at him before walking away and back into her bedroom. She returns to her bed and pulls out the lighter once more (linking back to the opening of the video), and lights her bed on fire, moving around and watching the bed burn. The final shot is a close up focusing on her eye and showing the reflection of the fire and finally her walking away. This concludes the video, informing the audience that this isn’t a direct song to an ex or anyone else, this song is for her to reflect upon the relationship and be able to move on at the end. Returning the jumper and burning the bed, symbolises her moving forward and letting go of the parts of the relationship she was holding onto, as she realises she was only holding onto the good stuff.
Overall, the video works well with the music, working effectively on the beats and having the movement be slow paced to present memories. The lighting and colours work well for the indie and dreamlike theme of the video, with the colours reflecting the mood of the song. And the use of props, costumes and other items work well to create an effect of personal attachment to Lili and the video.
Eleanor Rigby, the yellow submarine - the beatles
This musical sequence from the 1968 film ‘Yellow Submarine’ (also known as ‘The Beatles: Yellow Submarine’) is a surreal animation which brought new concepts and styles to the animation, film and music industry. The film was directed by George Dunning, who had to supervise over two-hundred artists for eleven months, who worked with Heinz Edelmann (the art director, who helped create the iconic pop-art character and film design). The Beatles character design was based off their ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ music video, which works well with the colour palette of the whole film. This scene within the film influenced Terry Gilliam’s animations (as well as other directors and artists), because of its surreal visual style.
The music video follows the brightly coloured Yellow Submarine through the dark and dull pop-art streets of England (mainly Liverpool) showing the sad, boring and repetitive lives of observationally lonely people.
The second opening image is of the head of a gravestone, with the start of the first chorus playing, setting the dark tone for the video. After this, the next image is the iconic man smoking with misshapen and misplaced buildings behind him, the colours are very dull and dim, with the Yellow Submarine contrasting the whole frame. The repetitive movements of people implies the idea that their lives are in a loop and are becoming less and less meaningful as they follow the same actions everyday. It also suggests the circle of life, as their actions seem to be going round and round, they are doing the same boring things until death. At the second chorus, there is an image of a person's arm, with a watch on and a background saying ‘News Room’, the movement of the clock hands moving rhythmically in time with the music.
One of my favourite moments in the music video is the footballer scene, with the blue team with all similar character designs and all repeating the same movements as the ball flies around the scene, and then the pan to the red team with similar character designs all performing strange movements, imitating the other team. It shows the pettiness and dullness of football, presenting it as less of a sport and more of a routine that is repetitive and increasingly more boring.
Another moment I like is the moment when the person is crying, there is no movement within the moment, apart from the single tear travelling down their face and the reflection of the Yellow Submarine passing across the goggles.
However, my favourite moment in the musical sequence is the moment with the umbrellas, all the people just stand there with their umbrellas up as the image moves. It shows how boring and truly lonely everyone is, even as a collective, simply because none of them are individuals, they’re all the same. They dress the same and perform the same actions and yet are still separated from each other, but no one in this moment has any personality or character qualities, which is what makes them lonely.
The final image is the panning up, to show a person in a black clothes and butterfly wings, sitting on top of a building. This suggests a hint of individuality, this person clearly has some sort of difference that makes them individual, and yet they dress like everyone else and remove themselves from others. This character is extremely lonely, because the individuality they have, they have tried to suppress, as they are trying to fit in, yet in doing so have made themselves more lonely than ever. The need from individuality and artists is needed in these dark, dull places, yet they have decided to remove themselves from it.
I believe this video works in great favour of the song, it follows closely with the theme of loneliness, as well as the idea that people care less about being individuals and artists and are therefore even lonely when with others. My favourite line in the whole film is what Ringo says in the scene after the Eleanor Rigby musical moment, “Liverpool can be a lonely place on a Saturday night, and it’s only Tuesday morning”, this line really stays in my mind when thinking about the Beatles and how they were able to bring so much colour and art to places that were once dull and dark. Liverpool is romanticised and shown in beauty through their music, although in reality is just another grey city.