Music Video Analysis

I chose to analyse this video primarily because the lead singer is female, as with the band we have chosen, and because I particularly want to look at how the female artist is represented in different videos. The music itself is not the fairest representation of the music we intend to use but some of the ideals and aspects of the band are near identical. This is a punk/rock/alt rock genre song where as ours is indie/indie rock/alt. rock band from Ireland – Dublin.

PARAMORE : crushcrushcrush

QuickBio – (sourced from wikipedia.org and starpulse.com)

Formed in 2002 in Franklin, Tennessee when the lead singer, Hayley Williams was only 13 the 'soon to be' Paramore consisted of a 5 members; lead singer, lead guitarist/vocal backing, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist and drummer. Signed a year later with a music management company, 'The Agency Group' and toured primarily in the south east. Later signed with bigger American labels Atlantic Records and Fueled by Ramen. Shortly after this Jeremy Davis, the bassist dropped out for personal reasons but was later replaced by another, John Henbree. This lasted 5 months of 2005 before Jeremy Davis returned to the band and they spent until October 2006 touring touring the US before coming to the UK in October. Then in 2007 Hunter Lamb left the group to be married so Paramore continued as a quartet. In ''07 they took on Taylor York as the new rhythm guitarist as Hunter had left the shortly before. This video 'Crushcrushcrush' was not the first video they made and was released in November 2007. They went on two more tours (UK and USA) before playing in Ireland for the first time in Dublin in May ''08. One thing that all the videos try to get away from is Paramore being portrayed as Hayley and some musicians but rather it is Paramore the group. Being a female front singer voted Shockwaves NME Awards 2009 Sexiest Female it has been very easy for people and the music magazines to get caught up with H. Williams, which she resents.

Mise en scene -- Set, Prop

The entire video is based in a desert; amps are prominent feature in most wide angle shots; dead trees in the arid desert back drop, dark clouds on the horizon but the sun hangs high above; candlestick, bathtub, lamps, curtains... this was the set was set-up as a house though everything is free standing. To begin with the backdrop is quite light coloured, blues and greys to begin with, representational of how life begins-innocent and bearable. However as the video progresses more fiery colours are used as a backing for the performance, orange and yellow hues of the sun envelop the entire set. This combination of light calming colours going to a fiery background and the dark clothing portrays a sense of sombre honesty building to a dramatic, angry but also controlled finale.

Mise en scene -- Clothing, Personal Prop

The band and singer are all wearing dark clothing; each band member has a direct prop/instrument as related to the music -- drummer, drums-guitarists guitars-singer,mic. The dress code of the individual performers is similar in that they are all wearing dark if not black outer garments. However, the lead singer (Hayley) is wearing a dark blue outfit. As well as this the lead guitarist (Josh Farro) is in a shirt and tie but it is a skinny tie, representing informal but not relaxed as a style.

The Song -- Musically -- Lyrically -- What Mood/Atmosphere do they Portray

Lyrically – Bond/Die Another Day Theme-esque; vocabulary dictates a theme of lies and spies “they taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, you little spies” -- conveys betrayal by friends and the perversities that enemies will go to to hide the truth from people. connections to media institutions that don't tell things how they are but how they want them to be viewed. the idea that media has the power to control peoples thoughts e.g. paparazzi's (“little spies”) job is to harass and obtain incriminating photos of celebrities and proceed to spin the truth to make it something untrue but what they want people to think. in government aka ''spin doctors''. The name of the song crushcrushcrush is lyrical metaphor of how such lies can effect people - it can crush their image, reputation, self respect, dignity to the point that they become recluse from society, also lyrically represented in this song by “nothing compares to a quiet evening alone”. But also that it nearly never happens so no matter how hard you try to avoid media and people who want to harm your rep/life, it is near impossible when you're famous, “that never happens” However at the very start the singer says “I've got a lot to say to you” which in context of the rest of the song is the singer trying to help someone who has been repressed and censored by ''the man'' whether that be media, government or authority in general.

Musically – steady build up. Bond: DAD-esque, denotes to me: dispair, rebelion, uprising, revenge, confidence, revelations, dramatic side of espionage (BOND THEME AGAIN)

Camera Work -- Shots -- Effects -- Editing

Primarily and most importantly, because its the most prominent feature of 'Crushcrushcrush', it MUST be noted that around 50% of the shots included in this video incorporate movement of the camera in one or multiple planes as well as zooming techniques. Whether that it done using a zoom feature on the camera or by tracking the camera toward or away from the subject I can not say. The fundamental and most used shots are close ups of the various subjects, or wide/long shots that either include the entire band or one member specifically. The close ups come in two varieties (1) of one specific member filling the majority of the frame with just desert or sky in the backdrop, or (2) that of a specific member partially filling the frame with a second in the background. This is a superb display of the rule of thirds in use. There are medium shots used though they are definitely in the minority compared to numbers of close ups and long shots. There are many worm-eye-view shots (often combined with a canted angle), particularly of the guitarists but none of the lead singer. However she is nearly always met at eye level by the camera during close ups and there are no bird-eye shots bar one, of the drummer, which is very slight.

The movement of the camera that I have described is dominated by crabbing in either direction, and tracking of the band. Panning, where by the camera rotates around a subject, is also used in conjunction with the crabbing technique but not on its own. The ped technique (crabbing in the vertical plane) is also used though to a minimal extent. There are certain frames which appear to have been shot from a free-held camera as the shots is jumping around. This is either a filming effect of one that was produced in the editing process. Shadow is used only for two shots of a trio walking in the desert, creating three silhouettes.

As regards the editing of the text, shots average .50 to 3.0 seconds in length; no more. The cuts from one scene to another, which are common place in soaps and films, don't exactly exist in this music video as everything is happening in the same location (a desert). As such many of the cuts can be classed as matched cuts and I would think, motivated cuts. Examples of each are when the camera cuts from a close up of the singer to a crabbing medium shot of her. Also when there are multiple cuts of the three guitarists, this is a good example of the matched cuts. The motivated cuts are not based on what you can see and want to see but what you can hear and what you believe you're going to hear and thus, shown. This is deeply involved with the cut rate which will be kept at a certain number for cuts per section of music and the cutting rhythm will over-ride this, cutting with either (1) the beat of the song or (2) the lyrics.

While the jump cut (cut from one scene to the other) is, arguably, not used, cross-cuts most definitely are. When the video cuts from the performance to the story the scene its self (background, setting) doesn't change but the type of action on screen does. It is no longer a musical performance but a narrative accompanied by music.

Fade cutting is used once as far as I can tell at 1:49-1:51 minutes in the sequence which brings the lead singer into the frame in front of the guitarists and drummer. One of the best techniques that Paramore have managed to use effectively in this video is that they have used matched cutting to condense time showing the same image, objects or people in the frame but in different positions. This instantaneous change works well with the rhythm and beat of the song and add greatly to the image of the video.

Denotation/Connotation of Everything Else -- See Vocab Sheet (to your right)

Paramore is a rock/punk band originating from Tennessee, USA. They formed in 2002 at the start of high school and have been a group since they were 13/14 and now have an average age of 21 or 22. The sex appeal of the band varies from person to person but to a far greater extent than with some bands.

First of there is the 21-year-old lead singer Hayley Wiliams. Obviously she appeals to both sexes as all do but in different ways. To females of early teens to mid and possibly late 20s that are into rock she is a fashion icon and a role model. She is the USA rock chick of the decade and people want that life style. They see her as someone who's example they should follow. She does not reveal much skin so the images or not revealing but she ops for clothing that enhances her figure. It indicates she wants women to be happy with their body but not to exploit themselves as so many of today's pop princess types do. To males she is more of an object who they enjoy to watch perform and are in some ways more interested in her as a singer rather than the group and not all of these male 'fans' would watch a video for the music but rather for her. The scope of this male audience would be ranging from adolescent to 20s again. As a band and as individuals, Paramore do not seek the fans of older years but rather they and their music appeals to the younger generations.

Then there is the two guitarist Josh Farro and Jeremy Davis. Each of these are slightly different but they both hold certain sex appeal. For instance they are guitarists in a band which is what initially enthrals girls/women. They appeal to females of 14 to 25 but I would hazard a guess that they once the female audience is past 25, they may seem to some immature and foolish. This guitarist image is also what appeals to male audience though; if asked which guitar they would want to play it would be lead guitar. If you asked, 'Who would you prefer to be, Jeremy or Josh?', opinions would differ greatly. They want to be the guitarist of the band while female audiences want to be with the guitarists of the band. (These are two generalisations to illustrate a point which I can't refine at the moment.) Then there is the drummer who is usually either the most of least popular member of the band depending on the music and his attitude of stage. Zac Farro is the drummer and is also the brother of the lead guitarist. This is good in terms of sex appeal for both Zac and Josh. It makes them more desirable to women but also men in a different way. To men its 'we can be a duo, drummer and guitar' which is how many bands start.

How all this links to the varying ideas held by theorists

In my opinion one of the most important conventions that a music video should hold is that the narrative and the lyrics have to have at least some kind of link between them. I believe it should be more than a loose link however where the actions and performance of the video are highly integrated into the lyrics of the song, emphasised by Steve Archer who is of the same opinion. This is what this video has achieved spectacularly. When the singer is singing of spies if often cuts to the two men who are watching the band. This conforms to this idea of that close relationship between lyrics and video and is one of the foremost ingredients of Andrew Goodwin's theory. There is also within this theory the idea that close-ups are a necessity which Paramore holds fast too and is also shared by another theorist, John Stewart. Yet another feature of Goodwin's theory is that of voyeurism which is again shared with multiple theorists such as Laura Mulvey and Freud as well as the theory of Exhibitionism. All these point to a voyeuristic approach to female artists portraying them more as objects of sex appeal and to an extent perverting the view of the female artist (this is sometimes due to the artist deliberately portraying this image but is also sometimes due to the way the media treats the artist and represents them.) However, in this video this has been slightly subverted. Usually voyeurism involves the object being observed without their knowledge and often, in the male dominated would of media management, it is all very sexualised and provocative. However, the lead singer is singing about being spied on and while not being able to see the spies in the video, she is aware that both the audience is watching but also likely there are characters watching in the video. The song itself seems to be a statement to those that do observe her. She further subverts the archetype by being attractive but not deliberately provocative indicating much more self-control and self awareness.