Michel Gondry is a french film, music video and comercial director, and has won many awards for his screen writing. He is also well known for his manipulation of mise-en-scene, and has a famous portfolio of work including:
Film
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (below)
- Be Kind Rewind
- Human Nature
Although this clip is just a trailer, it shows a wide range of the shots that are featured in the film. I particularly like the use of master shots featured in this trailer, which show the position of the actors in various different locations. These shots demonstrate the very interesting and individual mise-en-scene featured in the film, which'll contribute towards the appeal to the target audience. We aim to create a similar feel, using interesting locations to establish a unique mise-en-scene, keeping our video different and thus complying to the 'indie' genre. The use of sound in this is different to what it would be in a music video, as it is a film and features mostly diegetic sound. However, it does feature non-diegetic sound, and this non-diegetic music adds an extra layer of meaning to the clips. In our music video we hope that the music used will add extra meaning to the clips being shown, making it comply to Andrew Goodwin's narrative theory by being amplifying. In this clip I also find the use of post production effects to be very impressive, using effects such as fast motion to show the passing of time. This is an effect which I feel would work effectively in our music video as it looks striking and artistic. In my opinion it is a good way to keep the narrative moving forward as it gives the impression of passing time by only using a few seconds of clip. As a music video is only a few minutes long, this would work well and stop the video from being slow-paced and uninteresting. I also like the graphic match where it the clip cuts from one house to another, as it looks seamless and entropic. Although I really like this feature and find it effective, I think it would be very difficult to apply to our music video as it would involve using a create deal of post production effects and very accurate shooting on the digital video camera. Close-ups in this video help establish the actor's emotions, which works successfully as you can see their facial expressions more clearly. This can easily be incorporated into our music video and will be done to help keep the narrative moving forward by making the story more understandable.
Music Video
- Hardest Button to Button (The White Stripes)
This music video uses a great deal of jump cut editing, which is a sequence of two or more shots where the camera position or image only moves slightly from clip to clip. The effect of this contradicts 'continuity editing' as it creates a very disjointed feel to the video. Generally the editing will not comply to the "30 degree rule" which is used to make continuity editing look 'flawless' and 'invisible'. This video however is made up of 'spatial jump cuts' which is where the cut between two images is not abundantly different to the previous shot. Although the fact that the musicians are playing their instruments along to the music is a very redundant feature in a music video, the use of post production effects give the video a great sense of entropy, keeping it interesting for the intended audience. This means that this video also comply's to Andrew Goodwin's narrative theory, as it has both literal features (such as the artists miming along to the music) and features that add extra meaning to the song (jump cut edits). These factors combined make the video amplifying, thus keeping it original and interesting whilst being understandable for the audience.
- Mad World (Gary Jules)
This video is different to the previous couple because it gives the impression of one continuous shot. This means there is no need for continuity edits between shots and the camera simply pans from place to place so the audience see more than just one view. Towards the very beginning of the music video we see an aerial shot, which is fairly entropic for a music video as they usually feature close-ups and wide-shots to give more detail about the band/people featured in the video. It's fairly simplistic, and just has a few people moving to create shapes from a birds-eye view. This is also quite entropic and therefore relates the lyrics "it's a very very mad world", however in my opinion there is not enough link with the lyrics and the video and therefore would classify it as 'disjunctive' using Andrew Goodwin's narrative theory.
- Walkie Talkie Man (Steriogram)
This video is made up of a lot of stop motion animation, which gives the impression of inanimate objects moving. This is a technique we're definitely going to employ in our music video as it looks entropic and interesting, and will give an extra layer of meaning to the music video. It looks particularly effective in this video as each picture is featured for a very short time frame which allows the animation to look fairly smooth. Fast motion is also applied in various parts to make the time frames even shorter, giving it a 'fast forwarded' effect. There is use of diegetic sound in this music video towards the beginning, and also in the middle of the video where it gives the impression of a television. When this is incorporated into a music video it is usually to contribute towards the narrative, and it plays this purpose in this video. It also keeps it understandable from the point of view of the audience, as without the diagetic sound the 'television' would probably be unrecognisable. This video is also fairly entropic as although the band are playing instruments along with the music, the instruments are made from wool, to fit in with the rest of the video. For this reason, I would classify this video as 'amplifying', as it does feature some redundant features such as band miming, however the 'knitted' element to the video does not relate to the lyrics and therefore adds an extra layer of meaning and entropy.
In conclusion, the work he produces is quite eccentric and entropic, setting his work apart from other music video auteurs by being interesting and original. The music videos he produces mostly follow Andrew Goodwin's narrative theory by being amplifying, meaning that the music video's have some relation to the song whilst having ulterior meanins and ideas portrayed in his work.
Andre Goodwins 'narrative theory'?
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