Groundbreaking or OMG

You can decide on this...

Is it a music video or a cookery show?

Bricolage?

Homage?

Parody?

Just what is it and what do you think of it?

It's certainly original but does it work?

Did you turn it off / not get it / hate it/ laugh at it / think it hit its target demographic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZlih4DDNg

All yours...

Have fun - and post a thought underneath...

Friday's Lesson: Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Check out the video below.

Below is the background info on the track...

Have a scan through and look at the level of detail... Look at one of your own, favourite, videos and research it. What is it about? What do YOU think it's about? Who directed it. What else did they direct? Are they as good? Is the directer affieliated to a specific band or label?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrTB-iiecqk


"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (commonly referred to as "Street Spirit") is a song by Radiohead, featured on their second studio album The Bends, which was released in 1995. Noted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Thom Yorke as "one of [the band's] saddest songs" and describing it as "the dark tunnel without the light at the end", "Street Spirit" was released as the band's ninth single and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, the highest chart position the band achieved until "Paranoid Android" from OK Computer, which reached number three in 1997.
Yorke has suggested that the song was inspired by the 1991 novel The Famished Road, written by Ben Okri, and that its music was inspired by R.E.M.

The black-and-white music video for "Street Spirit" was filmed during two nights in a desert just outside Los Angeles. It premiered in February 1996 and was directed by Jonathan Glazer, who said, "That was definitely a turning point in my own work. I knew when I finished that, because they found their own voices as an artist, at that point, I felt like I got close to whatever mine was, and I felt confident that I could do things that emoted, that had some kind of poetic as well as prosaic value. That for me was a key moment." Glazer would later direct the video for "Karma Police".

Youtubers commented:
For me, this song could have had two meanings- firstly, it may have been a statement on the absolute despairs of depression- the sense of disconnectedness, the warped sense of detachment and time, where things happen about you but you're uninvolved- a sense that time around you is moving slowly; unresponsiveness and dull noir.
Secondly, everyone within this clip is trying to be beautiful in some way; but attempts of liberality fail, and they fall to the ground. They attempt to ascend, but fall.

Today's lesson recap

Here's a list of the stuff we watched today. Have fun watching them again - but there are some pointers on here which will help you with your blogs.

There's also questions at the bottom - make sure you've addressed them in your blog :-)

The Exciters - Tell Him
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71MxSJl1OQ


One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJO3ROT-A4E


Look at the similarities beween the two. What do they have in common?

Look at the parody...

Blink 182 - All The Small Things. (Remember this was done in 2000... Twelve years before 1D...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ht5RZpzPqw

Also look at genre and the tropes associated with each.
Rock / Metal / Rap

Limp Bizkit - Break Stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUYjpKg9KY

Funkdoobiest - Bow Wow Wow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF0MoFX93G0

Beastie Boys - Sure Shot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhqyZeUlE8U

Also look at some of their other vids (and research directors associated with them) for more conceptual work.

Iron Maiden - The Trooper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uq6Ax-zzkQ

Concept vids:
Ok Go - This Too Shall Pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w

 Fatboy Slim - Praise You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex1qzIggZnA

Fatboy Slim - Push The Tempo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so9DBHCo64Q

Other stuff...
Feeder - Just A Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wzqGI_4fIM

Think about what types of video this is... It's sort of performance, sort of concept, how would you classift it and why does it work (or not!)

Electric Six - Content advisory on most of their work, but very good narratives.

Daft Punk - Around The World (award-winning concept)

Dance.
Beyonce - Single Ladies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY

Compare to
Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSVHoHyErBQ

Blog what you've found out about the conventions of music videos.

Have fun :-)

Welcome back

Welcome back to everyone! Hope you're all ready for the term ahead after your break.

Not even had a lesson yet and the homework is set!

So... In preparation for Friday... Make sure you've set up your new blog. Also, post in to it your top three music videos (the YouTube links are fine) and say why you like them - remember, it's not about the song, it's about the video.

Have fun and I'll see you Friday.