RMA - 1

For my music video I have decided to look at alternative music. This is because not only was it the most popular genre but I feel the music videos are, as a generalisation, far more artistic and well thought out compared to most pop and hip hop videos and also it contains a broader range of styles of music within the genre which allows me to play with my music choice.

Real Media Artefact
The Cure – Lullaby
Mis en scene

The lighting is dark and nightmarish throughout. It starts of lighter and gets darker like a day going into night or a dream turning into a nightmare. The lighter shots are first shown when Robert Smith (the lead singer) is in his bed without the webs. It then gets darker as the spider webs increase and he starts to get eaten. The lighting reflects the genre and song as it is dark and brooding sounding, yet in contrast slightly as although brooding it does have a relaxing sound to it musically (disregarding the lyrics), however the visuals are like a nightmare. This contrast is artistic and well thought out. There is also a lot of blue lighting, for example the scene where Robert Smith is in bed and has numerous arms/legs, to give a cold, haunting feel
Costumes are quite varied in this. Robert Smith is in classic striped pyjama’s to represent the story line – he is sleeping. The striped pyjama’s give it an ironic feel as the unoffensive, classic pattern seems safe and almost childish in contrast to the dark surroundings of the video, which works well with the audience of the band as alternative music is associated with perhaps more intelligent people who are appreciative of such irony. The blue stripe also gives a cold feel.
The band members all are wearing royal admiral type costumes in red this helps to create a surreal dream/nightmarish feel as they do not realistically to what would be the scene of someone going to sleep. It appears random, like dreams. The red is a colour that is featured throughout also reminds the audience of the horror aspect of the video and song as red connotes danger and blood.
The “spider man” character has long, black claw-like fingernails – again a salute to the horror genre, giving nods to films such as Dracula. He also wears the stripped pyjamas and then it looks to be wearing an old styled grey blazer and white shirt. This is probably to again look surreal.
The makeup is also quite nightmarish – you see many dark made up eyes, dark black shadow covering the lid and thick lined eyes applied in a messy fashion (on Robert Smith and the Spider Man) looking quite demonic – again carrying the nightmare theme. Robert Smith wears a blood red lip – again looking quite scary, like a vampire, where as the spider man wears a blood red lip, though it is smudged like a Chelsea grin which again connotes horror and violence. Later Robert Smith wears a bed lip with smudged black around it making him look evil and sickly – connoting death. The faces of all the characters are very pale, purposely made to look “ghostly” this is again to create a horror/nightmare/haunting feel, which works nicely as Robert Smith’s delivery of the lyrics sounds haunting.
The use of spider webs throughout on Robert, on the band members, around the room also all link to the horror/nightmare feel.

Camera

There are numerous extreme close ups/medium close ups throughout this, most of them focussing on the lead singer of The Cure, Robert Smith. These are mostly of him in bed and are used throughout him gaining cobwebs. This not only shows the horror elements of his ghostly face and of the haunting images of him almost being suffocated by the cobwebs but it also allows the audience to identify that Robert Smith as the lead singer and focal point of the band. The band members are shown separately at the beginning of the video, also allowing the audience to identify that these are members of the band (symbolised by their playing of instruments).
Wide shots are used to show them through the window, through Robert Smith’s point of view (also distinguishing that he is the main focus/member of the band) this distances the band slightly, making them seem as if they are purely backing Robert Smith, rather than contributing their own unique personalities to the band’s image. This could be because Robert Smith has a very specific image and big stage persona and focussing on that audience appeals to their alternative audience (teenagers and adults). There is also a crab mid shot of the band together playing their instruments in time to the music – this also shows that they are not meant to be seen as individual characters of the band, but as Robert Smith’s backing.
Close ups also used to illustrate part of the songs narratives. For example, there is a shot of the a spider crawling in the corner of the room when the lyric “a movement in the corner of the room”. This is also an example of “looking through” as again is from Robert Smith’s point of view. And again also when Robert Smith is looking at a crack in the window and it focuses on an “S” when the lyrics “I spy something beginning with S” are being heard.
There is a zoom in extreme close up on Robert Smith as he is covered in spider webs. It starts on his face and then zooms into his mouth and teeth which seems surreal and creepy – to represent a nightmare. It also highlights the sweat on his cheek to as a representation of his fear. It also is quite a claustrophobic shot, adding to the discomfort and fear of Robert Smith’s character and the video’s theme in general.
Numerous wide shots and mid shots are used to show Robert Smith when he feels “like i'm being eaten by a thousand million shivering furry holes “. Wide shots are used to illustrate what is happening in the song and to make Robert Smith seem smaller in comparison to the large creature of darkness – this again gives a disturbing and surreal feel which works well with the dream like theme of the video and also with the band’s image, as Robert Smith is a surreal and strange personality.
Wide shots are also used to show the spider man on the ceiling covered in cobwebs and also to show Robert Smith in bed with numerous arms grabbing at him. The wide low angle shot of the spider man is again from Robert Smith’s point of view to show that the spider man is looking down on him ready for him – “the spiderman comes” – illustrating the song and also showing a full body shot of him covered in spider webs – repeating the horror/nightmare theme. This horror/nightmare scene is also repeated when Smith is being tormenting in his bed by numerous arms grabbing at him. A wide shot is used to show all of the and the vast amount of horrible arms torturing him.

Editing
It is a narrative based video but because it is a dream sequence some may get confused with it being conceptual as it comes across as quite surreal. They speed up however using short and medium takes (mostly) together when the song reaches its climax (around 3:33) showing a mix of all the elements and different memorable shots of the video Robert Smith in bed, the spider man, the spider in the corner, the band members. This is to heighten the feeling of the music – to intensify the climax in comparison to the rest of the video.
As the song is slow paced the takes mimic this by being long-medium length. The shots are also used to mirror the lyrics that are being heard at the time they are shown as explained above with camera (e.g. there is a shot of the a spider crawling in the corner of the room when the lyric “a movement in the corner of the room” and when Robert Smith is looking at a crack in the window and it focuses on an “S” when the lyrics “I spy something beginning with S” are being heard.)
Special effects are used near the end of the video to show a ghost of the spider man walk through the wall into the bedroom – this again is to add to the horror feel of the video, adding another classic clique of horror/nightmare to the video.
The end of the song also mimics the visual as when the song ends Robert Smith is swallowed into the dark creature – mirroring the end of him and the end of the song.
The editing has mostly been used to show the narrative of the song and video rather than to emote a specific emotion to the audience, apart from the slow, creeping length of the takes.

My thoughts
The thing I liked most about this video was the narritive and the mis en scene aspects. I love the detailing, the lighting and the concept of the video. I would like to perhaps take some of this detail and use it as inspiration for my own product.