RMA - 2

Pulp – This is Hardcore

Mis en scene The styling of all the characters in this is based upon the trends of the late 1950’s/early 1960’s. You can see this in all the actors as the men are wearing smart tailored suits or smart trousers and shirts with slicked back hair and some are seen wearing trilby hats. These are all classic, almost stereotypical traits of the fashion of that era. The woman either reflect the Hollywood Siren’s of the golden era of films with hairstyles associated with icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Grace Kelly – blonde, pin curled neatly and carefully styled hair with pinup make up to match (red lips, winged or a lightly smoky eye), dressed in silk/satin dresses in jewel ruby reds or emeralds (popular colour choices of the time) some have pearls and mink coats. Or they reflect a more innocent stereotypical style seen at the time (seen on the brunette) – high necked dressed that cinch in at the waist and protrude out (with probably some kind of petticoat beneath) which go about mid length, again with a red pin up lip and pin curled hair in some kind of “cute” preppy up do.
This style works well to promote Jarvis Crocker as he often styles himself this way so he is able to wear the clothes he would usually wear but it allows you to pick him out of the crowd as it appears much more modern on him as his hair isn’t quite as neatly styled and at the end the suit he wears appears much more modern than the rest of the people around him. This again is promoting Jarvis Crocker as the main personality – unique and cool and modern in comparison to the people around him, perhaps a metaphor for how Pulp want to be seen as cool, new and different in comparison to other music around them at the time?
The lighting is rich throughout the entire piece. There are many different tones and shades in each take creating a sexy and glamorous feel to each moment. This is to reflect the sexy sound and words of the music and also to make the video appear cinematic – as if it were a collection of scenes from an old film. The lighting also is used to focus completely on each character that is being shown, highlighting their faces in each scene. This is probably because the words are not performed until the last part of the video so their expressions are needed to tell their part of the story (as it doesn’t coincide with the lyrics). It also again helps to promote Pulp and Jarvis Crocker as it makes his face, his style and his persona easy to see and for the audience to access and be sold on.

Camera
Camera
The members of the band feature and play characters throughout amongst actors, though you can’t necessarily tell whether they are members of the band or actors. Like The Cure video the main focus of the video is the lead singer, Jarvis Cocker – promoting him as the face of the band and showing his personality and selling him as one of the band’s best features. This works well as Jarvis Cocker is very opinionated, very recognisable, is a big character and has a very specific and cool presence which is reflected by the overall feel and look of this promotional video and song.
There are a complete variety of shots seen in this – similar to a film – this is because it is trying very specifically to imitate a film. There are close ups (of each character, particularly ones of Jarvis when he’s dying, when he’s tied up on the chair, of the dead woman in bed), extreme close ups (of Jarvis when he’s been shot, of Jarvis through the broken glass, of the woman dancing), mid shots (of many of the characters, the men at the beginning reading the script, Jarvis talking) establishing shots (of the couple at the park, of the office, of the party), wide shots (of everyone at the party, at Jarvis talking to a woman at the party, of Jarvis in the middle of the dancers), zooms (of Jarvis through the broken glass, of each screen test, of the woman playing piano), bird’s eye view shots (of Jarvis in the middle of the dancers), 360 rotates (of Jarvis in the middle of the dancers), crane shots (of Jarvis in between the dancers) and tracking (of Jarvis in between the dancers). Many of the shots focus around Jarvis being in the middle and being the main focus and narrator of the video – again selling him as the lead singer and promoting him as the selling point and personality of the band.
There is a close up of Jarvis in profile after he is shot – a close up has been used here because this is where Jarvis starts to perform the lyrics for the first time – “that it took me this long”. This works with the narrative as it appears to be his last dying words, that is a crucial moment in any dramatic film. It also works as it makes Jarvis stand out from all other people in the music video, as he is the only one to perform the lyrics – this again promotes him as a personality further. From that point all the words are performed by Jarvis until the end of the song. Using elaborate shots (such as bird’s eye view shots of Jarvis in the middle of the dancers, 360 rotates of Jarvis in the middle of the dancers, crane shots of Jarvis walking towards the camera, and tracking of Jarvis between the dancers) to help show his importance and keep the focus entirely on him. This has been used at the end to keep the audience remembering him as a performer and personality as you usually remember the last scenes of any visual performance. The elaborate shots and use of extras in these shots (the dancers) here also help to remember him as they are very over the top the audience would remember these being used and remember him being central to all of them.
The last elaborate scene/the performance from Jarvis also reflect the lyrics. After Jarvis “dies” in the film part of the video the scene fades to black as if it has finished. This last sequence works as a type of encore to the show which reflects one of the last lyrics of the song, “what exactly do you do for an encore?”.
The music even reflects some of the shots. There is a constant building and heavy dramatic overtone that works well with zooms. Particularly ones at the beginning when the camera zooms to establish scenes and characters (for example when the camera zooms into Jarvis through the broken mirror). And also when there is a zoom that shows a woman playing the piano as the piano first comes in.


EditingConceptual video based on - late 1950’s/early 1960’s films and old Hollywood glamour. It doesn’t necessarily have much to do with the specific words of the song but more of the feel of the song – sexy, a little dark, smooth. The song comes from Pulp’s second album when they are already established and have a reputation for doing strange, more artistic videos which their audience would look out for. It also works well with their genre of music as alternative artists quite commonly do conceptual videos.
The first thing you notice is the desaturated colour of the images – it again mimics the look of late 1950’s/early 1960’s films as the films in those times often had more of a colder, blue hue to the moving images, which has obviously been added in during post profuction.
At the beginning the takes are longer to reflect the slow, sexy drone of the music. The takes are edited to fit the timing of the music and feel rather than illustrating the actual words of the song. For example, near the beginning of the video there is a crab shot of a woman entering the office and moving to a man (Jarvis) who has been tied up in a chair who then sits up – from the beginning of this shot a bass note is held until the next one is played and Jarvis sits up at the same time.
There are also short takes throughout of classic “running film” you see in between certain takes at the cinema and such, that hint at the old editing process. This can be seen at the beginning with almost subliminal take of “missing scene” and “picture”. These images are sometimes over exposed over the takes of the “film” element of the music video.
The lyrics “I wanna make a movie” are shown when Jarvis and his co-star are in the car in front of a green screen which then changes to a road background. This obviously reflects the process of making a movie. As with when “oh here comes the hardcore life” there is a shot of a woman screaming as a shadow comes forward, reflecting the lyrics as the lady is screaming over dramatically/extremely (hard core meaning extreme) . The fact that the shot zooms in very quickly and very close up also gives a visual “hard core” feel.
As the music starts to build to the climax the shots show more movement and the takes become quicker. The takes flicker between a woman dancing in a red satin dressing gown and people at a party. The takes of the woman dancing and spinning are cut fast and use different shots (wide shots, close ups) to create a sense of energy and a build up which works well with the building music (as the music becomes louder and faster). This then contrasts with longer takes of the party – which are used to establish the scene and building up to the drama that is about to occur whilst also appearing random like a conceptual video. When the music reaches its climax the takes are very quick and focus around the “hard core” action that is going on in the party. The takes show a man throwing his drink at a mirror, two men starting a fight, a man choking on his drink/having a fit/heart attack/something of the sort, a man picking up a glass bottle, a man throwing a glass bottle, men fighting, people panicking etc, with the little random snippet of the woman twirling her red dress (red connoting danger, lust, passion). These not only reflect the sound of the music and are cut to the beat of the music but the lyrics “this is hardcore”, “there is no way back for you” all reflect the action taking place in the scene. The climax then ends on a high point with a shot of two men firing at Jarvis and the woman – again the end of the climax reflecting the end of the Jarvis and the woman. Jarvis’ head also hits the ground as the last drum beat of the climax is made.
My thoughtsI love the rich tones and colouring of the video but I mostly love how the music and takes work together – particularly in the climax when the visuals work together with the music and lyrics. I think it really causes excitement for the song and intensifies how amazing that part of the music and song is.