SF - Product analysis 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbHn1Pgj6Zk


The music video I have chosen for my first product analysis is 'Animal I Have Become', a song by the punk band 'Three Days Grace'. It was directed by Dean Karr for the Jive record company in 2006, meaning that it is from the contemporary punk rock genre. The broad characteristics of the genre that are portrayed in the video are typical conventions that people tend to associate with punk rock bands e.g. piercings, hair styled into a mohawk, electric guitars, dark clothes. This suggests that this video is conforming to the main conventions of this particular genre of music with the props and costumes that have been used. These props and costumes are a form of iconography as they portray the generic conventions of the genre.



As this song is about the fear of seeing what type of person you really are, the lyrics seem to be illustrated by the visuals to an extent because when the singer says 'I can't escape this hell', the visuals cut to a long-shot of the character laying in bed with the shot shaking, suggesting the situation he is in, with the next shot being of him being held down by his doppelgänger, which connotes an internal mental struggle against his demons. When a very similar shot of this situation is shown the camera zooms in very quickly after using an establishing shot to show that the room the character sleeps in is a mess. However, the visuals do amplify the lyrics as well because when he says about 'seeing the dark inside of him' his reflection is shown in a shop window, showing a dark character being reflected back at him, against connoting the darker side of him coming to the surface. The title of the track helps with the idea of an inner struggle because the title 'Animal I have become' even connotes the idea of seeing yourself as a monster. The camera does seem to focus on advertising the band by using meat shots, with the main focus being on the singer, with a medium close up being used when he is lip syncing with the performance part of the video. Some of the sequence in the red tunnel is illustrative of the lyrics because when 'Gontier' sings 'the dark inside of me' a shadowy reflection is shown which connotes that he sees himself as a monster and is trying to hide that side. The red tunnel connotes being trapped and unable to escape the torment that he suffers at the hands of his demons.



The video does cut to the beat at certain such as at the introduction because it is being used to set the scene, by using establishing shots as a method of setting the scene and in these shots it shows the characters room in a mess, connoting a bad night, or suggesting that there may have been a disturbance. During the small solo instrumental, the music is not illustrated by by the visuals because it focuses on the character staring at his reflection, which appears as a shadowy alter-ego and connotes the darker side of him reappearing and showing him what everyone else appeared to see before him. The video does change pace with the music sometimes because at the start of the video, the music was at a medium tempo, with the shots cutting with the beat. However this then changed later in the song because whilst the music remains at the same tempo, the shots start to get longer. A key example of this is when the character is walking down the street, there are really quick shots that connote that he is in a hurry, but earlier in the video, the cutting pace is much slower , such as when he is looking in the mirror, connoting that he is looking for anything that may be wrong. Another example of fast cuts is when the camera alternates between showing all the band members, as a way of advertising all members in a short space of time.



With this being a contemporary music video, the record company are looking to sell the track by advertising the band members as much as possible, but with it being the punk genre, the artists would potentially be aiming to send a message in the video e.g. the effects drugs could have, problems they see in society etc. The motifs this band are using are conventional ideas from the genre, such as the dark clothes and the piercings, which indicates exactly what genre the music is from. This motifs are shown in other videos by the band such as 'Just Like You' and 'I Hate Everything About You' in more than one band member has a mohawk or mohican. The image of the artist that is offered is as rebels and angry members of society and this image is reinforced by the visuals of the artist shouting, which connotes the idea of hostility. By using semiotics to analyse mise-en-scene it is obvious that the lighting in the tunnel helps to suggest the true seriousness of the situation as red connotes danger. With the added lighting effects, it suggests that the character is in danger of being consumed by his bad habits and allowing the darker side of his nature to take over. However this contrasts with the lighting in the room that the character starts of in as the light is yellow, which signifies warmth which suggests that the room is homely.



The artists are reinforcing the dominant ideologies of men being violent because in some parts of the video the artist is seen shouting the lyrics. The male character is shown as uncaring because at two different points in the video, he is shown forcing his way past people. This connotes ideas of the self centred trait that males in society are said to have. Although these traits are shown, there is a contradiction over the stereotypes of men being powerful because when the character is laying on the bed bed being held down by his demons, it connotes that he is vulnerable and hints at a weakness. This is a direction of the myth of masculinity which connotes the stereotypical gender traits of men being strong and resilient because he is portraying an obvious weakness. When a woman is shown at the end of the video it relates to the ritual subordination of women, a theory devised by Jhally, Goffman and Kilbourne. This included the artificial look which the woman in the video displays as she is slim, tall and long legged, connoting a sexual aura. Stereotypes are contradicted by the camera angles to because although men are seen as dominant, the camera is positioned so that the male character is looking up at the female character, connoting that she is stronger than the male character. This does not however defy the function ranking as she still appears to be pictured in a decorative role.



There is a direct reference to Goodwin's notion of looking idea when the artist looks in the mirror and is looking into several reflective surfaces and seeing the monster that he believes he has become. The meat shots used are suggesting that the singer is on sexual display as the shots are looking up at him and are focussing on his face, which uses the idea of dismemberment to objectify the musician. There is another reference to the notion of looking when the lead character looks at the wall of the tunnel he is moving through and sees the side of himself that he appears to be attempting to escape.



There are intertextual references with other music videos but only to a small extent because it uses ideas that some other bands have used in their videos with the idea of a performance being mixed in with a narrative. As with many contemporary bands, the narrative and performance concept is used as a way of advertising the band as well as a method of the band putting a message across, whatever it may be.



This music video is a performance based video to a slight extent because the shots keep cutting back to the band, showing them performing the song and the artist lip syncing. This part helps to advertise the band and the track. It is also narrative based as it shows how a man is struggling to escape from himself and the artist even refers to it as a 'nightmare' and 'hell', which connotes that he is there because of what he may have done wrong and it connotes that it is some form of personal torment for him.



Therefore, with all things considered, this is a hybridised performance and narrative based contemporary punk rock music video. In relation to most music videos from the genre it uses the ideas of the notion of looking whether a mirror is used or just a reflective surface as a method of differing from the genre conventions and also the idea of anger an being restricted as a method of keeping similarities with other bands in the genre. All in all this music video is a band advertisement mechanism but it also gives the band an opportunity to advertise their own views.