The storyline is of a girl who has healing powers and her story of healing the dying rich, this focuses on how healing others makes her ill. And how exploited she is.
I love this video because its so stilling. The storyline is to the point of telling you that the girl isn't normal in the beginning of the video, also the use of silence and script is very haunting, because at some point the surrounding sounds filter thought and brings the character to the foreground of things
opening sequence
Director and band
Under table shot of person drumming fingers
translated conversatio over the shoulder
point of view shot high of the toy.
attention goes to the two cups
we see the cups at the top high and floating off, main focus is the girl who is focusing on the cups.
another shot of her attention more drawn to her static hair.
after a blackout we see the toy in flames as she watches and this gives the story a dark undertone
pans down to her profile
Then back to the cups, this relapse makes the audience think of what had just happened,
was it imagination or real?
focus varies from the painting behind her to her.
we get the sense of her being bored and alone at the interaction with the toy.
a short blackout
video title
And the first image after the title is of the character behind curtains
Panning
moving from the character
to her neck
the focus on our character while she is in the car is smart , using the change in light by the tunnel it give it a feel of movement and dark and light as we focus on her face.
the exchange of the girl is done by showing her refusal to leave the car.
the entrance of a man
and her looking away
then walking across to him.
This is a very dark laced scene the unknown surroundings seeming to be of someone rich and then the dark clothing chose of all the characters, the slow motion movement of them, showing lot more detail to the audience.
shot of her out of center showing her out of place
Nervous gesture with shoes also highlighting the expensive carpet like the expensive room.
POV Tracking In this scene we follow the gaze of the characters to see what they are looking at
She looks up
and camera tracks chandelier above her
He looks down
we see she is holding his hand to comfort
he is paying attention to something beyond the camera
then we are shown the girl.
Indexical signs and Dutch angles
the gripping of the armrest a sign of nerves
looking through the rear view secretive.
focus is on her
as she falls the camera follows her by tracking but also tilts hist view
, this brings a sense of nausea and light headiness
then we are shown her on the floor
Video Analysis
The video starts of with introducing the character, showing her innocence, age and how alone she is by showing us the conversation between her and a Furby toy, the activity very odd but mundane but then coming down to the translated words the meaning of her asking it if it is afraid of her, is odd. then as the music starts we see that the girl is very odd, from the the shot of the floating cups, her hair static, showing something unnatural quick quickly, i like the static in hair, because it describes a current running through her, and also the image of hair raising is unsettling because it also is set in a heartbeat. The furby on fire is unnerving because of the conversation before, we become aware that she isn't normal, that she is dangerous and unnatural. We follow the story to see the conversation with her mother of seeing 'The old man' then another gap where the music comes back and we see her alone again, playing, chowing this child like sense to her, playing the game the floor is hot lava by herself. before we again are shown a weird ritual of the girl getting ready, her mother combing her hair them pricking her neck with a needle. then seeing this very quiet and anxious moment of her in a lavish house and her holding a dying mans hand. we see her afterwards being carried off and the way her powers are being exploited by her mother too elite people.
Narritive
The narritive dialogue of the Film is in a different language so it is subtitled giving the font a way to tell the story, the minimal conversation dies down closer to the end of the feel and is ver short, to keep the focus on the main narritive of the songs, the way silence spaces follow loud is something i never get old of, i love the gaps filled with or mundane things to show the character as a normal or mundane person when they are not, it brings out a sense of pity and interesting the character. The diagetic sounds are used to change scene, like the sound of Furby catching fire was heard before seen, which connects the previous scene to the next, it is a very nice routine.
Genre
The genre of the band is alternative pop, indie. And the video conforms to its uniqueness, the film is young but dark in some senses of truth but fiction, the way life works, with the girl being exploited for money is true and it does happen to theres but her being exploited for her powers is fiction, supernatural, i like the way that they introduced her power to us, first showing the childishness to her then the oddness of what she can do, starting off lightly with floating cups, to setting things on fire, the sudden change in sense and violence is very well conducted, as it goes from one degree to another.
Representation
The representation of the girl in the film is very relucnatant, and forced, she seems to not like doing what she does but is placed in a corner with her mother, and the mother is represented as the person forcing her daughter to do this. i think that its very chilling that its the mother as the effect would be different if it were the father, since mothers are usually the protective, marternal figures in a child's life.
the rich are represented as dying or ill and kind of afraid of death they will pay to tray and survive. teh video represents the music as very dark and light at the same time, the song becoming the reliefe of the film because its down during the times when she isn't working but before and after, its a relife from the silence of the film.
Audience
The representation of the audience follows the band, so I can assusme they are very indie and calm, like the music, the video is very artistic and cinematographic and a way of documentary , realistic yet not.
Also looking at the way the character is dressed represents The image of the bands audeince as also being in that fashion, because the video relates to the band who relate to the audeince, who are mostly reformers, not mainstream at all and very self fuffiling
The storyline is very simple, a man falls for a
Phoenix/woman who falls from the skies. in their relationship the songs seem to
show stages of their relationship, till it finally ends.
Another interesting very cinematic video, the
structure of every scene is like every other video I have reviewed,
beautiful, I love the filter work with the scenes in the video and also
the placing of the music, really shows the story line and help the flow, this
makes me think on what I music I want to do and how I want to do it.
Video analysis
The story begins with a foreshadow of the end, where we see Kanye West seen running down the road in the woods in a desperate sprint, towards something, then a shot to the sky where there is a comet hurling across the sky the voice over that seems to begin. The title of the video shows the start of the music and the story. We are still in the woods, the cinematic feel of the whole seen very dawn like, in an unknown time, since it seems misty yet bright,
We then see a man driving a car through the woods we see that’s its Kanye West due to him singing along in the rear view mirror but we don’t see his full face, then as the comet crashes we then see a silhouette of him carrying a woman in the foreground of an explosion. Then we are introduced to the woman, as she wakes up to the TV she is a bird/ human thing and at seems to be interested in the TV until Kanye West switches it off and we first fully see him.
Narritive
The story in the video is told mainly by song, but unlike Hurricane there aren’t voice overs throughout the video but only at the beginning and then the characters have a few words but there isn't that much conversation except when he has a conversation with the woman.
telling the story this way makes it feel real time, even though it was voiced over, as it has conversations we get to see the character interact with another without it being very detached, because voice over’s either show thought or memory. The songs seem to narrate enough for the story to not have a lot of speech.
Genre
The Film is very long and the story line down not abruptly change, it is a fantasy in the sense of the storyline, and the character of the Pheonix.It is also a short film that has a very awkward and modern feel. That I would watch on a daily basis because I like indie feel films, the awkward silences broken with sudden noises or the other way around is very beautifully used and keeps the story interesting. the music has its own part, so i can section of a bit of the video with a song and used it like a music video. each music video tied in by a scene that flows into the next section. The colour scheme is also something i enjoyed in the film, it was very appealing to the eye and set the mood for the scene. some of the scenes remind me of a comic book shot, earlier on with the Phoenix in the sky and also when theres an explosion behind him and he is walking away.
Representation
The representation of the video isn't the commonly stereo typed hip hop video, where the rapper wears gold thick gold chains and baggy pants, and shows the violence of the streets or where multiple scantily clad girls dance in front of the camera, this is more on a love story, the only girl who we focus on is the Phoenix and everything done isn't trashy or outrageous. she is represented as being a goddess, another being who is loved by the rapper but then leaves. And Kanye West is represented as rich man who is alone.
Audience
The audience of the video is into the genre of music that the artist does, i don't think a person who is into rock or other things would watch or enjoy the film with its heavy soundtrack as much as a person who is into the genre. the music taken away would leave it with almost like a silent movie feel, and the audience would completely change without the music. The audience watching the video aren't very aggressively gangster or into that type of fashion or view. The audience seems a lot more modern and a mix between succeeder, for example people who have status and control and people who aspire to be and who by the labels
opening sequence
Foreshadowing.
In the beginning of the video we first see the character running.
Then the title of the video
Although short the short the opening of the video begins with a story that has already happened it grabs the audience in to actually follow it, from the beginning
We are first shown a comet hurtling down
then the establishing shot of the woods with the car
the tracking shot following the car maintaining intres in it.as we get closer to it.
the person in the drivers seat cannot be seen fully but we can see his mouth in the rear view this shot establishes that he is the artist as he is rapping to the music
shot of deer in the words brings back the indexical signs to the video approaching the mood and atmosphere.
Then we are shown the impending danger hurtling towards us, the low angle shot makes you feel antsy as it is coming towards the screen.
we are then shown the car moving past the trees
the impending danger comming close, with a panning shot from the ground to thew sky as a POV of the car moving towrads it.
the relaxed deers un aware of the danger
another shot through the woods at the car and the comet as they collide but before it does its a black out with the audio on
when we return we see the damage camera moving in
then tracking the character getting out of the car and moving to towards the person on the ground.
even though we still don't really have an established character we are introduced to this Phoenix, in birds eye panning away from her revealing her slowly to the audience
Then a the shadow of the characters walking away
Todorov's theory and repetition
In this video the begin and end of the story are mostly repeated for fimilarity and also to show the difference
The Phoenix in the garden
Our character watching her.
In the beginning of the film we see this shot where our character observes the Phoenix interact with the animals in the garden, seeming eager and childlike in her fascination, then it cuts to our character who watches her.
the phoenix now sad is in the garden
our character watches
This repetition of distance reminds the audience of the once happy Phoenix and also of the distance being caused by something else, communication limited they show the works of their relationship with distances in scenes and places, her being outside while he is inside but watching over her, the same way he did before.
panning and shots
The Video pans in the point of view of our character as he walks along the glass.
then its matched by the Phoenix outside by her gaze and also the video pans over her shoulder.
symmetrically this series of shots also catch my attention as we go from a close up shot to a wide shot to a point of view,
the series of shots begins with the Phoenix playing with the teacups.
then we are shown the whole picture of the character observing
then its a point of view shot when she looks at him.
Beginning VS Ending
to place the story and weave all together the story comes back full circle, but with almost the same shots to bring home the sense of it all coming back to the start and the start coming back to the finish.
The ending begins with the character waking up,
a Birdseye zoom out
the introduction of the Phoenix was a Birdseye zoom out
