Analysing the "HYSTERIA" Music Video

CAMERA

Floating – gives a menacing and fearful feel to the video.

·      Handheld and constantly in motion – representative of the protagonist’s mindset.

·      Moving close-ups of protagonist – world is spinning around him.

·      Close-ups of objects which the protagonist is able to sense?

·      POV shots and rapid movement to continue the feeling of spinning.

·      Wide, empty shots to establish where he is and how alone he is.

·      Unfocus/Focus for moments of realisation.

·      Extreme close-ups to see the detail in his facial expression – mainly anger.

·      Zoom-ins at moments of concentration and perhaps a desire for understanding.

·      High-angle shots in moments of weakness.

·      Low-angle on TV – it dominates him.

EDITING

·      Slow as the protagonist sleeps – his mind is relaxed.

·      Quickens as the protagonist jolts awake to prevent the cleaner from entering his hotel room.

·      Quick cuts to show disturbed mindset and epic confusion.

·      Edits becomes faster as the protagonist becomes more angry.

·      Cuts slowly when the protagonist is attempting to concentrate but echoes of madness are still present when short close-ups are inserted.

·      Edited for a non-linear narrative. This displays his confusion as to what is past, present or imaginary for the Hysteric.

MISE-EN-SCENE

·      Location – Hotel room with a double bed, suggests sexual activity.

·      Costume

In the present time, he only wears a pair of trousers with no shirt. In the flashback, he is seen wearing a white shirt – showing a less aggressive frame of mind. The ‘one night stand’ has different costumes in the home video, demonstrating that the protagonist has been watching her for a long time. During the seducing scenes, she wears a black bra – this follows the overall darkness of the video. The Maid wears an old-fashioned, stereotypical uniform so that the audience can recognise her immediately.

·      Colour

There are mainly dark colours to reflect the darkness in the protagonist’s mind – black, dreary blue and patches of white light to give a blinding effect. This suggests that he is blind with rage. There are also shades of grey to display the dullness of everything around him.

·      Props

A Video Camera – used to help him piece together what happened the previous night. It provides an explanation for his madness.

Many objects scattered on the floor – shows that a struggle took place.

A television to allow the protagonist to watch what he taped in detail.

Flowers – fragile and beautiful, perhaps symbolic of the ‘one night stand’.

·      Facial Expressions

Shock and fear from the maid as she is forced from the door. This begins the aspect of fear involved throughout the video.

Strong anger from the protagonist as he realises what he did. This shows his madness and his lack of control.

Confusion from the protagonist from the protagonist as he tries to piece things together. He gets enraged and upset when he does not know. He gets scared by this confusion.

He is eager and desperate to see this ‘one night stand’. Allows the audience to see what kind of character he is.

REPRESENTATIONS

·      Women seem to be only good for serving men, e.g. the ‘one night stand’ and the maid.

·      Age and social class – the maid’s weight, hair and ugly earrings in contrast with the features of the protagonist and the ‘one night stand’.

·      Mental disability – they are all stalkers that have weak memories and can be aggressive and violent.

GENRE

·      Modern Prog-Rock

·      Radical subject matter

·      Very strange and provocative

·      Deals with living in darkness rather than an attempt to embrace the light.

·      Video suits the originality of Muse’s songs.

INTERTEXTUALITY

·      There is perhaps a reference to American Beauty where one of the characters films the girl next door.

·      This character also has a mental disability but it is more subtle than the protagonist in the “HYSTERIA” music video.

AUDIENCE’S REACTION

·      They would be shocked by the video’s content but will anticipate this because of the tone of the song. It has a dark, weird nature which people are sometimes attracted to.

·      An audience would watch this video because it suits Muse’s style of darkness and peculiarity.

MUSIC VIDEO THEORY

·      Andrew Goodwin’s theory of amplifying the lyrics is accurate in this song. The mentality of hysteria and the desire for someone there is clear in the video – which is the objective of the song.

·      It also follows the idea of iconography in different music genres. Since Muse is known for producing weird and ‘out-of-this-world’ music – the video suits them.

·      There are many close-ups in the video.

·      There is a great deal of voyeurism in the music video. The protagonist views his own video recording of a woman he has been stalking. He filmed his sexual activities as well as his violence towards her.

·      Laura Mulvey’s theory of woman in music videos is present. The ‘one night stand’ has the “sexy whore look”, especially when she climbs on the bed and licks her bottom lip seductively at the protagonist.

·      The maid, however, is not sexualised in any way. The video generalises women as only being good for serving the men.

·      This, in Mulvey’s view, forces the audience to see women as a heterosexual man would.

·      The man is clearly the most dominant in the video.

FOCUS GROUP

I have recently filmed and edited my focus group. It was interesting to hear their views on my ideas and music videos in general. It gives me a clearer understanding as to which direction i should be heading for.

Their ideas of how the song should begin were interesting, since some of them were similar to my own. Ryan described a basement full of mad people without even knowing that the song was about schizophrenia. This suggests to me that SPEAK TO ME has that 'mad' effect on most people. Ryan's idea does give me an image of many versions of the LUNATIC (my protagonist) all doing different actions in one large, dark room. Owen put forward the idea of loneliness, which I believe is almost key to the LUNATIC's character. Schizophrenia does have that essence of feeling alone. No one can understand what he does because they defy logical understanding. So, in this way, he is alone.

When asking about when the song ended, Jack described 'rainbows' as being a possibility. In spite of this probably being a joke, it gave me a good idea as to how approach the LUNATIC. He could be happy in parts, but it could all be delusion. Perhaps I can make a division between a dark reality and a colourful fiction through altering the colours of the piece. Perhaps the more upsetting scenes would be in dull and darker colours whilst the happy delusions' colours would be saturated.
Owen also described the song as not being happy. Which I suppose is true in the reality of the scenario, but it can be altered in the delusions that the LUNATIC is seeing.

In terms of the locations, Ryan had a detailed description. He described a person walking a forest path (which was one of my options on my Survey) and the weather gradually turns from heavy rain to bright sunlight. This was interesting because it suggests to me either a hopefulness for the character - in that he is able to break free of the depressing aspects of the illness - or a hopelessness because the bright sunlight could be a delusion (following the 'rainbow' idea).
Owen said the LUNATIC could be walking through town on his own and looking about himself. He recommended the town of Sevenoaks as a possibility. This fits in with a previous idea which I had where the LUNATIC walks through town and every person appears to be looking at him - which brings forward the topic of paranoia, often a by-product of schizophrenia. I also thought he could be in a dressing-gown, pushing a pram around with biscuits and LSD in the seat. This gives off the impression that he is very unaware of his surroundings.

On approaching them with my idea, they seemed positive and supportive of it - which is a good sign. Ryan in particular thought the idea was brilliant... if it was 'handled carefully'.

On discussing music videos, Jack and Owen were eager for me to watch the one for 'Californiacation'. That may be the next video I analyse. Jack believed that it was the video itself that made the song - I thought that was interesting seeing as it is usually the other way round. Owen preferred music videos which had a recognisable narrative, which I'll probably provide. Later on, Ryan rants about the use of the band in certain music videos. He did not approve of them appearing a large amount in the video. He  and Owen said how he was more interested in the story rather than the band. I will stick to this, as I was confused as to how much I should include the band in my video. Music videos like "The Kill" by 30 Seconds To Mars feature the band a lot of the time - however, they are characters in the story. I perhaps also should have asked whether they prefer people to lip-sync to the lyrics, like "The Kill", or just have the music dubbed over a short film like "Hysteria" by Muse.

The whole group were against videos which do not fit the tone of the song. Jack disapproved of 'pointless stuff' in music videos, which are not relevant to the meaning of the song. I have been attempting to avoid this since I began with "BRAIN DAMAGE". Since the song is about Syd Barrett's schizophrenia, I want to try and hold true to that.

In asking about their preference in narrative, Ryan and Owen believed that both clear and unclear can work as long as its 'done right'. My narrative structure is set out to be non-linear and confusing but I'll make it clear that the video is from a schizophrenic's mindset. This brings clarity and makes it easier to watch.

SPEAK TO ME - Shot List

I have compiled a shot list together for the first part of the video, which will be SPEAK TO ME. It will be immediately followed by BRAIN DAMAGE. I thought BRAIN DAMAGE was too immediate, and so I thought it would be good to have a build up to this song. This allows the audience to recognise at once what kind of song this is. The shot list is pictured below.

I have tried to keep true to the structure of the song. Since most of the sounds in this particular song conjure up specific images, I thought it wise to follow this in the visuals. The use of a Therapist's Office is to make it clear to the audience that the protagonist, the LUNATIC, is mentally unstable. I also want to enter into the LUNATIC's mind in the video, so the rapid intercutting would be useful here. 

The use of a triangular frame at the beginning is an allusion to the cover of the DARK SIDE OF THE MOON album. I've used it here to give a sense of seclusion, claustrophobia and loneliness for the protagonist. 

Survey Results

Below I've inserted photos of the results of my survey. On each one I'll explain what they are and how they affect the progress of my music video.


Which progressive rock band do you enjoy the most?:

The majority seem to prefer Pink Floyd the most. So, my original plans remain unchanged. However, I have been intrigued by the look and style of certain 30 Seconds To Mars music videos. So, I'll use a song and insert the meaning of it in the video, but I'll adopt 30STM's overall look (e.g. black eyeliner, long hair etc.).

The theme of Schizophrenia should be _______ in the video?

By this result, I thought I could make the video more surreal and ambiguous - and keeping to the theme of schizophrenia. 

What tones in music videos do you prefer?

From this it seems that the audience most prefer dark and colourful tones. It is interesting that they have equally chosen to contradictory tones. In spite of this, it is entirely feasible to include both tones for aesthetic purposes. Perhaps to indicate the dark reality and the colourful fiction, which the protagonist will experience in the video.


What colours would you expect in a video about schizophrenia?

To back up my decision to use a variety of dark and bright colours is this pie chart. It seems that the audience would accept a mixture of both in this kind of music video.


What relationship - in terms of lyrics to visuals - do you prefer?

This is the outcome I desired. I based this question on Andrew Goodwin's Music Theory describing the three types of music videos: those that are illustrating, those which amplify and those that contradict the lyrics of the song. "BRAIN DAMAGE"'s lyrics are quite surreal and almost nonsensical, so it would be a foolish attempt in trying to illustrate the lyrics. However, I still want to uncover the meaning of the song through the video, which I can do through amplification. I tend not to favour contradiction myself, which makes me relieved to see that most people prefer amplification.


What locations would you think would work best in a video about schizophrenia?

It is clear here that people think that an abandoned lunatic asylum is best for the video, which I would have to agree with. The difficulty is, which I foolishly hadn't considered before, getting to this abandoned lunatic asylum. There is one in Surrey called the Springfield Asylum - but since it is an hour and a half away by car, this does not seem to be very practical logistically. I may have to fall back on the other locations like the house and the town, because they would be very easy to get to.  

Analysis of the "Dark Side of the Moon" Digipak 2

• The front cover contains a beam of thin, white light entering into a metallic triangle. The light is then refracted on the other side, splitting it into all the colours of the spectrum. This all happens on a pitch black background. The cover is very enigmatic and dark, suiting the style of Pink Floyd's music. It also appears to be referencing space because it involves a physiological occurrence on a black background. The triangle reminds me of the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey" whose alien presence is an enigma but we try our best to understand it.

This may be reflective of the band's issues with Syd Barrett's schizophrenia and the epic confusion it caused. The cover's spacy element can also suggest that the music is 'out-of-this-world', which would appeal to the general public.

• The back cover is a live image of four prisms with many lines of coloured light going through them. The prisms all seem connected by these colours of light but not to the source of white light. Perhaps this is to symbolise how something may be more complicated that it appears. Since there are four prisms, I would guess that these resemble the four band members who are all connected by the colour of music. The CD and the back cover of the booklet also have this image.

Analysis of the "Dark Side of the Moon" Digipak 1

The Digipak I am analysing now is the 1992 remastered version of the 1973 album "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd. Since my chosen song is from the same genre (prog-rock), band and even the same album - I thought this would be a good choice.

• Unusually, images of the band members are not featured in the front or inside covers of the pack - not even on the disc itself. They only reveal their faces in two double-pages of the booklet, which is included with the CD case. The band's absence gives off a sense of mystery and deeper appreciation for the music rather than their image.
• The double-page below shows four separate images of the band members playing in concert. They do not appear to be happy but SERIOUS about their craft. This fits into their style of music, which is psychedelic and dark. 

• The penultimate double-page of the booklet features all four Pink Floyd members in black-and-white. All are smiling and content with themselves. It is stating that since the album has been listened to - because the image is after all the pages of lyrics - one can be content without seriousness once again.

• The booklet contains the list of songs, the band members and who play which songs. This is to keep die-hard fans informed as well as teaching soon-to-be fanatics. The idea of the songs being more important than the artist is repeated in the font. The list of songs in the digipak are in BLOCK CAPITALS and the artists use only their surnames and are mostly in lowercase lettering. 

• Like many other digipak booklets, this one contains the lyrics for every song performed. Unlike most, however, each song has its own double page with differing images and colour scheme. The colour scheme follows that of when light is refracted in a glass prism. So, it begins with red and ends in a deep purple. The song lyric double-pages, on top of their uniform colour scheme, also have different abstract images on each to add to the enigma. For example, the image for the song "BRAIN DAMAGE" contains keys, a syringe, spoons, lobster cutters and a tablet canister. Since this song is supposed to a dedication to Syd Barrett's mental illness, it would be safe to assume that the objects are to do with that. The keys in particular probably allude to one of Barrett's breakdowns where he locked his girlfriend in a cupboard for three days - only feeding her biscuits, which he slid under the door. It is also alluded to in the lyric: 'You lock the door/And throw away the key'.

Practice Filming

I've finished editing the footage I shot last weekend. This is basically a rough version of what the finished product should be like. I'm sticking to the same song and practically the same scenario. Hope you enjoy it!

The fact that he is sitting on the grass is a contribution to the lyrics. In this respect, it makes the relationship between the lyrics and visuals - according to Goodwin - illustrative. I also wanted to make the protagonist - who I've named the LUNATIC - seem solitary in quite a wide landscape. This is similar to what Stanley Kubrick achieved in The Shining. Like The Shining, I also included many surreal elements to indicate the Lunatic's growing insanity. Here, I've included a red watering-can with an iconic Melting Clock - made so by the famous surrealist painter, Salvidor Dali. It also presents the theme of time, which recurs throughout the album (particularly the song Time). 

The shots of the Lunatic laying in his bed indicates that he is having a delusion - one of the symptoms of schizophrenia. But I want the audience to question whether he is having the delusion whilst on the bed, on while he's on the grass. This shot involves more handheld work to represent his mindset. His mindset is wavering and active in his own delusion.

The use of the key is alluding to what I'm going to include afterwards. Syd Barrett - the person who I base the Lunatic on - allegedly kept his girlfriend under lock and key for three days, only giving her biscuit rations which he passed under the door.

I made my actor wear all black to prepare the audience for the darkness of the video. To increase this intended effect, I desaturated the colour of the video to give it a more depressing feel.