NW Video Analysis 2

Posted by Nick

'Ulysses' by Franz Ferdinand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31sZ9xZr_Ew


Genre and Narrative

The video for the single ‘Ulysses’ by Scottish Indie rockers Franz Ferdinand, (from their third studio album ‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’), sees the band venture into a dated and somewhat uncanny town to endure a night of endless revelry in a variety of the towns eerie setting.

Exploring Andrew Goodwin’s theories about the basic structure evident in all music videos, we can see how the director has used specific conventions to make sure the audience easily identify the video as being from the ‘Indie’ genre. The video is a combination, with narrative and concept based, as well as a performance aspect, depicting the band going out to various places, including a bar, a motel and a dry-cleaners, all throughout their night on the town, thus giving the video it’s narrative, however, it does not conform to traditional ideas associated with the ‘Indie’ genre, as the band are shown to all have insomnia, not able to sleep, their physical appearance depicting them as either drunk or high, residing in a very different setting, the town they visit is old and dirty, with cheap, harsh lighting, which gives the visuals a distinctive artistic feel, whilst also making the video concept based. There are also aspects of performance as on a number of occasions, as we see the band performing together in the desolate bars of the town, causing mayhem, wrecking hotel rooms, all conventions associated with the genre.

The beat of the music is in keeping with the visuals, as whilst in the verses, there are shots that have been slowed down in the editing process, slow-pans and lingering shots, whereas in the choruses, as the music builds to its up-beat and livelier feel, the visuals are faster and contain shots which include quick-zoom’s and fast-pan’s, which connote the heavy party atmosphere that the band are experiencing at the time, in the normally quiet and fairly creepy town.

There is also a link between the lyrics and visuals, as the director chooses on many occasions to amplify them, with the lyric, ‘come on let’s get high’, the band are shown jumping around on their beds, (giving the lyrics its literal meaning) whilst in their drunken state, and when we hear the lead singer, Alex Kapranos sing ‘Am I Ulysses?’, in the phone box in which he sings the line, there is a poster asking the same question.

There is very little reference to the notion of looking, with only a few shots giving a further insight into the personal lives of the band, as we watch the band member’s reflections in the washing machine of the dry-cleaners, these shots being used to add to the confusion of both the band members who perform their actions in the video, and for the audience, who watch from a distance whilst the band lose their minds in the psychedelic hedonism.

The video is an example of illustration, as the song describes the drug abuses and drunken antics experienced by the group, and the audience immediately understands the concept, the strange visuals, depicting one eyed cowboys and china dolls, all highlighting the disturbed thoughts and feelings one has whilst in this state of mind.

The editing rhythm speeds up as the chorus begins, with the first chorus beginning with a drum roll, each hit of the drum in the music showing a different visual in the video, illustrating the pace of which the band live their lives.

The video is very postmodern, placing the band in an unfamiliar setting where they are free to run wild, thus creating bricolage, as we see the band behaving like traditional British rock stars,(with beliefs certified in the media that many musicians take drugs and drink heavily), in a strange town, where everything seems to have been left in the past, with the traditionally bland interior evident in the hotel, similar to those in the 1970’s, with images of Jesus and God certifying the idea of a heavily religious and therefore potentially intimidating town, in keeping with the bands meta-narrative of powerful, hardcore rock stars.

The video is both ‘commercial’, using meat shots and the first person mode of address to make sure the audience identify with the band and buy into the ‘product’ which is being sold, but it is also postmodern and artistic, with captivating imagery, highlighted through the lighting and mise-en-scene, which gives the video its repeatability factor.

Media Language

There is a wide variety of shot sizes, angles and movements used in the video, and I believe that the director has chosen to do this to add to the sense of mystery and bewilderment already established with the eerie locations and activities the group encounter. In the beginning of the song, meat shots and XCU, as well as images from all locations apparent in the video are shown on screen, and this is used to allow the audience to identify with the band, understand what the song is about and where the journey will take them. There is a sequence where the group run through a desert area, and here LS, MS and CU are all used at both a low and mid angle, showing the band from all perspectives in a variety of directions, and this is a prime example of the camerawork evident in the entire video, which uses an array of camera shots, the audience getting the feel that the video has been shot very quickly, with no set structure defining that there should be a certain amount of shots of the lead singers face, with the random shot sizes, angles and movements all flowing as one big visual insight into the bizarre and quirky world of the band.

When analysing the editing of the video, we can see how the director has chosen to use a variety of simple techniques to highlight the drugged up state in which the band perform, using slow-mo to highlight the bands drowsiness, one such shot of the lead singer depicts him in his tattered clothing, (mouth ajar, due to the state that he’s in), with everyone around him laughing jokily, as if mocking him as well as his lifestyle, the slow-mo emphasising the feelings which the singer experiences at this moment. The director also uses reverse time when the lead guitarist jumps to his bed, again, this technique adding to the style of the video, with its unfamiliar setting with a band who will find it somewhat more unsettling, due to the spirits in which they are in. The editing slows down and subsequently fastens when the music turns from its slower verses to its up beat choruses, emphasising the high’s and the low’s the band experience.

Analysing mise-en-scene we can see how the director has added certain props, and used certain lighting techniques to add to the visual style maintained throughout the song. In a shot from the first verse, we see a stretch limo in the background highlighting the party life the band lead, and in subsequent shots we see the old 1980’s game arcades, and from these subtle props, the viewer is lead to believe that either the band or the town which they are in is very dated and un-modern, and this adds to confusion of the entire visual style. The lighting is very stark and harsh, making the bands complexion seem poor, as if they haven’t washed in a long time (highlighted through their greasy hair and ragged clothing), and this directly challenges mainstream videos which heavily airbrush singers to make them seem perfect, here, Franz Ferdinand saying to its audience that not everyone is how the media portray them to be.

The director has made the video with the idea of avant-garde and pastiche firmly in their mind as there is evidence of intertextual reference, using ideas from iconic films such as ‘Fight Club’, where the lead character suffers from insomnia which leads to his wayward lifestyle, similar to that of the band. The director uses semiotics, images of God and old children’s toys to create a ghostly atmosphere, the audience getting the feeling that, like the band, they are lost in unknown territory, similar to conventional American horror films, where an unsuspecting group of friends find themselves trapped in a forbidding town stuck in the past. This use of intertextual reference helps the audience to understand the bands concept and make them draw on past experiences from other films to heighten the feelings of nostalgia and restlessness depicted in the visuals.

Representation

Like many of the bands previous videos, they are seen performing in a variety of settings and locations, all with postmodern connotations. With the video for ‘Matinee’ the band perform in a dilapidated school, and in the video for ‘No You Girls’, in a studio, with explosions of colour going off around them, and thus this artistic, pastiche, and postmodern video for ‘Ulysses’ is in keeping with the band’s meta-narrative, the audience expecting tem to produce new and exciting videos with an unconventional twist which they have executed so well in other videos. The use of meat shots help to maintain identity with the band, however the visuals of the rebellious lifestyle which they lead (one of Richard Dyer’s key paradoxes), take their fans to an area which perhaps they are not familiar with, the director choosing to show the band in a dream-like state, not wary of what happens around them.

All of the people in the video (excluding the band members) are depicted as being rather strange and stagnant, with CU of the one-eyed cowboy, the man dressed in leather, and various people at the bar all having quirky attributes, whether it be their peculiar dress sense not immediately recognisable by ‘Indie’ fans, their wild hairstyles or their flamboyant mannerisms, and thus the audience connotes that the director is trying to convey these people as odd and dissimilar to the supposed ‘normality’ of the band. All men in the bar are shown drinking, reinforcing the image of masculinity, drinking alcohol in order to have a good time, and other people present, for example the bald man in the dry-cleaners, is dressed in very dated clothing, suggesting the band are perhaps well far ahead of their time. Whilst the lyrics illustrate the bands rock star lifestyle, the visuals also add to their image, with their unkempt clothing and hair showing their poor living conditions whilst also glamorising the music business, as with their newly found image, they are shown to have an extremely enjoyable time.

In many mainstream videos, the ‘stars’ are seen enjoying life’s luxuries, coated in jewellery, surrounded by gorgeous women, and whilst this belief that to have a good time, one must own such items, and thus be wealthy is not evident in all ‘Indie’ videos, it does appear as a strong ideology in many other genres, ranging from ‘Pop’ to ‘Hip-Hop’. In Franz Ferdinand’s music video, this ideology of capitalism is challenged, as the band are seen enjoying themselves in perhaps a childish manor, finding enjoyment from jumping around on beds and spinning round in a tumble- dryer. The band talk of ‘getting high’, and whilst they are not shown doused head to toe in jewellery, they gain much enjoyment (and on the downside, later, paranoia), from their supposed binge on drink and drugs, although the video does not directly show them doing this.

Institution and Audience

As the video is by a relatively well known band (Franz Ferdinand gaining chart success throughout Europe and America), it would be shown on the majority of music channels associated with ‘chart music’ as well as those which specify in the genre, such as NME, which shows a variety of ‘Indie’ and ‘Rock’ videos. Due to the video’s lo-fi feel, specifically detailing a night in the lives of the band, with simple camera techniques with no special effects, the video could be consumed in a focused manner, with the director relying heavily on the visuals to entice the audience to watch more, the style serving as an enigma as to what strange escapades the band will encounter next, creating ‘narrative fuzz’, and giving the video its ‘repeatability’.

Analysing the mise-en-scene, we see the band messing around together in a hotel room with their instruments, and thus this could mean that some audience members watch the video in an ambient manner, the performance aspect of the video being relatively similar to mainstream videos.

The production company has obviously stressed a need for meat shots, adding to the bands star image persona so the audience can identify with them, but apart form this, the band have been free to do what they want in the video, a ‘documentary’ feel being created, showing the mischief and mayhem the band get up to on a night out in a town which is shown to have no life nor energy, and thus the only way to have fun is ‘get high’, the director successfully documenting what happens, through various shots in various locations when the band do so.