Music video director essay: Chris Cunningham

Music video director essay: Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. The music video’s he is most commonly well known for are ‘Come to Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’.  These are the music video’s I will be analysing. In analysing these music video’s I will be using several theories such as Goodwin’s six point analysis theory, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (Routledge 1992), Richard Dyer’s Star Theory and the Auteur Theory.  Although these songs are from the same artist, Cunningham portrays the themes of ‘Come to Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’ in different ways.  The colours and atmosphere almost oppose each other; however the visual motif remains the same. The colours used in Come to Daddy are dark and metallic creating a very evil and frightening atmosphere, whereas Windowlicker uses bright and vibrant colours to capture the sunny streets of L.A California. The atmosphere of Windowlicker is unorthodox compared to Cunningham’s usual style. The music video follows the mood and pace of the song creating a more relaxed and dreamlike style. This relates to Goodwin’s six point analysis and how there is a relationship between music and visuals. 

Throughout ‘Come to Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’, Cunningham uses close up shots of Richard David James’s visual motif to advertise Aphex Twins image and endorse he’s iconic style. This relates to Andrew Goodwin’s six point analysis of how record labels will demand the need of multiple close ups of the artist to create a visual style. This also relates to Richard Dyer’s star theory in which the image of the star has been developed by the star themselves and/or the management team across a wide range of media (advertising etc.). Aphex Twin’s unique selling point comes from Richard David James’s visual motif in which a disturbing image is branded on Aphex Twin demonstrating their style and genre.

Throughout ‘Windowlicker’, women are seen to be treated as sex objects made for the pleasure of men and nothing more. This is shown by the confrontation between the windowlicker’s and the two women standing on the curb and how they aim to have sex with the women despite their constant refusal. This relates to Goodwin’s six point analysis of how there is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. However, Cunningham does not follow the standard style of the usual music video in which women are treated as sex objects. ‘Windowlicker’ is almost a parody of this stereotypical genre as we can see from the introduction that the two windowlicker’s are turned down and humiliated by the women. Cunningham also opposes this genre by the use of Richard David James’s visual motif which replaces the faces of the women dancing towards the end of the video (7:49). Whereas in most typical music video’s woman are made to look sexy, attractive and desirable, to the audiences surprise Cunningham creates disturbing and shocking images which are unexpected due to the basic characteristics of this genre. Auteur theory suggests that every director has their own authentic style which separates them from other directors. In my opinion Chris Cunningham’s approach to the basic stereotypical genre is totally original and creative which breaks the boundaries of the status quo and separates him from his associates in the music video industry.

In ‘Come to Daddy’, there is clear evidence of Goodwin’s six point analysis theory of the relationship between lyrics and visuals. This is shown by the acts of the possessed children who are drawn towards the demonic creature in the TV. Towards the end of the video once the demonic like creature has been fully born (physically) the children gather around it in awe and praise (4:55). This links to the lyrics “come to Daddy” as it seems as though the creature is calling his children to summon him.

In ‘Windowlicker’ and ‘Come to Daddy’ there is a clear relationship between music and visuals as shown in Goodwin’s Six Point Analysis.This is shown by the use of status distinguishing who holds the most power in a group of people. For example in Windowlicker many low angle shots are used to show the advantage that James’s visual motif has over the window lickers since he attracts women where the Windowlickers fail.  By tilting the camera angle up towards the visual motif from the ground he appears powerful whereas the camera angles used when shooting the Windowlickers are often tilted down from above showing how powerless they are compared to the visual motif.  Visuals also show metaphors of status in Come to Daddy. At 4:37 James’s visual motif is again shown to have the most power by the use of low and high camera angles.  As the demonic creature screams in the face of the old lady she is taken back and petrified. This is shown by the high angle POV shot that is tilted down upon her.

 In conclusion, in my opinion Chris Cunningham is an extraordinary director who easily stands out from other directors due to his originality.

StoryBoard

Richmix - From MTV to Youtube

From MTV to Youtube

As part of our Media A2 course we were able to take a trip to Bricklane in London on Wednesday the 16^th of November to visit Richmix to watch a lecture performed by Pete Fraser, Liz Kessler and Corin Hardy. I really enjoyed this and learnt a lot about the music video industry from the point of view of a producer and a director. We also learnt about how to make our music videos much more appealing to the exam board and allow us to access those higher grades.

Paul Fraser showed us the history of music videos and how it originated from the director Len Lye who painted abstract art on the film itself and connecting it to the rhythm of the song.

Fraser also mentioned how music videos were viewed by the public over 50 years ago through the use of Scopitones that would be found in cafes around Europe. This is an example of one.

We also learnt about how the music video industry has become such a huge market in comparison to what it was twenty to thirty years ago and how it has become, in some cases, dominated by the male audience. This was shown through this example.





Fraser also taught us about ten tips that we could do to achieve the higher marks.

• Choose a relatively unknown track and artist and create a pitch for it
• Write a treatment, have a clear concept and be realistic with it
• Plan everything and get everything done early
• Set up a blog to add all your inspiration and research too
• Understand the equipment you will use
• Shoot everything up to ten times from many different angles
• Organise your footage, label everything
• While editing synch up the performance first
• Analysis everything that you did via the blog

Although I have already performed some of these tips such as creating a blog all the rest are invaluable information and I shall be sure to take them into consideration during pre-production, production and post-production.

Liz Kessler told us of the financial part of creating a music video and showed us music videos that she had taken part in as the producer. This was one of them. She also mentioned about product placement that was also featured in music videos. For example, in Britney Spears - Criminal at the beginning you can see that she sprays herself with her own brand of perfume.

Corin Hardy also spoke to us about his experience as a director and the work that he had done in the past. He told us of the months’ work that he had to put in to create a music video for the band The Horrors and the difficulties that he faced doing this. In this particular music video he told us that he went through almost 1,500 piece of paper while drawing the scenes.

All in all, I really enjoyed this trip and learnt a lot of insight into the music video industry as well as tips on how to create a more professional music video.

Rich Mix Notes

On the 16th November we visited Rich Mix near Bricklane for a trip for the MTV to Youtube exhibition. There was a presentation which lasted several hours which Pete Fraser hosted highlighting key areas of music videos. In the first half of the presentation we were looking over from the history over music videos from the Nat King Cole music video for "Frim Fram Sauce" which was from the 1940's all the way to recent music videos such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce's "Telephone" video. Viewing a range of music from all different time periods allowed us to see the difference in editing and camera quality and effects over the years of music video making.
Over our lunch break each group were given a task, which was to listen to a song which they had chosen and played for us and then for us students to come up with an idea for a suitable music video taking in lyrics, pace etc. When we returned from the lunch break Corine Hardy (Music Video Director) and Liz Tesler (Production) had joined Pete Fraser, they were there to explain the inside of directing of a music video which was explained by Corine and Liz told us about the production side to music video making such as research, planning and setting up. All the groups then explained their ideas for a music video for the song which was played, Corine and Liz both then gave feedback after groups shared their ideas such as how well the idea was and what could be changed to enhance the video idea also what the costs would be for the production of each idea.
Finally Corine Hardy showed us several of his music videos which he had directed such as Olly Murs' "Busy" and The Prodigy's "Warrior's Dance" and explained some of the budgets given for the videos and difficulties which took place along the process of creating the video.

Richmix

On Wednesday the 16th we visited the Rich mix Association in Bricklane. In the first part of the session we were given a speech on the history of music video's by Pete Frasier. Liz Kessler we had a session with director Corin Hardy. Corin started off directing with an obsession with monsters and creatures which he used animation to show. He was a very inspiring speaker as I could relate to him as he took the same A-Level subjects as myself and is in a career I would want to pursue in. 

Of all the videos Corin showed us my favourite was The Horrors 'She is the New Thing' which is very creepy and Gothic due to the ink drawings throughout. I had seen the video before but after hearing Corin's story of the video it made it even more interesting that ever before. He told us that it took him and a friend 3 weeks to illustrate all the drawings and that each of the drawings were pinned up drying in Corin's house. For every 3 seconds of footage there is a different animation, I really like the effect it creates as it makes the band look more animate and the drawings look spookier as they are slower.


Before we finished our morning session with Pete Fraser he set each of the schools and colleges a task to create a pitch for a music video for the song 'God & Satan' by Biffy Clyro. We were played the song and given our lunch break to create the pitch as a school and to elect a spokesperson to present our pitch during the afternoon session to Pete Fraser, Liz Kessler and Corin Hardy.

Notes from media trip to Richmix

Key influences in music

• Michael Jackson, Thriller
• 50 cent, candy shop focuses on the male gaze, portraying women as sex objects.
• The beetles
• Scopitones' were introduced in diners across the U.S in the 60's. These were the first form of showcasing music in the form of a video.
• A music video should tell a story, showcase a performance and needs to be memorable.
• In 1981 MTV was introduced t televisions, however no black artists were featured. Nowadays black artists are the main feature.
• No female artists were featured on MTV and all the acts were mainly British.
• Madonna was the first female artists to be aired on MTV, and Michel Jackson was the first black artist to be featured on the music video channel.
• Andrew Goodwin created a method of music video analysis which consists of 6 points.
• 1970 Queens, Bohemian Rapsody made an impact on the development of music videos. 

Storyboard animatic

This is a short minute long edit of our storyboard. I have chosen to produce a short edit rather than a longer one matching the length of the song was because the song is fast paced and fast paced edits suited the theme of the storyboard. To control the pace of the edits i used markers. We will try to create this fast paced effect to match the beat of the song in the music video we produce.

Music Video Shot List

1. Extreme Close Up - Car Interior
2. Close up on car - Zoom Out
3. Zoom in on Adam in room
4. Close up on Adam - View facial expressions
5. Slow zoom on Arron in car
6. Pan from left to right
7. Still Camera
8. High angle shot - Handheld Camera
9. Still camera
10. Over the shoulder shot
11. Mid shot of Arron putting on glasses
12. Still camera - Car pulling off
13. Long shot of chase
14. Close up of on performance
15. Establishing shot of alleyway
16. Birds eye view shot of alley
17. Over the shoulder shot of fight
18. Mid shot of fight
19. Close up of Sam on top of Adam
20. Pan shot of Arron coming in scene
21. Long shot of alleyway chase
22. Extreme close up of performance
23. Tracking shot of Adam - Front view
24. Handheld camera running through crowd in alley
25. Still camera shot of Adam - Opposite side of alley
26. Still Camera - Side view of scene - Long Shot
27. Still Camera - Side view of scene - Long Shot
28. Handheld - Close up on Adam
29. Over the shoulder shot
30. Handheld - Close up on Arron - Point of view shot
31. Still Camera - Long shot
32. Handheld - High angle shot - point of view shot
33. Pan to right - Long shot
34. Handheld - Point of view shot
35. Forward tracking shot - Camera flip upside down
36. Still Camera - Extreme long shot
37. Medium close up - High angle shot - Effects
38. Close up - Zoom out
39. Still Camera - Extreme close up
40. Still Camera - Mid shot
41. Close up - Zoom out