Video Analysis- "Flat Beat" By Mr. Oizo

Another childhood song of mine, I thought I will look up is Mr. Oizo's Flat Beat, Directed by Quentin Dupieux. The song was a an electric dance hit in 1999. The video is weird and wonderful with a touch of comedy from the puppet.

The song has no lyrics and therefore the beats of the music had to match what was done within the video. The puppet (Eric I recall) is headbutting to the music which is the only thing that is dancing to the song itself. Other than that it is the puppet doing stupid things such as using a sausage as a cigar and looking ponce. This is because the song itself is a quick paced song and in some way comical as it's the music trying to be in sync with the video instead of it being the other way round.

Throughout the video the song is going along with the video and what Eric does which is the only thing that goes with the music. If Eric stopped then so would the music.

The puppet is a way of advertising the song and the band and it was achieved as the song got to number one however the video was more popular than the song which is why it got to top spot in the U.K. The image of the artist is that with the genre, it is original but fits well to use a puppet and in most cases the artist is not shown in the video as he's the DJ. But the colours of the video (yellow, green and red) attract a young audience which would be attracted to the song and everything else including the music. This hit is another one hit wonder I chose but after this song the artist continued to use Eric but after that, the artist and Eric was never to be seen again in the music industry. But Eric was very popular and played a huge part in getting this song to number one.

The video only has one character in it and that is Eric. There are other characters but the audience does not see their faces, this is because the character is in a office and has a high authority and looks like a boss and also he is the star of the video and no one else needs to be in it.

The video is quite unique that a puppet is being used in the genre and other things used is not as original. The video is not narrative based as there is no story, only that Eric has his own office and we get the idea that he is a boss. It is in some parts a performance based video when Eric is dancing however, there are times during the video that he is not dancing to so it is really a concept based video that a puppet in itself is used in a music video.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv6Ewqx3PMs

Video Analysis- "A Girl Like You" By Edywn Collins

This song took me back after listening to it on the radio. I then decided to look at the video of this song as at the time I was thinking of retro music.

A Girl Like You directed by Gavin Evans- a 1994 hit pop rock song. The video itself fits in well within the genre. The video was low budget but girls are featured in this video not just included because of the title, the girl figure as shadows is used well and it is glamorous to view and they are also dancing which is to suggest the song is upbeat which fits pop rock. With the rock parts of the video, the guitar fits in well.

The video does not have moving images which reflects the lyrics although Edwyn Collins who wrote the song, is seen singing but not through out the video. Visually, I see no similarities with the lyrics. I see this video as a very basic but enjoyable and stylish video. There is just movement with the sound when the girls start dancing to the guitar and the editing is matching the beats perfectly however there is hardly enough moving images during the song that suggests it is going with the lyrics because the video is showing the same images all the time which also says that the budget is very low when made.

The moving images of guitars, puppets, girls and Edwyn Collins does match the pace of the song very well. A fade from left to right of the guitar is a great example of this. It's very simple and my god that subway tasted yummy! mmm spicy italian.

With the video it is evident that is glamorous and stylish and the sense of black and white is a great way to sell the song because it looks stylish. Edwyn Collins, (who really is a one hit wonder) is posing a lot in the video and the close ups on his face when he sings is very bold to give an impression that the artist is bold and stands out just like the colours of the video.

The video is sexualised, and only towards the females. In the video, close ups are mostly shown on the artist rather on the female dancers. Compared to the dancers, they are shown mid-shots of them or parts of the body which would be sexually attractive. This in a way attracts the audience of male however this is not specific as it is not sexualised by a great deal.

The video does not use intertextual references as the artist is not as big as someone like Michael Jackson or Bjork etc. There is nothing to suggest that this is advertising something else either but only the song and the artist. But the artist is not in every second of the video and the video is low budget so the song is what is being advertised. The video is mostly concept based and it is not narrative based as it has no story and it is not really performance based. The idea that this is an experimental states that it is concept based.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkKxGzm98AU