The video starts off with a Clown putting an Oasis record on a record player, this is the first sign of circles shown, and throughout the rest of the video many other objects spin in a circular motion. The fact that its a record player also shows age, as these were mainly around in the 70's and 80's. The music video has a circus type theme, in my opinion it is a theme of fears, as during the video a Ventriloquist, a Juggling Act, a Fruit Machine (suggesting gambling), a Dart Board, Swinging Saws and a Clown, this may have a slight link to a line in the chorus 'Because maybe, you're gonna be the one who saves me?'.
The video is all filmed in grey scale, which shows age and the songs indie/acoustic genre, it also makes it seem very 60's/70's.
At the start of the music video the camera starts far away and zooms in on Noel playing guitar, he's not facing the camera and he's sitting on his own on a chair in the middle of an empty room. When the lyrics start Liam is on screen, but he is not directly looking at the camera, instead he is looking into a circular mirror that is reflecting him. The lyrics on the whole, have no direct link to the visuals. The video is very simple and very repetitive, just like the song music and the lyrics. The fact that the song goes 'round and round' in a repetitive motion is a representation, as the record player at the beginning of the video goes 'round and round' too.
The video shows the band sitting in chairs, there is an empty chair and Noel is missing, it is as if Noel is in a different place to Liam, as he was sitting in an empty room at the start of the video.
Throughout the video there are many Beatles references, as the band were big Beatles fans. Liam wears 'John Lennon' style glasses when singing, and at times the camera cuts to a split screen, this is also a reference to the Beatles as this was a feature of 'Hard Days Night'.
When Liam sings the word 'blinding', circular lights flash in his eyes, this is a direct link to the lyrics which is strange and unexpected as there are next to no direct visual links to the lyrics throughout the video. Later in the video, when Liam sings the word 'blinding' again, the screen flashes black and white, resembling lightning.
During the music video the band are sitting in chairs, showing a very relaxed posture, this shows calmness and a slight disinterest throughout the video. Most music videos have the lead singer standing up and singing, whereas Liam, the singer, is sitting down throughout the whole video. The whole band is sitting in a line on chairs and they all look very bored, Noel is chewing gum and the drummer is reading a newspaper, this shows complete disinterest and distraction, one band member gets up and walks away.
When Liam sings the line 'all the roads we have to walk are winding' he is sitting in a chair that is spinning in a circular motion in front of a spiraling black and white circle, this is another slight reference to the lyrics.
During the video there are frequent close ups of the instruments used in the song, and the acoustic guitar that is being played changes colour three times throughout the video, it changes between blue, green and yellow. This is the only time colour is used throughout the whole video, which creates a dramatic contrast for the video, as it is all in grey scale. Later in the video the record, featured at the beginning of the video, appears on screen again, it has the bands faces on and is spinning in a circular motion. The video repeats itself over again, as it is all linked together.
Towards the end of the video the band look more interested in what's going on. when Liam finishes singing he gets up and walks away, leaving the dentist chair that he has been sitting on, which spins in his absence. The dentist chair is also a symbol of fear as many people dislike the dentists.
Blur - Coffee and TV
This video has a very bold story line, it is not abstract at all. This video starts off zooming out but remaining focused on a milk carton that has a 'Missing Person' on it. The focus changes and on the left of the milk carton, there is a photograph of the missing boy, and on the right there is a very sad looking father who is sitting at the breakfast table wearing his pjs. The mother then enters from the right looking very sad too, which is natural as their son is missing, this makes you empathise with the family. The boy's younger sister then answers the phone, the parents both jump slightly as they are obviously waiting to hear news of their missing son. The camera cuts back to the milk carton sitting on the kitchen table which then gets up and starts dancing, this is very unrealistic, but adds a sense of fun to a very sad story. The milk carton also has a face, and its facial expressions change according to how the people around him feel, when the milk carton fails to cheer up the family, it gives up and walks off, attempting to find the missing boy.
When the singer sings the lyrics 'we can start over again', this gives me the feeling that the lyrics link to how the missing boy could be feeling, maybe he has ran away to start over. When the line 'Isn't very far' is sang, the milk carton is asking for directions and a passer by is pointing him in the right direction. After that line, the singer sings 'There's people that will hurt you' and a man drinks and squeezes another milk carton before throwing it in the bin, this scares the milk carton and he runs away. These are examples of direct links to lyrics. This video is a very emotive video, and you start to feel how the milk carton feels as he is going through this journey. The video then basically follows the milk carton on his journey to find the missing boy, during the start of this part of the video, the milk carton has a smile on its face and looks quite content, making the audience feel quite relaxed when watching. The milk carton is shown standing on a pay phone talking into the phone, the camera then cuts back to the sister from the family on the phone, as if he is reporting to her that he hasn't found the boy yet. The milk carton is blue, this generally represents that the milk carton is a boy, as blue is generally associated with males, this is an example of semiotics. The milk carton spots a pink milk carton from across the road, this is obviously a girl milk carton and he instantly falls in love with her, he walks across the road to talk to her, as he approaches her she gets stepped on by a passer by and his face turns to an expression of devastation and he runs away. The milk carton then stumbles upon a dark alley, which he pretty much runs down as he is very scared, this again makes the audience feel empathy for the milk carton. The milk carton eventually finds the boy and looks through the window at him, the boy is singing and playing guitar, as if he is singing the song the whole way through the video. The boy sees that he is on the milk carton, leaves the room, picks up the milk carton and gets onto a bus to go home. When he arrives home he drinks the milk carton before entering the house, he throws the empty milk carton in the bin and walks through the door. The camera cuts back to the bin that the milk carton is in, the milk carton rises up from the milk carton with wings, as if he has became an angel and floats up to the sky, signifying as if he's going to heaven, when he gets up there the girl milk carton is waiting for him and he joins her. The video starts off with a sad beginning, but has a very happy ending. The whole music video is shot from the viewpoint of the milk carton, and the shots range from full length shots to mid shots and close ups of the milk carton's expressions.
OK Go - Here It Goes Again
This is an incredibly simple music video, the camera stays in once place for the whole song as the band members perform a tricky routine on treadmills.
The song is about, in my opinion, is about a relationship that hasn't worked the first time and the couple are trying again second time around, but again, its not going as well as hoped, due to the chorus line of 'Ok, here it goes again'.
The video on the whole doesn't directly link with the song, but i feel that the repetitive routine mimics the repetitive song and the meaning behind it.
The line 'But jesus, when it rains, it pours' gives the feeling that he's been hurt, and when you're hurt, you're not hurt a little bit, you're really hurt.
The song suggests that the relationship starts out casual, 'It starts out easy, something simple, something sleazy' and progresses into something harder and more complicated.
I think this quote relates to this video:
"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience." George Bernard Shaw
Even though this music video does not directly link to the song lyrics, it is very entertaining and put OK Go on the map.
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