Music Video Research 3

Artist: Massive Attack

Song:Live With Me 

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Genre: Electronic

Visual Style/ Mise-en-scene

Opening shot- Low angle shot of a town criers silhouette with no music paying over it. Only the diagetic sound of his bell and voice shouting, "Oh yay, oh yay.... roll out the barrel." The man is lit from the back leaving his body like a dark shadow, outlined by a bright white light. The shot then fades to black and the music (non diagetic sound) begins. This symbolises the importance and significance of the video and suggests that it is going to hold a crucial message. This instantly gets the audience's attention by making them feel as though they are missing out if they don't watch it therefore appealing to their need for belonging.

Cuts to a wide shot of a woman walking down a dark city street, fairly poor area, cold. The woman walks closer as the camera pans across to the left to show her entering a corner shop. The camera is filming though the window of the shop, in a shaky/ un professional manor. This makes it look as though it is amateur footage almost as if she is being followed. This makes the audience feel quite worried about her, and protective of her, especially because she is a young woman (see conventional?).

As the woman is purchasing the alcohol, car lights are reflected off the window as they go past, emphasising the everyday nature of it. It also implies that this could be happening close to you and that people often just walk past without helping. Alcoholism isn't always obvious and for everyone else life goes on. 

The camera is placed at the top of the stairs creating a high angle shot. The lighting is very dim, and the decoration of the hall is plain with off white walls- this also adds to the normality. It could also suggest that it is all she has in her otherwise boring life. The high angle makes her seem under threat agin making the audience feel as though she is in danger. 

The end shot of the woman rolling down the stairs. High angle shot. EDITING- repeating the same shot as if she is falling continuously. The pace of the editing increases. Yellow lighting, dingy, dark. Downward spiral. Once you start its difficult to stop. Your entire life goes down hill. Injury and eventual death. Warning people that they need to help others as soon as possible. reminding them its never too late.

Narrative including techniques used 

Not all problems are visible.

Dont suffer in silence.

Alcoholism is a downwards spiral to self destruction.

Alcoholism is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

Authorities should help to stop it.

Loneliness.

The story very clearly shows the struggle of a troubled alcoholic and her decline into a paralytic state.   

Conventional/Unconventional 

Quite unconventional. The lyrics slightly represent the lyrics although do not follow them exactly. "When you're born into trouble, you live in the blues". The song and video both make reference to the  low points in a persons life. 

However we never see any of the performers and there is no iconic symbol that could suggests that this video is for a particular artist, in fact without reading the title it would almost impossible to know. The artist is relying solely on their sound which they clearly think is fairly recognisable because they do not make any links to their band- Massive Attack at all throughout. 

The storyline is very easy to follow, with only one main character- the Princess. It is also fairly simple and portrays realistic themes that could actually happen in real life.

What works/ What doesn't

I thought that the video was well edited and shot, with shots lasting a long time meaning that only minimal cuts had to be made. This made it seem more realistic almost as if we were watching it in real time. It also allows the audience to make a connection with the character and feel more empathetic to both her and her situation. It could also make it more like for people to relate to her because she is just a normal person, not a famous actor or super model.

One thing that I didn't particularly like was the ending of the narrative when she wakes up from her drunken dream of falling to discover it was a all a dream. I thought this was very cliche and though that for such an interesting and thought provoking video, it could have had a more shocking and unique ending that wasn't as predictable.