Music Video Analysis 1

Compare and contrast the two videos. How do the representations promote the artist? How might different audiences read the two videos? Apart from the artist, who or what else is being represented and why?

'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack and 'Titanium' by David Guetta ft. Sia

The two videos I am going to compare are ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ – Massive Attack, released 11^th February 1991, and ‘Titanium’ – David Guetta ft. Sia, released 8^th August 2011. The video for Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ consists of a single continuous shot along a street, and is described as being a ‘docu-fiction’ video (Wiki). Within this continuous shot lead vocalist, Shara Nelson, is recorded walking down the street with the non stop hustle and bustle of the street happening around her. She is not affected by any of the background occurrences as she walks, due to this she appears as if she is floating through the streets. Whereas in David Guetta’s ‘Titanium’ the audience is following the main character in a way that mimics a movie, due to the directors use of a letter box view and wide screen view. This video also follows Todorov’s equilibrium theory; boy starts in a foetal position (order, calm atmosphere), then is chased by the police (disruptive event) and the main events occur (chaos), then the boy ends in the foetal position again (restored equilibrium). This video also shows elements of Claude Levi-Strauss’ idea that all stories involve conflict between opposite forces and that this creates drama within the narrative.

Within both music videos there are many denotations of the colour yellow. Throughout Unfinished Sympathy there is a yellow haze to the screen, this connotes that the video was shot early in the morning or in the late afternoon during the sunrise/sunset. Whereas in Titanium, this denotation is used to connote danger. For example, the walls of the school are yellow in a mid-shot as he walks away, games around the television in his home are also yellow, there is a yellow flower that is half dead which symbolises that everything is not ok.

Aside from the similarities and differences, audiences also play a part in the way that the directors create the videos and the responses they get towards the videos. Due to its high tempo and pop influence, Titanium will have been created with younger generations in mind and due to this would be more positively responded to by people who are aged 25 and below, also a loud and dramatic base drop is more appealing to younger aged groups than older. Older aged groups may have a negative reaction to this song due to the fact that it has a predominantly house beat and rhythm, younger age groups would be more positively lenient to this song because they would appreciate the heavy base and dramatic tempo. Whereas Unfinished Sympathy would appeal to more people who grew up in the 90s due to its electronic feel and lack of over the top base drop, it also has a nostalgic feel of songs from back then. Younger aged groups would appreciate this song but wouldn’t necessarily choose to listen to it as this style of electronic music isn’t as popular now as it was when this music video was released. In regards to Unfinished Sympathy, I believe that the demographic that is most likely to listen to it is BC₁C₂ due to its dance/electronic genre and, presentation of the music video and song. And I believe that ABC₁ would be more likely demographics to listen to Titanium due to its electronic and house genre.

Within Titanium the director of the music video is trying to connote an attack on American society and the stereotypes that they have on police within America. Towards the end of the video the director, David Wilson, has used an extremely powerful shot of a black police officer pointing his gun at the main character, this may have been used to challenge the way that the media represents police through news coverage. White police are very regularly depicted as the bad guy in the media in America but this scene challenges this by placing the gun in the hands of a black police officer. This representation would have promoted the artist among activists that disagree with the way that police are depicted in the media and among those that are against gun violence.     
In Unfinished Sympathy, Shara Nelson is filmed walking through the pain around her; for example, the streets are covered in litter/rubbish, homeless, gang violence. She is followed for a short period by a man that has no legs and travels on a skateboard in order to be able to move around; I believe that the director has used this man to represent troops that leave the army due to injury. This depiction by the director, Baillie Walsh, challenges the patriotism of America because it is showing that when troops come back under that kind of circumstance they aren’t always given the help they need, or it may have been used to show the lack of support in society for physically disabled people as a whole. In this example that man has to travel on a skateboard in this manner because he has not been provided with a wheelchair or prosthetics. The representations shown by both directors will have promoted the artists among the public because they are showing interest for disadvantaged people and giving them a voice through the videos.                                                         

Furthermore, towards the first minute mark in Unfinished Sympathy there is a short glimpse pan shot of a “realistic couple” as the two are seen arguing. This shot helps to not create unrealistic expectations of what relationships are like and shows a real life scenario rather than a staged appearance. The pan shot of the man and woman is accompanied by the lyrics ‘I know that I’ve been mad in love before’, this shows that Nelson has an understanding of what they are going through and that love is something that can lead to anger or retaliation in this way but that its ok because it happens to everyone, it’s a part of life. This representation will have made the singer seem more relatable to the audience because it connotes that it can happen to anyone.       

Both Titanium and Unfinished Sympathy denote struggle/pain through the occurrences and situations that approach the individuals within the videos themselves. Within Titanium the boy struggles to fit in and is outcast from the rest of society; Unfinished Sympathy instead highlights the struggle and desperation of those around Nelson and how they potentially affect her and the city as a whole. The imagery could potentially connote the idealisation of society and the affect that it has on those that aren’t the “ideal” people to fit into this idealised society.

link to the videos:
unfinished sympathy - massive attack > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI
titanium - David Guetta ft. Sia > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg