Summer Work Week 1

The Police - Every Breath You Take

 
 
The video for this song was directed by a rock duo called Godley & Creme. The pair were originally performing artists but then turned to directing music videos. This particular music video was praised for its black and white cinematography and won an MTV award in 1999 and a VH1 award in 2002. The black and white suits the video well because it is not a positive message through the song, it is written about the obsession of a lost lover and jealousy, therefore the video has done well to keep that in perspective by giving off a dark vibe from the song. 

Godley & Creme have also worked with artists such as Ultravox, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood which are all artists from the same era and could be compared similarly to each other. 

Pastiche and Parody

Pastiche and Parody

Pastiche

I think that Pastiche is a more serious version of what a parody would be. This is due to the mixing of styles that it produces. This is shown in the likes of the film Shaun Of The Dead where the main idea is a horror film about the living dead, but with a parody idea it has been turned into a comedy. The music video Thriller by Michael Jackson also does this because the video starts out serious but then it becomes comical when there are dancing zombies. These two examples are very different in terms of the text they come from, but they can also be put into the same category for the ideas that they portray where they have taken something that is seen to be serious/scary and have made it a funny concept.

This is the extended version of the Thriller music video by Michael Jackson, this shows the serious side of the concept behind the video and then leads onto the parody during the song.

Speech in a dead language

This is another way of showing a social trend. It is said to be a language that no one understands and no longer exists. Examples of this can be seen in everyday life by the clothes that people wear and the way that it is constantly changing.

Displaces 'real' history

Replacing history with the modern unknown.

Parody

Parody is a way of being able to mock something whilst making it funny at the same time. A good example of this would be Austin Powers, this is a film about a spy which can relate to the likes of James Bond, but the story lines through the film and the style of the film have made the film a comedy. In Pastiche terms relating to parody, it says that the ways in which articles are mocked all follow the same styles from history which may no longer be recognised in modern day society, but they all relate. This explains the theory that there is no longer individuality because everything that is considered to be 'new' has taken ideas from something that already exists.This means that nothing that is coming out is truly original and that history is repeating itself.

The Pink video "Stupid Girls" is a good example of parody, it takes stereotypes of "dumb blondes" and celebrity obsessives. Throughout the video it exaggerates the typical behaviour that people expect to see from the stereotypical people who fit into these categories.

This is the official music video for "Stupid Girls"

Comparing Music

In Today's Lesson
In today's lesson we went around the class and looked at the music videos chosen by each of us. Looking at our research, a lot of the songs chosen were from a few years ago which could be a result of our age group where we still enjoy listening to music from our childhood years. It was also common that our current music tastes were due to influences taken from our parents through our childhoods and friends that have introduced us to certain artists or genres. Each of us gave the same layout as the one shown in my blog with the videos shown and a short explanation of why the song relates to them.