The opening shot of this video is an establishing shot of a building, presumably somewhere in Russia due to the Russian text captioning the shot. This is followed by a series of establishing shots of the building from the inside. This shot, itself, is an establishing shot. Every time the picture changes a white flash appears on the screen accompanied by the noise of an old fashioned Polaroid camera. Not a single shot contains a person, and the rooms are generally empty, with the exception of a few which have paper on the floor. Interestingly in future shots a man with a camera can be seen in the background. This shot specifically relates to the lyrics and title of the song "Fifteen feet of pure white snow".
This is a long shot of the artist and his band, Goodwin's theory suggests this will be at the request of the producer; this is very possible as it includes Nick Cave's signature motif, his eccentric dancing. They are all dressed in a very dull, dated and retro style which gives off a 70s vibe. Back then, it was assumed most rockstars were on drugs, and the theme of the songs is the negative effects of drug use, so this may be an intertextual reference.
This is a medium shot of the people not on stage dancing in a bizarre and eccentric style, however none of the people dancing in the video are smiling. All of them seem placid. This could be symbolic of them being under the influence. It is also in a minor key, which people usually associate with sadness. However the ostinati of the piano one minute into it is reminiscent of a dance.
This is a close up of one of the members of the bands instruments, representing the artistic nature of the artist and video. The following shots are also close ups of the musicians playing their instruments.
Once again, the style of clothing worn by the people in the audience are outdated too. They don't appear to be the youngest of audiences either, but young people from the era of which they likely grew up in (the 70s) dressed like that and were deemed as cool.
As the song progresses it gets more aggressive. In the chorus there is a crescendo and the drummer specifically goes from playing rim clicks to opening the hi-hat and using the actual snare. As this happens the artists movements and gestures become more aggressive just as the song does towards the end.
This is a close up shot of the star, as expected. This is a convention of the genre and also another aspect of Goodwin's theory - this would be a request of the producer.
This is an intertextual reference - the singer for Pulp, Jarvis Cocker. He is a well known drug user, thus in a song of this nature it is natural for people like him to appear. Additionally he is dressed as he normally would be, so it could be said that he has a major influence in the style of this video.
This is a medium shot of Jason Donovan. Donovan is a very famous figure in Australian culture. Nick Cave is from Australia, thus his presence possibly makes the video more personal to the star. He is from the TV show Neighbours, so people may recognise him thus have more of an incentive to watch the video.
This is a medium close up of the artist. The following shots contain the other celebrities making appearances in the video also alone in a dark room with a smokey background. He is looking upwards, and is alone. This is relevant to the lyrics and the meaning behind them. Noticeably, lines for the song are "Where is Mark?", "Where is Mary?" and so on, and these are all figures from the bible. In this shot he is looking upwards, towards the sky as if to be looking at a deity. He is alone because symbolically, the song is about his losing his religion through use of cocaine, but literally the song is about people disappearing. This is towards the end, meaning he is all alone. At this exact moment he sings "Doctor, Doctor, am I going mad?" as if to say that he needs help.
This medium shot of somebody using a smoke machine brings the video back to earth, maybe suggesting that the previous scene was just in his head.
The rest of the song is Nick Cave aggressively shouting "Save yourself", as if there is no true saviour. That the only things that can liberate you is your own actions. This could be his warning the audience that god will abandon those who abuse themselves, either that or that there is no god. This theme is typical of Cave, a motif of his if you will. Constant intertextual references to religion and death, two things that fascinate him. Each of his songs is about something that makes him him, thus he is more an artist of whom is appreciated by alternative audiences rather than a commercial artist.
Finally, there are the credits, which is unconventional for a music video. Not credits in general, but rolling credits at the end of a video. This is more typical of a movie. Nick Cave is more likely to see his work as an artistic film rather than just a music video, so this is once more, a motif of his. The names of mentioned are written strangely too, Nick being spelled Nyk, and other Scandinavian characters are used.
No comments:
Post a Comment