My Favourite Music Videos

P U R P L E R A I N - prince

When growing up, I was constantly surrounded by music. From my parents, it mostly consisted of pure 80's ballads, Toto, Earth Wind and Fire, Bruce Springsteen, The Police, A-Ha, Eurythmics etc. But one song always stuck out, the eclectic, soulful, stadium filling Purple Rain. I sat in the car, looking out the window while those famous opening chords filled my young ears. The phrase "purple rain" is said to mean the end of the world. Quoted by Prince himself, "when there's blood in the sky – red and blue = purple... purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith and god guide you through the purple rain." Originally, the chords were founded by Wendy and Lisa, members of Prince and the Revolution, but the lyrics were supposed to be co-produced by Prince and Stevie Nicks (lead singer of Fleetwood Mac) but, quoted from the legend herself " It was so overwhelming, that 10-minute track… I listened to it and I just got scared. I called him back and sad, ‘I can’t do it. I wish I could. It’s too much for me." So Prince went at it himself, making it the title ballad of his feature film.

The video itself is simply in its narrative, consisting of Prince and the Revolution performing the song on stage, a clip from the movie itself. It's haunting, it’s raw, it’s alluring. It’s a song about isolation, that somehow unites everyone in different ways. The Rule of thirds is used throughout with the close up shots of Prince himself, which in my opinion, makes the song even more personal, as though he's singing directly to you, the viewer. The lack of other shots means all focus is on Prince himself. This creates a raw, emotional video.

The film was directed by Albert Magnoli, an American film director, screenwriter and editor. Although the film itself isn't the best piece of cinematography, I feel the last ballad of the film, Purple Rain, is encapsulated perfectly in the 8 minute long video. The 40 second long intro in which no talking happens, creates suspense, thrill and anxiety in the audience. It's also almost completely silent, which pre-empts something big to come. The few shots of the audience are the only real inclination as to the setting in which the song takes place, some kind of concert. The glazed expressions are almost ironic, as they behold one of the most influential artist to come out of the 80's decade.

As the song reaches it's climax, the camera pans out from Prince to the audience, capturing their swaying hands. This makes the audience feel part of something larger, putting the piece of music into perspective, and almost idolizing Prince, with the hands reaching up towards him. The lighting used here makes the audience black shadows against Prince himself, who is lit by the iconic purple colour tone. Purple is created from blue and red, both being contrasting in their symbolic representation. Blue signifies sadness, melancholy, and red signifies passion and anger. Together to the colour purple presents mystery, royalty and ambiguity, all connoted with Prince himself.

Overall, the simplicity of this music video is masterful in its ability to not undermine the song itself, but compliment it, letting the powerful love song ballad encapsulate the audience, with no need for flashy cinematography effects. It's clever in its use of angle shots of Prince and the lighting idolizing Prince and no-one else, giving him the recognition he deserves.

J E R E M Y- pearl jam

The music video for Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" was inspired by a news article that Eddie Veder had read about a boy named Jeremy Wade Delle, who shot himself in front of his English class in 1991. The video was directed by Mark Pellington, an American director, writer and producer who has worked with the likes of Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, Bruce Springsteen and Imagine Dragons. The story behind this music video makes it one of my favourites. It deals with very current issues such as depression, suicide, gun violence and bullying in a young society.

The video itself starts off with snapshots of newspaper articles, baron and bleak, some of which have a red coloured overtone. This connotes the power of the media, and also perhaps it's role in depression and suicide in our society today. The use of text in the beginning sequence is also powerful in presenting how starkly news of death and "torture" is perceived in our society, with it being almost normalized in our culture. The addition of the weather announcement for the day in among the tragedy of a young boys death also connotes this idea. The quick cuts of this beginning segment creates a sense of urgency in our need to address the situation, and builds tension.

The use of overlapping biblical quotes also creates a haunting effect. The scenes with Jeremy himself are devoid of colour, with stark white and blue lighting, connoting a feeling of isolation and abandonment. In the scenes with his classmates, he is the only character who moves, with the other classmates sitting still and motionless. This brings the viewer closer to him, as everything else seems so lifeless. In some shots, the classmates are frozen in place, pointing and laughing at Jeremy. This timeless affect conveys that we as a society are frozen in time, unable to address the situation of gun violence, and instead ignoring it.

Moreover, this freeze frame effect is also used in the scenes with his parents, as seen below. As Jeremy continues to shout and get the attention of his parents, they are frozen, un-moving and completely engaged in their own argument. This conveys the theme of abandonment felt by Jeremy. The large eye that is seen in the background portrays the luminous Eye of Big Brother, hence society. It's unnerving and makes me feel uncomfortable. In this scene and throughout the whole video, Jeremy is in a white shirt, which juxtaposes with the parents, who are either in black, or the lighting and silhouette that is created makes it seem so. This connotes his innocence at the hand of society and the pain it has caused.

As I mentioned before, the use of lighting and the colour pallet is used extremely cleverly throughout the video. The only coloured "happy" shots, are of Jeremy colouring in the woods. These help to create juxtaposition between the overall dark ominous tone. The colouring shots connote his young childhood, before his association with education and the bullying that occurred. In my opinion, this is a clever way of portraying how society has taken a happy, young, joyful boy and turned his life into a misery, that of which isn't talked about often enough.

The use of lighting from underneath the face on Jeremy gives a haunted effect. Often when telling ghost stories, people put a torch underneath their chin to create this effect, and the whole music video has this underlying theme, a horror story. His eyes are heavily shadowed and his features are made dark and menacing. This shot is nearer the end of the video which connotes how the manipulation of himself at the hands of his classmates, his parents and society have turned him into a monster. This idea therefore questions the statement "Can people be born evil?" or is it their surroundings that shape them?

For the shots of Eddie Veder and the band, the lighting is dark, almost noir, with heavy shadowing. This helps to create an ominous dark tone, which reinforced the meaning of the song itself. The use of strobe lighting and close up shots of Jeremy further reinforce his fear, sadness and depression with his life, making the viewer feel more subjected to his fractured, fragmented thoughts. The use of fire and a wide angle shot, with an overlap close up of the actors face, connotes his internal conflict and the anger he feels inside from his isolation. The continued use of fire and the addition of the American flag, could be a patriarchal attack on America and the lack of gun control.

B L A C K H O L E S U N- soundgarden

Chris Cornell is in my opinion one of the most influential artists of the 90's "punk. grunge rock" music. Across his entire catalogue, Cornell has sold 14.8 million albums, 8.8 million digital songs, and 300 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. alone, as well as over 30 million records worldwide. He was nominated for 16 Grammy Awards and won three. He was voted "Rock's Greatest Singer" by readers of Guitar World ranked 4th in the list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists". His tragic death, suicide by hanging on May 18th 2017 was devastating for the rock genre. One of his earlier bands, Sound garden, were very successful in the 90's grunge genre. The surreal and apocalyptic music video for "Black Hole Sun" was directed by British video director Howard Greenhalgh. The video follows the narcissistic inhabitants of a suburban town, until they are eventually swallowed up by a large black hole. The video is basically a 80's acid trip, with distorted faces, opsychadelic light/colours and a disjointed story line.

The video begins with bleak open scenes, and four characters, a priest, a holy leader, an orator and a charlatan. These represent metaphors for society, weak, easily manipulated, corruptible soul etc. The happy colour scheme here juxtaposes with the apparent ominous tone of his sign "The End Is Nigh". The flowers (roses and tulips found at the bottom of the shot) represent fertility, contrasting with the death and destruction that is seen later in the film. The tracking shot of the man mowing his lawn is another example of society ignoring the warning signs from the beginning of the video. It seems the characters are too self absorbed to acknowledge the danger ahead. The distortion of their faces is perhaps used to take the mick out of their vanity, and inability to recognize their fate. Much like the lawn mowing scene, there is a lady cooking, a man working out, a lady putting on her makeup and a girl skipping.

The extreme close ups used in the face distortion shots add a comical effect to the final moments before the supposed end of the world. Although climate change wasn't as big of a crisis when this video was produced, it could be viewed that even in the midst of our planets deterioration, we are ignorant, and continue to ignore the warning signs right in front of us. The characters are emotionless towards the end of their plant and therefore their life.

As the video progresses, the characters begin to realise that their time on earth is dwindling and respond in different ways. A young girl begins to burn and melt her barbie on a barbeque, which represents the materialism of our society, and our insatiable greed. This melting of plastic is also a visual symbol of life slipping away from the characters, dripping and melting. Even in her last moments she is angry and decides to take it out on her possessions. Moreover, a blond girl is seen lounging by the pool, which connotes the wasted beauty of our earth that will perish when the "black hole sun" comes. The black hole will not be subjective to who and what it takes, meaning that vanity and appearance have no effect on the inevitable death that will come.

The clever use of lighting also connotes a bleak atmosphere throughout the video. The red and blue contrast, and these colours are also used with strobe, to connote harsh silhouettes and an overall distressed tone. The heavy shadowing also creates a harrowing effect on the characters faces and also Chris Cornell's face in the band shots. This makes it an intriguing and very vibrant, engaging video. The juxtaposition of warm, pink and orange tones from the beginning of the video to dark reds and bleak white light, connotes the destruction caused and the inevitable end that will one day occur.

The last shot of the film is of the black hole swallowing up the surroundings and the people of the suburban town. Here, the symbol of bats are used, which connote death and transgression. They also connote the theme of letting go, which could be a message from Sound garden to stop relying on materialistic objects and money and to instead rely on family and love. The lack of emotion seen in the characters in the video connote how as a society we have become numb to the real existential crisis we face, and perhaps need a wake up call, like the "end of he world" to show us how important life is, and that we should cherish it, instead of taking it for granted.