Umbrella is a 2007 song by Rihanna ft JAY Z for her album, 'Good Girl Gone Bad.'
The music video was directed by american music video director Chris Applebaum.
The majority of the video contains little to no camera movement but just a few long continuous shots of the artists in front of a green screen with simulated rain falling on it, which is fitting for the title, Umbrella. The song lyrics are a lot about the rain and how the two friends/ couple could be under one umbrella. This connotes togetherness. The video features lots of water effects to continue the theme of rain. Like a lot of pop/R&B songs the video featured the dancing of seductive women. The video is well choreographed to have such long shots of dancing scenes.
In todays lesson we had a discussion about our progression of music taste from our childhood. A lot of us said that our music was largely influenced from the mainstream pop we had seen on television and the effect of our parents taste in music. In our early childhood people enjoyed to listen to pop artists such as Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears.
A few years ago as a child I remember buying CDs from common music shop, (Virgin Megastores)
and the occasional vinyl with my dad. Nowadays with the advancement in technology and online services I don't even leave the house to buy my music. I will buy the occasional CD for nostalgic and collectibles purposes.
Over the years many peoples influences has gone away from the mainstream pop genre and the classic rock influence of their parents. People have moved with the times and listen to more contemporary genres such as techno. People still however like their rock roots but go with different sub genres such as alternative and metal. Hip hop and rap has remained quite a popular choice.
My particular taste in music has changed a lot. It has gone from the post-brit pop of Coldplay to the alternative metal and post grunge of Breaking Benjamin. A lot of my music taste I have find via the internet with little influence from friends. I have realised that my taste in music a long with many other peoples has changed due to passing of time in to the modern culture we have. However some classic bands may remain popular.
Another band that I am into currently is Disturbed:
I particularly like Joel's music and me post. I think this is because he reminded me a little of my own past and a little of my current taste in music.
Tyler, The Creator:
Tyler aka Wolf Haley is a 22 year old American rapper and music producer. Tyler is a very successful rapper with both of his albums receiving generally positive reviews. Tyler is the a member and the founder of the hip hop collective Odd Future. Tyler likes to design all of the artwork for releases by all of the Odd Future members a long with arranging their costume for videos. Despite his age Tyler is a prominent music director. He directs all of his own music videos and has directed one of Earl Sweatshirt's videos as well.
You can definitely tell that Tyler is an auteur. He has a trademark eye edit in almost all of his videos, that makes him seem very cartoon like and makes his eyes big and all black. His music videos generally have weird and dark themes.
In his video Yonkers, it is all in black and white and on screen he eats a cockroach and throws up. You can clearly tell a Tyler video from anything else as he uses very original ideas that would not have been seen before.
Tyler is usually the main focus of all the videos he directs unless he is directing someone else's song then he makes them the focus. In this Earl Sweatshirt video, WHOA, Tyler displays lots of signature elements. His video is very surreal. He uses eye edits in almost all of his videos. He has similar costume running through his videos. This has the weird/dark theme of the artist waking up in a very unpleasant looking trailer. The video is surreal in the sense of using an old ballerina dancer dancing on top of cars which is not what you would expect. Running through a lot of his videos he promotes the buzzword 'GOLF' on caps he wears. This is to promote his persona.
Chris Cunningham:
Chris Cunningham is a British director who has directed commercials for Playstation and Nissan. He is very well known and successful. He has directed music videos for Aphex Twin which perhaps are his best known work as well as directing a video for Bjork. He also directed Frozen by Madonna which is a very popular video.
Chris Cunningham is clearly an example of auteur due to the weird nature of his videos. An example of this would be his commercial, 'Mental Wealth' for Playstation. In this video it is just a girl alone in a room. She seems pretty isolated and looks like she is being watched on a security camera. The room looks pretty cold and a horrible place to be in which creates creepy vibes. This creepy mood is heightened by the creepy nature of the girl in the video. Her head looks very alien like and she has a very creepy laugh at the end.
In Madonnas video Frozen, the dark nature of his videos continues, this video is very dark on a very broad bare landscape with the artist in all black clothing with black hair. Her head is tilted down as her eyes are looking up at the camera which makes her seem very scary. In this video his technical skills with cameras and editing is shown by the artist falling over and turning in to flying birds. This again promotes the creepy nature of his videos.
This song I particularly remember from my childhood as it was a band my mum loved and always had CDs of. I think this song was a favourite and is the one I remember most. It reminds me of us having parties with lots of food and bouncy castles.
The Beautiful South - Perfect 10
First Concert / Dad:
This band, Oasis was a band I loved together with my dad, even though not so much anymore we still occasionally listen to them. It is one of the only musical tastes I share with my dad and it reminds me of staying with him. These were also the first band I saw live at a concert which is a special moment.
Oasis - Whatever
This is another band both me and my dad like and I also went to see them in concert.
Coldplay - Trouble
Now:
Now I listen to Alternative Metal/Post Grunge bands such as Breaking Benjamin and Disturbed. This shows how over time my music taste has evolved. This song is by Breaking Benjamin and is a band I listen to almost daily.
Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers Instant Impact:
The video has an instant impact as it is unconventional. It starts off with a white background and a silhouette of a man sitting on a chair. It is not stereotypical of a hip hop track. Other reasons it has an instant impact is that it uses lots of focus pulls and contains somewhat disturbing images of the artist eating a cockroach then being sick so it certainly provokes a reaction.However when he is sick it is in silhouette form. It also provokes a reaction as at the end of the video he hangs himself and cuts out with a close up shot of his legs swinging. Non Linear Editing:
The video does not use any non linear editing. The video is shot in one long shot at the same location. The performer is just sitting there on a chair. Repetitions:
The video contains repetitions in the way it uses a lot of focus pulls. The artist is also in silhouette form a couple of times. This could suggest there is a side to him you don't know. The artist also directs the video and like to put effects on his eyes, this involves him blinking a lot and having all black eyes. Strong Sense of Artist Identity:
There is a sense of artist identity as in a lot of his videos he uses creepy themes and tones. He also has an effect on his eyes that make them all black, when using this effect he blinks a lot and shakes uncomfortably. When seeing a video you can tell immediately it's him. Performing:
Tyler, is performing all the way through the video, this makes his videos unconventional. He performs whilst acting out the narrative. \this is effective as it keeps you engaged in the video and interested. Visual Pleasures:
The video uses a lot of focus pulls which keeps you alert in the video, and silhouettes. The video is in black and white but does contain a lot of shine for viewing pleasure. The recording is really high quality it almost appears to not be in black and white. Wow Factor:
The video definitely has a wow factor. This is due to its creepiness. It contains cockroaches and uncomfortable shaking and even the artist hanging himself with suicidal themes in the lyrics. The camera uses a perspective control lens. This allows the camera to change your perspective of him without the need for re positioning, this is used in the focus pulls at the beginning and the synced zoom ins at the end of the chair on the floor. Works on different levels:
The song works on different levels as you can see Tyler performing throughout the video however there are verses which he doesn't perform in the video that are performed by him. This is his alter ego Wolf Haley. This suggests a split personality problem. This is backed up through the general chaotic nature of his emotions in the lyrics. He sees all the bad stuff going on but then doesn't care. He talks about 'adventure time' which could refer to doing drugs. His emotions are all over the place, he talks about seeing his therapist but doesn't see the point in it. He ultimately kills himself to get away.
Instant Impact:
The video has a huge instant impact due to it's general chaotic nature. The song title, 'Nightmare' ties in to the concept of the video which is why the video remains in your head. The music starts of slow and intense with a man getting tied down to a hospital bed. Some parts provoke a reaction as they are generally creepy for example when little children are playing with a basketball in blood. Non-Linear Editing: At the beginning the video contains a lot of jump cuts between the narrative taken place at a hospital and each member performing individually. Although the two are never interwoven the same band members who perform are seen in the hospital narrative. This would hint at it being a 'nightmare' just like the title. The narrative connotes fear due to the children covered in blood, the massive spiders moving around the hospital and the general franticness of the camera work and the movement of the hospital bed. The parallel editing of the performance helps introduce and juxtapose the band members into the hospital(nightmare). The video uses unusual camera placement such as a handheld camera under the hospital bed. Repetitions:
The song always uses the same shot of the artists performing its a medium shot with a black background. This helps introduce the artists as characters into the nightmare. The video uses lots of creepy imagery. There are a lot of high angle shots of the artist in the hospital bed which suggests he has no control.
Strong sense of artist identity:
The video always features jump cuts to the artist performing. They are playing their instruments with a black background giving them dark connotations which they are as a heavy metal band. Visual Pleasures:
The video uses a lot of fade cuts which adds to the viewers pleasure of being consumed and lost in the song. The main singer is looking directly at the audience whilst performing further engaging them. Wow Factor:
The video certainly has a wow factor with the general creepiness of the video and definitely stays in the mind much after watching. The creepinessprovokes a reaction of disgust at times with the children covered in blood and the brains on show and the general fear promoted through the mise en scene of psychopaths and tarantulas.
Works on different levels:
The video could work on different levels and suggests grief, as the bands drummer had died around the time. The nightmare theme could suggest they wish it was all a dream and all of the blood in the video connotes death as well as the hospital itself.
