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Dale Luck Tom Cartwright

Lindisfarne by James Blake

A2 Media Studies Coursework

Features Genre Characteristics

Observations Examples No obvious link whatsoever to The entire video. the lyrics, at least on a basic level

Relationship and Visuals

Between

Lyrics Occasionally has James Blake Every shot with James. lip syncing to the song.

Relationship Between Music Pacing of the music matches The transition from the and Visuals the action of the scene and the beginning shots with the girl pacing of the shots alone in the bathroom, and then the music picks up at the same time as the other characters are introduced Artist close-ups and star image A couple shots of James Blake, motifs but nothing more. He is displayed as an outsider as opposed to being the traditional star of the video he doesn t participate in the action of the scene. Reference to the notion of Often has the camera looking looking past people in the group towards the subject, making the audience feel like it s from their perspective. The scene with the piano session, and James is to the side The scene with the ritual, and James is in the doorway (?) The scene where they cut out the hole in her shirt and spit in a bowl.

Intertextual references

The scene with the bus at the end (switching between looking Also, the perspective switches at the bus from outside and between the girl and the group. outside the bus from inside) n/a n/a

Video category(/ies)

Disjuncture

Dale Luck Tom Cartwright

Lindisfarne by James Blake

A2 Media Studies Coursework

Why did you choose the text you are analysing? We chose this music video due to it being the clearest example I could think of where the lyrics hardly match the content of the video at all. The video shows a group of friends bonding the night before the main girl leaves, presumably for good. We ve found several theories as to what s actually happening in the video, from bonding during a high-school sleepover (with the bus at the end being a school bus, hence the backpack) to a theory that says they re all zombies (hence the completely ignored bruises and cuts and ragged appearance). We can t wrap our heads around it either.

In what context did you encounter it? Dale found it when he remembered James Blake s other music videos and was looking at them.

What influence do you think this context might have had on your interpretation of the text? Seeing as he was in the mood to listen to James Blake, it probably would have made him more open to watching it through when you re not in the mood to listen to Blake, you really don t want to. He has that kind of pacing and voice that makes you either love it or hate it during different times of the day. Because he was interested at the time, we d say it would have made him much more connected to the contents of the video and engaged in it, which of course affects whether he would take it as is or try to interpret what was happening. Saying that, we still weren t able to conclusively find out what s happening in the video anyway.

Which conventions of the genre do you recognize in the text? The video has a completely abstract approach to connecting to the lyrics, with no obvious link at all the lyrics or the pacing besides the pacing of the video itself, which are both features of the disjuncture genre. This was probably aided by the confusing meaning of the song itself anyway.

To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre? We wouldn t say that it stretches the conventions of the genre at all, besides potentially having some symbolic reference to parts of the lyrics (the mention of a bus at one point, though in completely different context, and the use of kestrels in the lyrics matches the theory that the people in the video are zombies kestrels being a form of falcon, that swoop down on prey).

Dale Luck Tom Cartwright

Lindisfarne by James Blake

A2 Media Studies Coursework

Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre? The only way that we d say that this video departs from the conventions is that usually abstract videos tend not to have any clarity whatsoever as to what s happening. For example, in the video for Don t Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there s no real reasoning behind what s happening at all, with no story whatsoever. However, in this video there is some narrative continuity throughout but one that still manages to keep abstract enough to class it in the disjuncture genre.

What sort of audience did you feel that the video was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre/style of music)? I d say the video was more aimed at people who are willing to appreciate videos for their artistic purpose as opposed to videos that are there simply to be enjoyed, which would probably be youngadults. That audience also seems to keep with the target audience of the music itself which is mainly young adults, as not many other people tend to enjoy electronic music in Blake s style nowadays.

What sort of person does it assume you are? It assumes you re the kind of person that doesn t get bored if they don t see sexual implications and explosions every five seconds, and that you re the kind to appreciate the meaning behind a video as opposed to simply the presentation.

What sort of assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity? I don t think it really makes any assumptions as to who the audience are, besides their age group of being a young adult. We d say it s possible that it was aimed slightly more at a female audience due to the female main character and the fact that it s a video that s more emotionally connecting than visually stimulating. Ethnicity and class though don t seem to have been assumed at all.

What interests does it assume you have? We d say it assumes that you have an interest in deep narrative, and it s whole presentation is based around that.

What relevance does the text actually have for you? What knowledge does it take for granted?

Dale Luck Tom Cartwright

Lindisfarne by James Blake

A2 Media Studies Coursework

To what extent do you represent the ideal reader that the video seeks to position you as? Dale is the more appropriate person to be watching this video, as he actually enjoys analyzing videos, whereas Tom isn t the ideal reader at all as he enjoys visual enjoyment rather than narrative.

Are there any notable shifts in the video s style (and if so, what do they involve)? There isn t really any change in style throughout the video, although at certain points the lighting in the shots of James Blake are massively different from the others, but not enough to break the pacing of the video. For example, when the people are all in the room with the piano and having fun, there is a shot of James Blake where he is standing still and presumably looking at them, with no key light whatsoever on him and the back light making him into a dark silhouette. Another shot later on during the ritual scene shows him again looking at them from outside the group, this time with a key light but without a back light, making him very flat against the dark background. These shots are probably done to emphasize that James Blake isn t a part of the video s story, and is very much like the audience just an outsider of the group observing them.

What responses does the video seem to expect from you? We think the video expects you to be moved emotionally by the characters. The whole video is a build up showing how close they all are, and then the girl leaves at the end and cries. It does a fantastic job of making you empathise for the characters simply through the way they interact with each other without dialogue, which is due to a good job by both the director and the cast.

How open to negotiation is your response (are you invited, instructed or coerced to respond in particular ways)? We d say that the response you get from the video isn t really up for negotiation at all it guides your ideas about the characters relations to each other so specifically and one sided that it doesn t really give you any reason to doubt how close they are or that they re bad people or anything other than close friends being split up. Even with the zombie theory there s no portrayal of the characters in a bad light.

Is there any penalty for not responding in the expected ways? We d say that if you weren t emotionally moved by the contents of the video, then you d probably come out of watching it feeling either bored or disappointed. The video relies so heavily on character interaction to get a response that it s focused on very little else in fact the story takes a

Dale Luck Tom Cartwright

Lindisfarne by James Blake

A2 Media Studies Coursework

back seat entirely to the characters emotions, which is why the theories are so wide in their interpretation of the imagery.

To what extent do you find yourself reading against the grain of the text and the genre? We think that the way the video is made, there s very little grain to read against. There s really nothing more there than seeing the characters being very close to each other and then being separated, and it shows that in such a focused way that you d be hard tasked to try and find a different interpretation of the character s relationships.

How typical do you think this video is of music videos? We d say that this kind of video isn t very typical at all, considering that people often don t watch music videos to be see the interaction between the characters. Normally videos nowadays are there for the imagery and the actual music, whereas this video focuses almost entirely on character interaction.

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