I've had to post this presentation I created on Microsoft PowerPoint via screenshots converted to JPEG through Adobe Photoshop 5 as the program Google Docs (docs.google.com) can't upload presentations larger than 25 meg and I can't find another program that allows me to do the same.
Linkin Park is an American rock band and What I’ve Done is the first song on their new album Minutes To Midnight.
The video is part performance and part narrative, it has the whole band playing their instruments in a barren wasteland which could be iconic to what the world has become, fitting in with the lyrics of the song. The video has a type of flashback usage in where the viewer can see things that humankind has done which is deemed wrong or, evil a few examples of these are flash-backs or the Klu Klux Klan and the terrorist attack on the world trade centre. The video is supposed to explore the many ironies of humanity and its ill effects on the world alongside the song’s lyrics. There was an alternate version of the video released in Australia which was a narrative of a young woman who is working at a government run pharmaceutical company learning about a plan of a new virus which is used for “social control” and with the help of a few people in black Linkin Park hoodie’s sneaks out some blood to expose the plot, this could be an attack on what governments are doing behind the peoples backs.
At the beginning of the video we see grass reversing in their growth, perhaps this connotes how instead of going forwards humanity is instead digressing, the grass also links the beginning of the video with the end giving it a continuous feel, this could be a reference to how life continues or to show humanity is stuck in a never ending circle. We also see low angle shots of each of the band members, this convention is used very often in rock band videos as it gives off a sense of superiority and “aloof-ness”, or a stereotypical “we don’t care” attitude. Throughout the video the camera pans around the lead singer this could be to signify how important he is which lead singers are believed to be or to be an object of feel attention as it shows his backside.
The bands clothing also follows the codes and conventions of a rock video as they are dressed in mainly black, this could be to signify their feelings about what is happening in their video/world.
The song also fits in with the video in time, for example in the beginning just as the song kicks in the video is showing a bombs explosion, kick starting the song, this helps transfer the feelings of the song as well as making it look a lot more professional than an un-synced video.
As you can see here the video also has the expected close up on the band member’s instruments, this is an expected convention of this genre of music video and so they make sure they stick to them so the viewers can relate and know what to expect.
When comparing this video to Linkin parks older ones you can see how as they got more famous and most likely wealthier their video’s quality has risen exponentially, for example; in the video In The End the computer generated graphics look much cheaper than in their new videos. One thing that has stayed the same in their videos throughout the decade however is the stylized way they play the instruments.
The lighting used in the video is supposed to be from the sun rather than from studio lighting, this increased the verisimilitude of the video on a whole, after researching the video I learned that the sun in the background while the band is performing is actually a stage light that has been edited to look like the sun using the editing program Corel VideoStudio.
Many of the flash-backs / cuts in the video are played in slow motion, this is for a few reasons, one is to allow the viewers to see the short clips that might have been too hard to properly see and the other reason is that slow motion shots generally help evoke emotion is people and the pictures in these clips are meant to cause sorrow, pity and realisation in the viewer.
The clothing the actors are wearing are of formal nature, both wearing a suit and tie, however the antagonist or the “judge” is wearing a black jacket in contrast to the protagonist wearing a white shirt, this could connote death or innocence.
The language used by the two characters is in direct contrast as the protagonists is Australian and the colloquialisms could help him seem less formal than the English “antagonist”, the speech seems to be of teacher to pupil nature, this could perhaps help get the “moral” of the story across to the viewer better and brings out the seriousness of the characters decision helping to increase the films verisimilitude.
The camera angles in the film are predominantly extreme close-ups of the characters to help evoke emotion in the viewer and allowing us to feel closer and mo
re understanding towards the characters feelings. However it is important to notice that the camera is almost always on the same height as the characters face with no high angle shots, showing us that neither of the characters is supposed to be seen as a “victim”. There are also a few insert shots of the films namesake, the Black Button; this is most likely to allow the audience to feel and see what exactly the character has to press, allowing us to relate with them.
The lighting being used in the film seems to serve two purposes, the first is the obvious one of making the scene brighter and easier to watch, however I believe the other reason is to help the surroundings and mis-en-scene as they are surrounded by white which seems to give off a “glow” of white light, again connoting life and death.
As this short-film is almost entirely based upon dialogue the background music is very quiet so it isn’t hard to hear what the characters say, however it is still possible to hear the music in the background and it is quite eerie and surreal as expected with the genre of this film. Also the actors’ voices seem to echo complimenting the empty space the characters are supposed to be situated in, all of these help the verisimilitude of the temporal and special setting of the video. At 4:53- 5:02 the music changes as the character makes his decision creating a sense of unease and urgency, this in turn grips the viewer and makes the film overall more enjoyable. When the button is pressed the music stops and is replaced with the sound of a gong being struck signifying the end of the characters decision making and perhaps; his life, again connoting death.
There is also a shot-reverse-shot structure throughout the short-film as the characters converse, this allows the viewer to see both characters reactions and facial expressions in an unbiased way and from both of their perspectives; these types of shots are done in many professional T.V. programs especially soaps such as Eastenders as dialogue is an important aspect of that genre.
The Black Button follows the same codes and conventions of its partner films, the thing it picks up on the most is the actual storyline of a person being asked a question and being given a reward upon their answer, this is seen in The Twilight Effect and The Box which also have their protagonist answering a question to prove their selfishness or selflessness.
Some theories that could be implemented into this short film are;
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I have put this video on my blog not for the style of music but for the stylised performance and the use of camera angles such as extreme close ups and the way the camera moves in a robotic way and to the beat of the song, I would really like to use these type of camera angles in my video however I believe it will take more than 1 camera to accomplish so I might have to ask some favours.
This is a video that has the band playing in the middle of the actual narrative, this would be a good kind of thing to do however it will be very difficult organising such an amount of people and it may be better for me to do something simpler
I've embedded this video onto my blog as I am searching numerous types of music videos with a variety of genre's to see if they are live action or more of a narrative style.
Here is a representation of our target demographic, we wanted to make it look a bit more professional rather than just a solid block of text on typical white A4 paper. It shows things associated with our target audience and highlights how synergy could be used in selling our product
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