IDEAS & INSPIRATIONS

What do other artists of the same genre do?

Daughter – ‘Still’

This song is particularly emotive and follows a similar vein to our chosen song. The video contains a confusing narrative of a couple in a dysfunctional relationship who do not communicate their feelings to each other. The female character controls the edit, thus placing the audience’s sympathies with her when she is later shown crying. The lyric “Two hands longing for each others warmth. Cold smoke seeping out of colder throats” is amplified with the female character’s frustration and desire for her male counterpart’s affection. Mulvey’s feminist approach may suggest that the video is traditional in it’s subordination of women, for despite the lead role being female, she still seems to be tormented by the lack of affection her lover shows her. In addition, an element of male gaze is present in the video as the female undresses; a male audience gazes upon her as the camera pans up her body voyeuristically. Also, Goodwin’s notion of looking is applicable, as screens and mirrors are featured heavily throughout the narrative. The visuals perform an amplifying role when paired with Daughter’s heartfelt lyrics, making the song’s message even more poignant; however, the loving lyrics may lose impact when compared with a video condoning male gaze and negative female stereotypes.

Ben Howard – ‘I Forget Where We Are’

Similarly to Daughter’s ‘Still’, this song by Ben Howard is a moving indie/ folk ballad, however, the video is vastly different in location and mise en scene: Howard’s narrative is set by a tropical beach, where two figures watch over an office block as it sinks into the ocean before them. Cutaways depict the couple dancing and the male seemingly hunting with a rifle out in the water. The colour pallet contains washed out primary colours, with particular emphasis on yellow and blue. The warm connotations of yellow contrast the colder connotations of blue, creating a juxtaposition which is reflected in the opposition between the urban building in front of the characters and the organic beach setting. The use of tracking shots and match on action while the male is hunting asserts him as the focus of the video, as the female character seems to observe his actions as a bystander, as the audience does. This is stereotypical, as men are frequently represented as dominant in the media. Furthermore, the female character is also arguably the object of Mulvey’s concept of a male gaze, thanks to her revealing swimming costume and the use of strategic, voyeuristic mid shots that crop out her face, thus making sure her body is the full focus of the shot. As Jonathan Schroeder argues, male gaze can enforce negative representations of women, causing the survival of gendered stereotypes. In this sense, the video can been seen as enforcing negative stereotypes of women.

What are Elle Mary’s previous music videos like? Elle Mary & the Bad Men – Ocean

This video takes a non-linear narrative in which there is no story, only the band playing their instruments. This is combined with visuals of black liquid displacing in water. The lack of story and clear protagonist allows the video to take on a more abstract tone, with the black liquid’s slow motion illustrating the slow forgiving yet suspicious lyrics in the song- “forgive and forget”... “I’m promising nothing.”

The video is shot in black and white, creating a simple and dramatic mise en scene, almost reminiscent of film noir; chiaroscuro is used to silhouette the band members as they play. Long double exposures help to bring the two sets of visuals together into a aesthetically pleasing spectacle. The slow, lumbering pace of the song is matched by a lethargic and surreal video, complying to Goodwin’s idea that the ton of the music relates to the visuals.

Our selected song is similarly emotive and lethargic, so this video will be important in influencing our choices. In addition, we would like to avoid some

of the negative stereotypes surrounding females in the media, meaning a confusing or non-linear narrative may be useful, as the protagonist is not

always made apparent or necessary. In addition, the colour use in Ben Howard’s ‘I forget where we are’ may work nicely in our deserted location and

add an eerie tone to the video. Furthermore I would like to use screens similarly in the way that Daughter uses them in her video for ‘Still’, as I find

Goodwin’s idea of the notion of looking to be particularly effective and interesting.