Drowning Pool - Bodies Music Video Analysis

I'm teaching music video again at the moment, and I thought I'd throw up (literally) a quick music video analysis to give my students an idea of what I'm after from them. They've got to analyse five different videos in terms of the style, conventions and techniques used. Here's my example for them, but before you read it, please give the video a watch!

Drowning Pool’s music video for their song Bodies is a great example of a video that is in a similar style to many other hard rock / metal music videos. It shares many of the conventions and techniques used in other music videos of songs within the same music genre. The video mixes ‘as-live’ elements of Drowning Pool performing in a few different locations (but without an audience) and elements of a narrative style music video. The main ‘as-live’ performance parts of the video feature the band playing in a large dark warehouse and also in what looks like a very small room in a hospital. This latter location ties in with the narrative of the music video which features a male patient in what can be assumed to be a psychiatric hospital being taunted by the lead singer of Drowning Pool who is singing to him. The video ends with the members of Drowning Pool appearing to help the man leave the hospital, but actually they take him back to his room, where the patient is already sitting. Is he mad? Why are there two of the patient? Is this a dream? As with many music video narratives, it’s quite ambiguous.

The song is clearly about having a very disturbed mind state. The repetition of ‘Nothing wrong with me’ and ‘Something’s got to give’ suggest this is a song about feeling angry, particularly if you feel trapped by society, and unable to express how you really feel and who you really are. The lyrics have been interpreted by the music video creators as being about a man who is literally trapped in an institution and is perhaps struggling to come to terms with his demons or his past. Perhaps the repetition of ‘Let the bodies hit the floor’ is a reference to the past of this patient, when he went on some kind of murderous rampage. In this sense, the video consolidates the song’s meaning because both the song and video seem to be about a disturbed man. There are possible vague allusions to a film like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest which is also set in an asylum, but no clear references. Similarly, there are no direct links to other artists, but the appearance of Drowning Pool in terms of their hair, tattoos, performance style and dress sense reminds of similar bands such as Korn, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit.

In terms of techniques, lip sync is used frequently in the video. It opens with the lead singer whispering ‘let the bodies hit the floor’ into the ear of the patient, combining both performance and narrative in the very first shot. We also see the drummer lip synch some backing vocals and the patient from the narrative lip synch the line ‘nothing wrong with me’ repeatedly. There is also cutting to the beat frequently. From the opening lines of the song, the video cuts between every repetition of ‘Let the bodies hit the floor’. There are many other points in the video where it cuts on the drum beat or the strike of a guitar chord. There are multi-image moments because Drowning Pool often appear to be performing on the TV screen that the patient is watching in the hospital. There is a strobing lighting effect used at some points when the band are performing in the darkened warehouse and a fish-eye lens is used on some shots, particularly when the band are performing in the small hospital room. The strobe makes the editing and performance even more hectic and the fish eye lens emphasises how small and claustrophobic the room is, particularly for a full band to perform in. There are a lot of close-ups, particularly on the lead singer and the patient in the narrative. The video is full of conventional camera movements and angles; tracking around the drummer while playing, low angles of the guitarists, wide shots of the whole band and quick cuts between all of these.  

I think it's a cool, if pretty conventional video, particularly for the editing and use of both performance and narrative elements.   

For LOTS more on music videos, click here!

Iconographic Genre Conventions in The Terminator

James Cameron’s film The Terminator is a hybrid of genres with action, science-fiction and horror being most notable. It contains many of the generic conventions of each of these three genres. Producers use genre to help sell their films, audiences use genre to help choose what films they will watch and even the creative people behind the films use genre to help script their films. Genres are about repetition and formula but they are also about creating expectations and often subverting those expectations. Genre films have to tread a fine line between being familiar enough to entice and audience but also being too repetitive and predictable.

The Terminator ensures it will appeal to a wide ranging audience by containing many conventions of different popular genres. This means there will be much that is familiar to audiences about it but there will also be a lot that is new to them as well. Generic conventions can be divided into iconography, narrative and thematic. I will focus on the iconography of The Terminator, analysing what conventions it uses to appeal to horror, action and sci-fi fans as well as how it updates, changes and subverts expectations that the audience might have.

Action movie iconography

Although early in his career, Arnold Schwarzenegger was already becoming typecast in American films by the time he starred in The Terminator in 1984. He was known for his huge muscles, a physique crafted from years of bodybuilding and for his Austrian accent. He has already starred in fantasy action films such as Conan the Barbarian and looked like the kind of alpha male hero Hollywood could feature in an action film. However Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast as the villain in The Terminator to help make the hero look like more of an underdog and therefore make the film more suspenseful and exciting.

The early scenes of the film feature a fight between The Terminator and some punk youths. This involves a knife which should be a terrifying weapon. However the Terminator is not frightened by the youths, their knife or hurt when he is stabbed. This sets him up as a dangerous villain that will be hard to kill. The film also features lots of chases, both on foot and in cars. These are fast paced and exciting for the audience and are shot, edited and scored to make them appear tense and thrilling with the sound of screeching tyres used to emphasise speed. Guns are often used and the sound of gunshots can be heard which also adds excitement as guns can be used to hurt people from a distance and they are a symbol of power and deadly force. The Terminator also features fire and explosions which are major signifiers of destruction and are caused by using weapons. The tension around an impending explosion is built through intercutting between shots of the fuse burning and then shots of the people who may be affected by the explosion as in the scene where Reese puts a bomb in the tanker that Sarah is being chased by.

Police cars and police uniforms also feature in The Terminator but they are not the heroes of the film, as is often typical with action films. The hero is a plain clothed soldier from the future and to further subvert expectations, the villain drives a police car at one point.

Science fiction iconography

The Terminator also has many iconic conventions of the science fiction film. It frequently uses special effects such as lasers that fly across the screens, representing the firepower of futuristic weaponry. The idea of a robot that looks human not something that has been invented yet and is therefore futuristic. The audience is made aware that Schwarzenegger’s Terminator is not human in a number of ways. There are point of view shots that have a red tint and written data scrolling on screen and this is accompanied by robotic noises so the viewer knows they are seeing what the robot sees. Eventually it is revealed that beneath the skin, The Terminator has a metal skeleton with bright red eyes. This signifies strength, anger and death and makes him appear to be from the future and also dangerous and almost impossible to kill.

There are also scenes set in 2029 when machines are hunting and killing humans. The future is bleak with destruction everywhere and humans living underground. The machinery looks unfamiliar to modern audiences and the world is unrecognisable. The connotations of machinery that flies through the sky shooting lasers while humans scurry around on the surface trying to fight back is that technology has taken over the planet and has become more powerful than humans. This is a typically dystopian vision of the future that is reminiscent of other science fiction films such as The Matrix and even Jurassic Park where technology allows people to re-create dinosaurs than then go on a rampage.

Horror iconography

The Terminator also has elements of the horror film in its iconography. James Cameron uses suspenseful music during chases to build the idea of threat. Most of the film takes place at night with low key lighting. The idea that only bad things happen at night and the poor visibility of night time adds to the excitement and suspense. There is blood and gore and a focus on injuries in some scenes. For example when The Terminator cuts his arm open or takes his eye out, there is the kind of graphic detail that might be expected in a horror film.

Though the killer uses a gun as his weapon of choice, he also hunts down women who appear weaker and more innocent than he is. This focus on female victims and also that we see from the killer’s point of view is similar to slasher film conventions. The fact the killer murders his defenceless victims in cold blood and never shows any remorse or emotion is also similar to slasher film villains like Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees. The Terminator is also occasionally shot from a low angle to make him look dominant and Schwarzenegger’s face never changes to show that he is robotic, inhuman and impossible to reason with... just like a slasher killer!

Pre- and Post-Viewing Experiences and Conditions of Reception: The Relationship between Audiences and Films Part 7

The enjoyment of a film can also be affected by the pre and post-viewing experiences of the person who watches it and where and how they watch it. For example if a viewer watched all the trailers, promotional clips, interviews with the stars etc before a film is released, they may have extremely high expectations of the film. This might mean the film fails to meet these expectations. Comedies often have many of the best jokes in the trailers of the films and these jokes will not be as funny when they are in the final film if you have seen the trailer a few times. Similarly many trailers give a great deal of the story away and show many of the best stunts. The recent Fast and Furious 6 trailer seemed to have clips from all the major set-pieces and therefore there was no sense of surprise when watching the film. Prometheus was also a victim of its excellent marketing because people had huge expectations and the film was not as good as many had hoped.

Before or after a film, reading reviews might also affect a person’s enjoyment of a film. Sometimes I read a review and I can’t get the words of the writer out of my head and it ends up affecting my opinion. For this reason many wait till after they have seen a film to read any reviews. Also discussing a film after it has finished can potentially change your opinion of it. Though I still love The Dark Knight Rises, hearing people pick out the all the plot holes has lessened my love for it a little bit.

How you watch a film is also important as watching a film at an IMAX cinema with state of the art sound is a very different experience to watching a film on a mobile phone or a dodgy pirate DVD copy. Blockbusters particularly are supposed to be seen on a big screen in a dark room with the sound up loud to get the full audio visual experience. If an audience is laughing in a comedy or screaming in a horror, it will likely have an effect on other viewers. Watching a film with mates is different to watching it with parents or on a first date and watching it alone is very different to watching it with a large audience. All these factors can affect enjoyment and interpretation. 3D is supposedly more immersive but many hate it and some people have home cinema set ups because they would rather watch a film in their own home. I also find that if I see a really good film early (at a preview before it is released) I think I often love it even more than if I was (seemingly) the last to see it. I certainly feel the need to talk about it more to convince more people to go and see it.

And that is the end of this series on the relationship between audience and films. Hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to argue with me all you want it the comments below and check out the other posts in this series. All the links are below:

Did you miss...?

Part 1 on active vs passive spectatorship.

Part 2 on the pleasures of film watching. 

Part 3 on frameworks of interpretation.

Part 4 on media literacy and intertextuality.

Part 5 on the effects of film.

Part 6 on fandom.

Fandom: The Relationship between Audiences and Films Part 6

Films do not just have the potential to have an effect on audiences but also audiences can have an affect on films. With fandom it can go both ways. Fans are people who love a particular film, genre, character or star and they share camaraderie with other fans. Sometimes being a fan can involve a huge range of activities such as attending conventions, dressing up, writing fan fiction, blogging, starting a website, attending premieres, collecting merchandise, writing fan mail or even getting into film production and referencing the films you are a fan of.

Though the films have clearly had an effect on the fans by making them get obsessed and turning the film into a hobby for the person, the fans also have an impact on the film. They turn it into more than a film, making it a cultural phenomenon such as Star Wars. Fans are now becoming filmmakers so Kevin Smith references Star Wars in most of his movies and J.J. Abrams is now making a Star Wars movie after being a huge fan of the original. Fans have expanded the Star Wars universe by writing their own fan fiction and their continuing love for the franchise has led to more and more sequels. Some fans have even gone as far as to call ‘Jedi’ their religion and some Trekkies have learned the (fictional) language Klingon from Star Trek. Some Avatar fans were even reported to be feeling depressed or suicidal as they could not visit the fictional planet Pandora. How much of this is really believable is debatable but there can be no doubt that fans take films very seriously and films can have a big impact on peoples lives.Check out this story on the tension between fans.

Did you miss...?

Part 1 on active vs passive spectatorship.

Part 2 on the pleasures of film watching. 

Part 3 on frameworks of interpretation.

Part 4 on media literacy and intertextuality.

Part 5 on the effects of film.

Read more:

Part 7 on pre and post-viewing experiences and conditions of reception.

Are you a fan? What do your fan activities consist of?

The Effects of Films: The Relationship between Audiences and Films Part 5

Despite the fact that most people reject the idea that cinema audiences are a completely passive mass who do not question or interpret films in different ways, some theorists have argued that films can have serious and damaging effects on viewers. In the past, the media (particularly tabloid newspapers) have been quick to blame films and video games when individuals have committed terrible crimes. The murder of the three year old James Bulger by two ten year old boys was blamed on the murderers having been exposed to the film Child’s Play 3 with calls for the film to be banned despite no real evidence that the boys had seen the film. Natural Born Killers and A Clockwork Orange were also blamed for copycat violence with the argument that some people see bad things in films and want to copy them.

The main effects that people are concerned about are desensitisation, fear, violence in society and viewer aggression. If people see a lot of violence in films, the argument is that they might become desensitised to real life violence. The more blood you see on screen, the more you get used to seeing blood and the less shocking it will be. The concern is that particularly children could be affected if they see too much violence and pain on screen, perhaps they will not feel as strongly about it when they see it in real life. This could make them dangerous human beings that do not empathise with people in pain and therefore they would be capable of being more violent in real life. 

Similarly if there is more violence in films, there is an argument that society will become more violent. Films will make audiences feel that violence is an acceptable part of life and being violent is an acceptable way to behave. If film characters solve their problems with fights and killing the bad guys, people might follow. This also ties in with viewer aggression. If a viewer watched lots of violent films or films that make them angry, they might be more aggressive. I have had more than one student in the past tell me that watching a film like The Football Factory actually does make them want to fight. Again the real concern is children who are considered to be more impressionable. Will watching Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers or even Spiderman or Lord of the Rings make them more aggressive and enjoy the idea of fighting more? However this is why we have the BBFC and age ratings to stop children from seeing things that society deems unsuitable. The BBFC are very good at researching what the public views are on things like sex, violence and swearing. However they still occasionally but very rarely ban or cut films that they argue are too offensive or ‘dangerous’ even for people over the age of 18 due to harm these films could supposedly cause.

The other effect that might be a concern is that with all this violent entertainment, vulnerable people may actually start to fear society and other people. If an elderly, frail person watched a film like Harry Brown or Kidulthood, it may make them fear London youth because of the stereotypes it presents. Horror movie watchers might be more afraid of being alone, women could be more afraid of men and the threat of rape and all because of violent films that people watch for entertainment. 

Did you miss...?

Part 1 on active vs passive spectatorship.

Part 2 on the pleasures of film watching. 

Part 3 on frameworks of interpretation.

Part 4 on media literacy and intertextuality.

Read more:

Part 6 on fandom and film fans.

Part 7 on pre and post-viewing experiences and conditions of reception.

I'm curious about this one. What do you think about the media effects debate? Can films turn us into monsters? Do movies create pscychos? Or do movies make psychos more creative? Drop a comment below if you have an opinion on the matter...

Media Literacy and Intertextuality: The Relationship between Audiences and Films Part 4

Another major factor or framework of interpretation that must be considered is the media literacy of the viewer. If someone is very educated about the media, as in they have done a media course or they watch a lot of special features on DVD’s and are very aware of how media texts are constructed, then this is likely to have an impact on their enjoyment and interpretation of a film. A viewer who is more media literate will likely be aware of how the text is positioning them and may therefore be less suggestible to the messages of the film. This viewer will be more aware of how the preferred readings of a film are constructed and may therefore resist the ideology or messages of the film more than someone who is less aware of how films construct meanings and provoke specific emotional responses.

For example some viewers may find Kidulthood to be a realistic depiction of London’s youth whereas others may see it as a sensationalistic film that stereotypes London teens in order to sell more tickets at the box office. Some viewers will not enjoy fantasy films as much because they are overly aware of how the special effects are created and this ruins the magic for them. Some viewers may appreciate the films of Tarantino more or less than others because they are more or less aware of the references to other films that Tarantino alludes to. They may also enjoy a film such as Pulp Fiction more because they find the structure challenging and interesting compared to a traditional narrative whereas others may find the non-linear narrative confusing and pointless.

This also ties in with intertextuality which is where a film references another piece of media. This can be deliberate or unavoidable. For example spoofs such as Scary Movie deliberately reference other films such as Scream in order to parody them and make viewers who are aware of the film being referenced, laugh at the imitation. People who have seen Scream are more likely to enjoy Scary Movie as they will be more familiar with the target of the mockery. Tarantino on the other hand pays homage to films he loves such as Lady Snowblood in Kill Bill or City on Fire in Reservoir Dogs by imitating them but not to mock them and make people laugh.

However intertextuality can also be less deliberate and almost unavoidable. This is often the case with genre films and the use of stars. Any time a filmmaker wants to make a slasher film where a killer stalks a bunch of kids and stabs them one by one, that film will always have unavoidable references to the whole slasher sub-genre of horror. Similarly, any time a filmmaker casts a star such as Will Smith for example, the viewer is likely to be reminded of previous Will Smith films. If I see Will Smith on a poster, I suspect he may save the world (or at least be the hero) because I’ve seen him do this a few times. I see Jim Carrey and I expect a comedy. This can be used to sell a film or it can be used to subvert expectations but either way, the use of certain generic conventions or stars can impact the experience for the viewer, particularly if they are media literate or very knowledgeable about films.

Did you miss...?

Part 1 on active vs passive spectatorship.

Part 2 on the pleasures of film watching. 

Part 3 on frameworks of interpretation.

Read more:

Part 5 on the effects of films.

Part 6 on fandom and film fans.

Part 7 on pre and post-viewing experiences and conditions of reception.

Frameworks of Interpretation: The Relationship between Audiences and Films Part 3

Part of the theory of active spectatorship is that the audience is made up of individuals who all read and interpret films differently from each other. What makes us individuals are a range of things and these could be considered our frameworks of interpretation. For example I am a (vaguely) young white British man who has been through higher education and is (probably considered) middle class. All these factors such as my age, my class, my ethnicity, my education and even my past experiences will all have some bearing on the way I read and interpret a film. Though I might agree with many other people, there could also be differences. For example my interpretation of a film might be very different to an old African lady. Though the film may have a preferred reading, there may be some differences in the way people interpret it due to their differing frameworks of interpretation.

Examples of this can be found everywhere. Where I found Avatar to be about a so-called ‘primitive’ species of aliens that taught a human that he should be more respectful of his surroundings and nature and the environment, others criticised it for portraying the aliens as savages and for the use of African-American and Native American actors in the roles of the aliens. I interpreted it as James Cameron suggesting that the ‘primitive’ cultures were honourable, noble and cared for the planet, whereas the humans (often played by Americans and Europeans) had basically destroyed Earth through carelessness and greedy consumption of natural resources. However others consider it a patronising view of non-white cultures and criticised it for having a white hero who has to save the savages. Perhaps some critics with different frameworks of interpretation to my own were more sensitive to these issues than I was.

Did you miss...?

Part 1 on active vs passive spectatorship.

Part 2 on the pleasures of film watching. 

Read more:

Part 4 on media literacy and intertextuality

Part 5 on the effects of films.

Part 6 on fandom and film fans.

Part 7 on pre and post-viewing experiences and conditions of reception. 

Pleasures of Film Watching: The Relationship between Audiences and Films Part 2

Part of the theory of active spectatorship is that audiences do not all just watch whatever they are told to watch and instead different individuals consume different films for different reasons and pleasures. The Uses and Gratifications theory suggested by Blulmer and Katz indicates that there are four main pleasures that audiences gain from films; diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance.

Diversion is probably the most common reason people choose to watch films. Quite simply many viewers will watch a film just to get away from the problems and reality of their own lives. This is why most big Hollywood blockbusters offer pure escapism. They tell easy to understand stories where good usually triumphs over evil and people can go home feeling good. They can provide us with emotions we may not always feel in the mundane routine of our everyday lives, making us laugh, cry or scream. Many films even take us to fantasy lands like Middle Earth in Lord of the Rings or far off planets like in Star Wars, allowing us to completely escape the reality of our lives.

Some people may use films as a substitute for personal relationships. A classic example of this is a viewer choosing to go and see a romantic comedy because they are single. The idea of a relationship or finding a happy relationship is played out in the film. Similarly films that are about groups of friends may help a person to feel like part of a group. In films like the American Pie series or The Inbetweeners, viewers might find characters that they would like to be friends with and watching a film is like being in their company. I’m not sure I fully agree with this one and think it may apply more to TV shows like soap operas rather than films.

On a perhaps more concerning note, many people may watch a film for reasons of personal identity. This is where a viewer watches a film because they see themselves reflected in it, whether it be one specific character or a certain subculture of lifestyle. Stoner comedies are a perfect example of this. People who smoke certain substances are much more likely to relate to the stoner comedies of Jay and Silent Bob, Cheech and Chong or Pineapple Express. Similarly some people chose to watch violent films about football hooliganism such as Green Street and The Football Factory because it is a lifestyle that they can relate to. The viewer may even learn some of their values from the text. For example when I first saw Fight Club, I was taken in by much of what the revolutionary character Tyler Durden said found my own beliefs altered after watching the film.

Finally surveillance is another pleasure of film watching that means finding films that might contain information that is useful for living. For example watching documentaries such as Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11 might educate the viewer about the current state of America. I might also watch world cinemas to learn more about cultures that are foreign to me. For example the films City of God and La Haine teach the viewer about what it is like to live in poor areas of Brazil in France. While this could be considered escapism from my own life in Britain, they could also contain information that is useful in my life.

Next up in part 3 I will be looking at Frameworks of Interpretation and Media Literacy and how this affects the relationship between audiences and films. Part 1 on active vs passive spectatorship is here.

Did you miss...?

Part 1 on active vs passive spectatorship.

Read more:

Part 3 on frameworks of interpretation.

Part 4 on media literacy and intertextuality.

Part 5 on the effects of film.

Part 6 on fandom.

Part 7 on pre- and post-viewing experiences and conditions of reception.