The Cure- High
This music video is an example of off beat editing which incorporates long length gliding shots to match the floaty and magical sound of the music, and the grainy sparkly artistic filters in the visuals. The action also is slightly in slow motion, adding to the dreamy and floaty feel of the song. The unusual style of the video reflects the 80s alternative genre of the music. The digital effects mirror the lyrics of the song with it's dreamy, slightly, trippy feeling. Whether you interpretate the song as meaning 'high' as a result of drug use or metaphorically- as a result of feeling happy, both meanings fit the magical atmosphere of the video.
The mise en scene mirror the lyrics of the song and the whole idea of being 'high' as the lead singer often sings to the sky with his arms up high, and there are multiple low angle shots of the band throughout, to establish them being 'high'. The video is set in the sky, up in the clouds, also relating to the lyrics and corrolates to the sparkly golden colours in the video, connotating heaven which relates to the interpretation of the song being about happiness.
The video is not abstract in the sense that it features the band and the lead singer, Robert Smith, lip syncs in many shots of the video. He often makes visual connections to the lyrics he sings in an illustrative way, with the words 'sticky as lips, as licky as trips, I can't lick that far, but when you pout, the way you shout out loud' and his appropriate hand and facial gestures and the special effects of a long lizard-like tongue.
There are repeated images which could be seen as being symbolised motifs throughout the video and these are kites and clouds, symbolising the concept of being high, matching the floaty atmosphere of the song and creating amplified meaning between lyrics and visuals. The kite could relate to the common saying 'high as a kite', relating to drug use but the clouds could also connotate having your 'head in the clouds' which relates more to happiness however they could both be intertwined to relate to a general trippy feeling. There is not a clear narrative throughout the sound, which also relates to this as nothing is ordered and clear, it is just a series of shots of the same kind setting and action.
There is performance in the video of the rest of the band with their instruments, which is typical of the genre. Also typical of the genre, there are no references to voyeurism or looking, which is more typical of a pop genre. It could be seen that intertexual references could include storybooks, as that is what sprang to mind for me with the colours and especially Robert Smith flying attatched to a kite. It gives the video a fantasy feel which mirrors the atmosphere of the song, and the 'high' concept of the lyrics.
By Sofie
A great post Sofie. To try and get maximum credit for this add a few points on what you feel you can recreate from this video and what you can't. For example the props and special effects would be very difficult to recreate.
ReplyDeleteIf the Cure are a band you are interested in making a video for, try and create a summary of their video styles at some point with screen grabs highlighting generic conventions. Performace and 'kookiness' are key to their work see Friday I'm In Love, Close to Me, Inbetween Days and Boys Don't Cry (which both feature the stop motion/animation that your group is keen on)