LCD Soundsystem-'Daft Punk Is Playing At
My House' (Director: Chris Cairns)
The text I have chosen to look at is the music video to the song 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' by the noughties New York Band LCD Soundsytem, directed by Chris Cairns. I have chosen this track for its similarity to the genre of the track that I am to produce a music video for, as they are both upbeat dance tracks. By analysing this text, I hope to gain a greater understanding of the genre intrinsically linked to my future ideas in order to aid both my evaluation and my production of the entire project.
As previously mentioned, the video and my video are intrisincally linked by the shared genre of Dance music, of which many genre characteristics can be observed in this video. It is also important, when analysing music videos in this way, to consider Anthony Goodwin's Theories regarding the form of music video, outlined here.
This video conforms to Goodwin's first theory, which states that music videos display genre charactersitics, also known as iconography. For example, the use of turntables in the mise en scene is one typically used and associated within dance music texts, via association with DJing, a vital part of Dance Music culture. there are many shots of the DJ decks and other pieces of equipment to build this representation and help to create a party mood in the video, another aspect of the genre. complementing this representation, there is the aspect of dancing in the mise en scene, which is there for similar reason and to similar effect. in this way, the video is highly conventional, the only slightly unconventional aspect of iconography is the choice to use city streets instead of a more typical club setting, though this in itself is not massively unconventional for the genre.
The appearance of the artist in the video, most prominently lead singer James Murphy but also the rest of the band is highly conventional, not just of the genre, but of the entire form of music video. This is due mainly to the demand of record labels to feature prominent and frequent close ups of artists in order to create a familiar style and the feeling of familiarity between the audience and artist, an audience pleasure making audience loyalty more likely. This idea is supported by Goodwin's fourth theory, which dictates that artists feature prominently in promotional material as they do in this, for the same cause as explained thusly.
Another convention used in the video is that of inter-textual reference, in particular, several inter-textual references to Daft Punk, a French Dance music duo who inspired the song (more observant readers may have spotted their name in the title of the track) . They are referenced heavily throughout the video, in the shared genre of Dance music, the lyrics of the song and various references to 2 of Daft Punk's music videos. The first music video referenced is the video for the song 'Around the World', directed by Michel Gondry. It is referenced using the inclusion of the characters featured in the original video, in the house party scene of the new video (egyptian mummies, girls in swimsuits, astronauts etc.)
A close up of a mixing console used for DJing
This video conforms to Goodwin's first theory, which states that music videos display genre charactersitics, also known as iconography. For example, the use of turntables in the mise en scene is one typically used and associated within dance music texts, via association with DJing, a vital part of Dance Music culture. there are many shots of the DJ decks and other pieces of equipment to build this representation and help to create a party mood in the video, another aspect of the genre. complementing this representation, there is the aspect of dancing in the mise en scene, which is there for similar reason and to similar effect. in this way, the video is highly conventional, the only slightly unconventional aspect of iconography is the choice to use city streets instead of a more typical club setting, though this in itself is not massively unconventional for the genre.
The Band as featured in the video
The track's namesake and French Dance Music heroes, Daft Punk
Another convention used in the video is that of inter-textual reference, in particular, several inter-textual references to Daft Punk, a French Dance music duo who inspired the song (more observant readers may have spotted their name in the title of the track) . They are referenced heavily throughout the video, in the shared genre of Dance music, the lyrics of the song and various references to 2 of Daft Punk's music videos. The first music video referenced is the video for the song 'Around the World', directed by Michel Gondry. It is referenced using the inclusion of the characters featured in the original video, in the house party scene of the new video (egyptian mummies, girls in swimsuits, astronauts etc.)
A side by side comparison of the original video (right) and it's reference (left)
The second Daft Punk music video referenced in this text is the video for the song 'Da Funk', directed by Spike Jonze. This video is more subtley referenced, via use of setting and a select few shots. The use of the setting of wet night-time New York city streets is common across both videos, as well as a few featured props, for example pedestrian crossing signs. Another small reference is that to legendary Glaswegian DJ duo Optimo, referenced with a t-shirt worn by the DJ in the video. This strongly conforms to Goodwin's 6th theory of music videos, which states "There are often intertextual references".
The Optimo T-shirt and wet New York streets
There is also a close relationship between the lyrics and the visuals on screen, sometimes conflicting and sometimes complementing with each other. For example, when we hear the lyrics "I've bought fifteen cases for my house", we see visuals of stacked boxes outside a house, an example of well complementing visuals. In addition, the general premise and visual theme matches up with the lyrical content and mood of the song, both concerning wild, cool house parties, with an upbeat, cool tone, again an example of complementing visuals and lyrics. However, that is not to say that the video an entirely literal interpretation of the song, as there is some dischord and conflict between the two aspects. For example, there are many points in the video where the lyrics describe one thing, but the video continues on along the same trajectory as before. This is however useful for creating a more cohesive and engaging video, and allowing motifs and themes to be built up. A music video that is entirely literal would most probably be both very difficult to make and very difficult to watch, as it would require a constantly changing pace.
Overall, I feel this is a fairly decent music video, if not the best. It matches the tone and pace of the song well, is edited and shot very nicely and has some clever touches (the references to the Daft Punk Videos are particularly enjoyable). It's not however particularly creative visually, nor does it create an engaging or interesting narrative, but I suppose it doesn't appear to try to. Looking at a real life genre text such as this has been very useful though, as I now have a greater understanding of how media, and more specifically film language can be used to creat an effect, and to help create a more wholesome text. I will hopefully be able to use this new knowledge both when I produce my own text, and when I evaluate it.
An interesting analysis, to strengthen it may be worth linking your knowledge and understanding of narrative theory and relating it to the narrative structure of the music video.
ReplyDeleteAlso the use of speeded up footage to amplify the beat and thus strongly market the track.
Note also the use of sci fi iconography and aspects of the rave culture.