Music Video Director Analysis and Comparison

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David Wilson is a London based director who was born from Wells, Somerset (there is no information on his birthday). When researching Wilson, there was not a lot of information
(birthdate, childhood etc.) on him so it was difficult to learn more about him. Wilson studied illustration at Brighton University and did a foundation course in Art and Design which
may imply why his style is focused around animation. No influences or inspirations for Wilson’s work and style is evident. Wilson has worked with artists such as Arctic Monkeys,
Royal Blood, Tame Impala and many more. Due to the genre of these bands he has worked with suggest that Wilson potentially enjoys working with the rock genre. With his work
with rock band Royal Blood’s ‘Out of the black’ music video in particular, it also suggests he likes narrative styled videos. Liking narrative styled videos may depict why Wilson
takes great enjoyment from them as he can combine animation and live action to create a unique story.
RoyalBlood ‘OutoftheBlack’
Royal Blood’s rock song ‘Out of the Black’ is a narrative styled music video and clearly depicts Wilson’s clever manipulation between animation and live action work. The video
opens with a shot of the 'Parental Advisory - Explicit Content' logo which immediately alerts the viewer and draws in their attention. After this the video starts of animated which
unfolds the beginning of a cliché crime TV show by scenes saying “starring Wilson Statham as Rufus Royal” and the character next to it. This may also represent the linguistic
codes of the video by potentially adding combination of works or/and a spin on character names - ‘Wilson Statham’ (David Wilson and Jason Statham combined and the band’s
name as the protagonists surnames).. The show features aliens, police officer, violence and gore; potentially foreshadowing what is coming up in the rest of the video. The use of
a redhead female and a sci-fi theme suggests a portrayal of Scully from the popular TV show ‘X Files’ potentially Throughout this animation part, fast paced editing is incorporated
with vibrant colours which sets the pace for the video to work well with the quick tempo of the song.

2. Wilson incorporates an animation and a live action scene by using the camera movement of zooming out to show a cartoon show being shown on a TV in live action. After
zooming out from the TV, the scene switches to just a live action scene of the male protagonist behind a dull shop counter watching the TV then going to serve a woman. The man
is dressed in a dull blue costume (his shop uniform), wearing glasses and looking bored/unamused (no facial expressions on his face). On the other hand, the woman who he
ends up serving is dressed in a classy costume with a gold, expensive watch on her wrist, a tidy hairdo and is accompanied by a small dog. She too looks unamused and ends up
shoving the shopkeepers arm to get his attention, immediately implying she is possibly in a rush and demands to be served. The two people are represented as completely
opposite; the man seemingly being lower class as he works in a rundown looking shop with his appearance looking like he doesn’t care at all whilst the woman is clearly of a
higher status and by her body language (shoving the man) potentially implies she is treating him “like dirt” due to his common job, appearance and her place on the status
hierarchy.
After this, an unknown assailant comes in and shoots the woman in the head using a gun (prop) and spraying a lot of fake blood (as special effects) to show the brutality of the
murder. The murderer is anonymous in a rabbit costume however is later identified to be an alien. The use of a rabbit costume may have been used to confuse the audience yet
intrigue them enough to keep watching. The antagonist continues to harm other customers, rob the store and takes a chocolate bar from the shopkeeper before leaving the store
and protagonist unharmed. Outside of the shop, a confrontation between police and the antagonist break out which ends up in more aliens/antagonists in odd costumes (ice
cream, pumpkin etc.) arriving to support him. More authorities arrive in which the individuals are dressed in clothing that consist of black suits wearing black sunglasses, making
them look like FBI or something out of the popular sci-fi movie ‘Men in Black’. Throughout the video, the “battle” between aliens and humans is switched from real footage to
animated footage – especially during the alien scenes to show the violent, gory side in which only animation can effectively depict. Eventually the protagonist leaves the store, kills
all the aliens and retrieves his chocolate bar – creating a cyclical structure. In particular the lighting for this scene when the antagonists run towards the protagonist, is half red,
half blue. Blue (the colour highlighting the bad guys) is usually a connotation for power and integrity which is exactly what the body language of the antagonists are showing –
running together at full speed towards their foe. Red (the colour highlighting the protagonist) is a connotation of violence, war, danger and strength. These connotations represent
the protagonist in this exact shot due to the weapon prop he’s using and his body stance/body positioning - bracing himself for the antagonists impact.

3. The editing used in the video is in time with the fast pace of music and the theme of violence/aggression stereotypically supports the rock genre as rock music is often seen as
being loud and aggressive which is heavily based around the bass and drums. The song title, lyrics and imagery are all linked to a small extent; ‘Out of the Black’ could
represent the alien theme and could be saying that the use of the word ‘black’ could be a connotation of space and that the aliens are coming out of space (which is dark – black
even). Although the music video does not have typical codes and conventions through the mise-en-scene aspects of the rock genre (hostile props; guitars, cigarettes; eerie
settings; forest, garage, basement, etc.), the fast paced editing conforms to the genre and the video is extremely striking, comical and unforgettable which successfully promotes
the song and the band. Neither of the two members in Royal Blood appear in the video due to the narrative nature of the music video. Numerous different camera shots are
used to compliment the wild video such as POV shots from the aliens perspective whilst running which gives the audience a sense of being part of the video. The editing is one
of the main technical codes used in the video as it accompanies the violent and aggressive themes of the song and music video.
An audience who is part of the “rock culture” would react positively to this music video. As part of the rock genre culture and Royal Blood’s fans, many viewers would find this
music video intriguing and of an anarchic nature – which they could relate to. They would most likely watch this music video because of ‘Blumler & Katz’ theory of ‘Uses and
Gratifications’ which describes the different ways in which people consume media products (such as music videos). The main uses and gratifications purposes are for
entertainment reasons so they have something to do and to escape from reality (which by watching this video effectively helps this reason due to the animated, sci-fi scenes).

4. N
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Nigel Dick was born on the 21st of March in 1953 in North Yorkshire, England. He is a music video and film director, writer and musician and is now based in Los Angeles,
California. He attended Gresham’s school in Holt, and went on to get a degree in architecture in the University of Bath. He also studied the art of “mime” and is a graduate of an
“Acting for Directors” class.
Throughout his time, Nigel Dick has had many careers such as a store clerk, architect, cab driver and many more until settling down into directing. He began his record
business work at Stiff Records where he stayed for 5 years. In the early 1980’s he joined Phonogram Records where he helped direct Band Aid – “Do They Know it’s
Christmas?”
There are no influences or inspirations that were evident when researching him. He has worked with artists and bands such as; Oasis (‘Wonderwall’), Guns N’ Roses (‘Paradise
City’), Nickleback (‘Photograph’), Britney Spears (‘Oops I did it Again’) and Black Sabbath (‘TV Crimes’). He works with a variety of genres from rock to pop and usually works
with the performative and narrative styles – sometimes even combining them into a hybrid music video (such as ‘Photograph’ by Nickleback).
Oasis– ‘Wonderwall’
Although portrayed as a rock band, Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ shows a different and more tranquil side of the rock genre. The song is about “an imaginary friend who’s going to come
and save you from yourself” – according to Noel Gallagher. The music video is of a performative nature and it is argued that the songs genre itself is either alternative or soft
rock (all major subgenres of rock). The whole video is in black and white which suggests Nigel Dick has edited it to be this colour or used old technologies (cameras) to make
this happen. The director could have used colour as the song was released in 1995, meaning they had access to coloured cameras, however, in my opinion, the black and
white aesthetic works well with the calm yet sorrowful atmosphere of the song.
The video begins with a man (possibly one of the band members, however it is impossible to tell as you do not see his face) playing a record with the band’s name printed large
on it. This may keep the audience aware who the song is by (if they don’t already know) and promoting their band to new viewers. It then goes to continue to potentially one of
the band members sitting on a chair in a minimalistic setting of a warehouse playing a guitar. The camera shots used in this scene is a long shot, with the man in the centre of
the image which successfully draws the audience’s attention to him due to his simple background. The camera proceeds to zoom in closer to the man, however the director has
edited it to jump in closer/zoom in instead (potentially a jump cut).

5. The video then transitions to multiple scenes (saws dangling from the ceiling and a woman in a sparkling leotard costume and feather headband) through editing and special
effects by using a fast paced wipe in a short take motion (shot that is relatively fast paced and takes a short length of time before cutting to the next scene). This then again,
switches using the same transitions into a man “dawdling” next to an amp in the empty warehouse from the very beginning. The director’s use of editing and special effects after
this is to dissolve the man in the warehouse to the record playing again. A dissolve is a transition used in between two shots so that the shot doesn’t change suddenly (one shot
fades out whilst another fades in – overlapping one another and blending together). This makes the video less “hectic” by slowly transitioning rather than jumping from one scene
to another rapidly. It also makes it aesthetically pleasing to watch.
Again the shot dissolves into a POV shot of the lead singer holding a mirror and looking at himself whilst singing. This creates a mode of address by creating an atmosphere in
which the audience feel as if they’re looking through the eyes of the vocalist and becoming a part of the video. Again, Nigel Dick includes a montage of shots which consist of a
couple of individual shots and group shots of the band members doing various acts (reading a newspaper, talking to each other, moving their body positions etc. This montage is
fast paced and could be potentially used to highlight the relations of the band members. Close-up camera shots of the lead singer is also shown through a montage after the
previous one whilst he sings the lyrics; highlighting him and signifying him as important due to his status in the band. This continues on throughout a majority of the music video,
whilst including close ups of their instruments (violin, guitar etc.) and quick shots of the other members.

6. At 1:39 in the music video, a shot of a man in an odd clowns costume is shown holding a puppet. He is making direct eye contact with the camera creating a mode of address as
it seems like he staring at the audience which makes them feel part of the video again. The clown is wearing a hat which is a vibrant blue and is the only colour in the music video
that is shown. The colour blue connotes melancholy which implies a sense of irony (linguistic code) as clowns are represented to be joyful yet is incorporated with this colour.
Again this blue colour is seen on a guitar that is being played by one of the band members. Due to the vibrancy of the shade, it is extremely striking and appealing and makes the
viewers eyes immediately attach to it.
Nigel Dick also includes an edited collage of the band member’s faces and a majority of scenes that have been shown previously in the music video. This may suggest its
potentially recapping what’s already been shown. The director uses multiple scenes using camera movements such as a pan which moves from one member to another which
may be a way to create recognition of each band member. There also seems to be a circular/rotating theme which may imply that the subject of the song is going around in
circles, either physically or mentally. If mentally, the rotating theme may suggest a person is going around in circles in their own head/thoughts which may support Gallagher’s
idea of “an imaginary friend who’s going to come and save you from yourself” as that imaginary friend could be coming to save your from your thoughts. The director then
continues to edit the vocalist by using the filter ‘Vignette’ however, instead of dark to light, he uses the opposite (light to dark).

7. Another colour used a vibrant green for one of the guitarist’s guitars. The shade of green is incredibly striking and attractive to the eye which can connote two different moods.
One theory is a mood of regrowth, harmony and energy which suggest that the subject of the music video and song itself is taking a more positive role. However, green may
also imply greed, ambition and envy which suggest the subject’s mood/mental state has worsened. Another colour is featured in a guitar which is a vibrant, and striking yellow.
This again connotes two moods. It can either represent happiness, energy, optimism or cowardice and deceit. This again can suggest the subjects mental state has improved or
worsened.
Overall, Nigel Dick’s work when directing ‘Wonderwall’ is mainly focused on the editing aspects. He uses various transitions and filters which effectively make the video
memorable. It is clear that the song is about someone trying to find help from another but it potentially too afraid to so is shielding themselves away. This is supported by the
lyrics “backbeat the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out.” The “fire in your heart is out” suggest their energy and their worthy is gone and they need someone to
save them.
Carol Vernallis theory about the importance of editing can be used to support Nigel Dick’s style and “overuse” of editing in
this music video. Vernallis theory suggests that editing is used a whole lot more in music videos than films and fits better
overall with the tempo of the song – which in this case, is true. The use of editing in this music video such as the collage,
montage, transitions (wipes, dissolving etc.) and filters grabs the audiences attention and makes the video a lot more
appealing and aesthetically pleasing to watch which successfully supports Vernalises argument that editing makes it more
interesting to the audience.

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It is clear that although both music videos I have analysed are both products of the rock genre, they are overall completely different in their codes and conventions. David
Wilson’s work on Royal Blood’s ‘Out of the Black’ shows a more aggressive and anarchic side of the genre – stereotypical codes and conventions for the rock genre as rock
culture is often seen as rebellious and uncaring towards the society norms. On the other hand, Nigel Dick’s directing on Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’ shows a more emotional yet
relaxed side of the genre by using simplistic technical codes such as schematic editing (black and white filters), and small amounts of colour (blue, green, yellow etc.) and by
using symbolic codes such as minimalistic settings (empty warehouse). This depicts a more calm and anti stereotypical side of the genre as the music video is not giving the
effect of a “busy” and “hectic” atmosphere, unlike Royal Blood’s video. ‘Out of the Black’ gives the stereotypical “violent” and “busy” atmosphere that the rock genre is
represented with. Wilson creates this mood by mainly creating gory, aggressive animations of aliens and murder mixed with mysterious and dramatic live action sequences.
A similarity between the two music videos is that both directors have edited the video shots to fit perfectly with the tempo and pace of the song that it fits in successfully and
makes it more enjoyable to watch. However, another difference between the two is the style of the videos; ‘Wonderwall’ is in a performative style (focuses around the
artist/band member dominating the video) whilst ‘Out of the Black’ is shot in a narrative style (has a story to it and doesn’t show the artist/band members). This may be due to
the huge difference between the directors styles. Wilson prefers to work with animation which works effectively (and better) with imaginary narrative based media products and
Nigel Dick uses more “old-school” styles and often works a lot with editing (especially manipulating shots, montages etc.) which works better and successfully with performative
and conceptual media products.
Both directors have used technical codes involving colour in a large divergent way. Wilson uses a variety of vibrant and bold colours to his advantage through his animation to
create a “hectic” and “messy” ambience which is a stereotypical representation of the rock genre. Nigel Dick however, used barely no colour, which makes it more effective in
catching the audiences attention and interpreting different ideas about the purpose of the song because the little colour used is what immediately catches the viewers eyes.
Analysing these two music video directors and their styles have helped me in my research and planning for my music video. Originally, I thought that if I was creating a rock
music video I would have to use a style similar to David Wilsons (threatening and violent live action and animation), however looking at Nigel Dick’s work on ‘Wonderwall’, I
have more of a choice on what style I want my rock music video to be, even if it is anti stereotypical to the typical codes and conventions of the rock genre.