A2 Media Coursework

1. Famous Auteur
All video links can be found below this presentation.

2. Jonathan Glazer is one of the world’s
leading Music Video Directors who first
found fame for his work on Radiohead’s
‘Street Spirit’. Not only has Glazer found fame through
directing music videos, but also through both television
commercials and film. He first found fame directing
movies through his Oscar nominated work with Ben
Kingsley in ‘Sexy Beast’ and is world
wide known for his Guinness ‘Surfer’.
Glazer also won MTV’s Director of the
year in 1997.

3. Within a number of videos shot by Jonathan Glazer, colour plays a very prominent part.
In both [Rick Cave’s] ‘Into my arms’ and [Radiohead's] 'Street Spirit’ the colour has been
drained, giving the videos an unhappy atmosphere. This is important because losing the
colour gives the song a whole different story. In places of both the videos use a light
source that focuses upon the faces of those involved. Using this technique, we have been
able to really focus, and get in touch with the feelings that are portrayed through the
video.
These images, taken from ‘Into
my arms’ , show how Glazer
has used lighting to express
emotion from those within the
video. We can quite clearly
gain an understanding of how
the women feel and can there
for empathise with them.
These images however use
black and whites to still give
the feeling of an unhappy
atmosphere, but do so in a
different way. Unlike in the
images to the left, which show
us the raw emotion upon the
characters face, ‘Street spirit’
show’s us the whole situation
that causes the unhappiness

4. Another way that Glazer has used colour is by over playing them through
making them stand out within the audience above any other. The bright, bold
colours within [Blur’s] ‘The Universal’ the colour white is played up more than
any other, showing us that this an important aspect. This colour has been
played up because of the inter-textual references that this music video has with
the film ‘A clockwork orange’. This film was based on the nihilistic society of
the time, the movement of people explored within the films brings out an
observed view what it was the they thought that Britain would be like in the
future, showing us disturbing images of violence from youth gangs which
include torture as well as rape. Generally the colour white implies simplicity,
but in this case it insinuates the nihilistic society of the time.
With Glazer being able to portray these colours in such a way
that we are able to understand its link with other production
pieces, we are able to build a great understanding and discover
the hidden messages that Glazer didn’t make apparent, but
instead gentle eased them in. In the example to the left, we
can clearly see the link between the two pieces. The colour
white is played upon a lot, as wells as the use of the ‘milk bars’.
These discrete links allow us to see the bigger picture.

5. Like colour, speed plays a very big part within a
number of Glazer’s videos. The speed that he
generally uses is slow, and is created using a
garbage matte, of which overlays a number of
clips so that they can be played at the same time.
Using this technique, Glazer has been able to
change the speeds of the individual characters,
which has resulted in them each taking up their
own story within the video.
Both the man on the chair and the person jumping have
been slowed down against the background.
Not only has he slowed down individuals, but Glazer has also slowed the pace
of entire videos so that they flow softly. This allows the audience to keep in
closer touch with the song, instead of focusing too much upon the video.
The idea of a garbage matte and slowing down the pace of a video, that can be
seen within ‘Street Spirit’. This is a technique that I would be able to take and
use within my own because it is a relatively simple technique to learn how to
do.

6. The biggest reoccurring theme that I can see present
within the different videos that Glazer has produced is
that there is a huge sense of emotion background.
Using the techniques that he has used, such as colour
and speed and lighting, Glazer has been able to
increase the amount of emotional tension that is
present. He has only been able to do this because of
the emotion that is present within the lyrics
themselves, presenting the link between the video and
the song.