Matthew Grainger and Sam Dubery Auteur Analysis - Spike Jonze ("Sabotage and "Buddy Holly"")

Auteurs:

Chris Cunningham:
Placebo - 36 Degrees
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vXXmORBFnWQ

• Deep focus camera technique.
• Concept and performance based video.
• Relationship between music and visuals - slow and pacey.
• colour co-ordinated - blues, greens and blacks.
• Close-up shots and mid-shot of band members in narrative and performance.
• Over and under cranking evident.
  
  Michel Gondry:
  Foo Fighters - Everlong
  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4H0BMfqFP9c
• Surrealist technique- dreams and large phone.
• Pastiche of High School parties.
• Concept and Performance based.
• Switches narrative between dream and reality.
• Relationship between music and visuals - more optimistic after solo when the evil antagonists are defeated.
• Contrast of colour settings - light and dark.
  
  Jonathan Glazer:
  Radiohead - Street Spirit
  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BrZTNhW44-o
• Over-cranking evident.
• black and white video.
• Concept-based.
• Cross fade images.
• Simple yet effective.
• Focus on close-ups of main musician and meta-narrative.
  
  Spike Jonze:
  
  Spike Jonze is an American director of music videos and commercials, and an Academy Award-nominated director and producer in film and television, most notably the 1999 film Being John Malkovich and the 2002 film Adaptation., both written by Charlie Kaufman. He is also credited as a co-creator of MTV's Jackass.
  In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for a body of work that included "Hello Tomorrow" for Adidas, "Penguin" for Miller Beer, and "Pardon Our Dust" for The Gap. He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series Jackass and Jackass: The Movie, also directing some of the segments. Jonze has acted in some videos and films; his most prominent role was in Three Kings as the sweet, dimwitted, casually racist Conrad, in which he was directed by friend David O. Russell.
  Jonze was also a co-founder and editor of Dirt magazine along with Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, as well as an editor for Grand Royal Magazine and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding. In the past, Jonze shot skateboard videos, most notably Blind skateboard company's Video Days in 1991. He also co-directed the Girl Skateboards film Yeah Right! and the Chocolate Skateboards video Hot Chocolate. In the closing credits montage of Yeah Right! Spike is shown doing a nollie heelflip in loafers. He is also co-owner of Girl Skateboards.
  Jonze has many alter egos, which have included Richard Koufey (alternately spelled Coufey or Couffe), the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group, an urban troupe that performs in public spaces. The Koufey persona appeared when Jonze, in character, filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" as it played on a boombox in a public area. Spike showed the video to Slim, who loved it. Jonze then assembled a group of dancers to perform to Slim's "Praise You," which was taped outside a Westwood, California movie theater. The resulting clip was a huge success, and 'Koufey' and his troupe were invited to New York City to perform the song for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. The video received awards for Best Direction, Breakthrough, and Best Choreography, which Jonze accepted, still in character. Jonze made a mockumentary about the experience called Torrance Rises.
  He also has a speaking part along with Dave Eggers in a Beck song entitled The Horrible Fanfare / Landslide / Exoskeleton from his 2006 album, The Information. He appears in the "Exoskeleton" bit.
  Currently, Jonze is directing Where the Wild Things Are, which is now in its post-production stages.
  
  Beastie Boys - Sabotage:
  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-sbqIyeed4g
  
  Video Information:
  "Sabotage" is noted for its acclaimed music video, directed by Spike Jonze and played extensively on MTV. As an homage to 1980s crime drama television series like Hawaii Five-0, Streets of San Francisco, S.W.A.T., Baretta, and Starsky and Hutch, the video is presented as the opening credits of a fictional 1970s-style police show called Sabotage, with the band members appearing as the show characters. Each band member is introduced as a fictional actor, and the names of the characters are also given, effectively making the policemen fictional fictional characters.
  The characters appearing on the show are (in order of credits):
  Sir Stewart Wallace guest-starring as himself (played by MCA)
  Nathan Wind as Cochese (also played by MCA)
  Vic Colfari as Bobby, "The Rookie" (played by Adrock)
  Alasondro Alegré as "The Chief" (played by Mike D)
  Fred Kelly as Bunny (played by DJ Hurricane)
  Some scenes had to be removed when this video was shown on MTV, including a knife-fight sequence and a falling-off-a-bridge scene. In addition, the Beastie Boys Video Anthology featured a mock interview of the "cast" of Sabotage conducted by Jonze's then-wife Sofia Coppola.
  
  Video Deconstruction:
  
  1) Goodwin:
  
• Concept based video
• Comedy narrative - genre characteristics
• No relationship between lyrics and visuals
• Pace of video is set by pace of song
• Lots of close-ups of characters but the video does not clearly define the band members as their is no band performance incorporated into the video.

2) Visual Techniques:

• Rotation Shot
• Quick Cut Editing
• Low Angle Shot - Character jumps over the camera
• Long Shot(fixed) - Character running towards camera, getting bigger the nearer he gets
• High Angle Shot to show where character is going
• Point Of View Shot
• Deep Focus
• Close up on characters faces
• Shots blurred by camera movement
• Extreme Long Shot- City Landscape
• Tilted Shot
• 1:17 Man jumping over building
• Long Shot - Characters undefinable all black
• Switch of camera focus
• Shot from bottom of the stairs looking up at character coming down them
• Freeze Frame - Character labeling
• Cross fade
• Final shot showing men walking away - slow motion

3) Band Representation:

• Although band mebers feature as characters in the video they are not clearly identifiable to a normal audience due to their costumes. However fans of the beastie boys can relate the nature of the band to the video as the narrative is pretty crazy.

4) Intertextuality:

• Intertextual Reference - Pulp Fiction Back seat shot

5) Postmodernist Features:

• Takes conventions from 80s Cop shows and incorporates them into a comedy video.

6) Social Groups Representation:

• Mainly white male characters however towards the end a black male appears although he is what some people call the 'token black guy' in the video and is used in a comedic way to portray the police.
• Making fun of police officers and criminals. Makes out that police officers are useless.

7) Ideological Discourse:

• Police making a bad job of catching criminals

8) Video Consumption:

• Due to its comedic values and references to 80's TV shows you would expect the video was aimed (back when it was released in 1994) at a predominantly male audience of 18 plus.
• Focused Viewing because the audience becomes attentive to the comedic effect and creates a deeper relationship.

"Buddy Holly" - Weezer:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FiIC5qcXeNU

Video Information:

Buddy Holly" is a song by the rock group Weezer, written by Rivers Cuomo. It was released as the second single from the band's debut album Weezer (1994) in 1994. The single was released on what would have been Buddy Holly's 58th birthday, had he not been killed in a plane crash along with fellow rock pioneers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper on February 3, 1959. The lyrics reference the song's 1950s namesake and actress Mary Tyler Moore. It reached #2 and #34 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, respectively. It also reached #12 in the UK. Rolling Stone ranked "Buddy Holly" #497 in its 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The single was certified gold by the RIAA in 2006.

The video portrayed Weezer performing at the original Arnold's Drive-In diner from the popular '70s television show Happy Days. The video combined contemporary footage of the band with clips from the show. Happy Days cast member Al Molinaro made a cameo appearance in the video. Al plugs his hometown, Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the introduction. In the memorable climax, clever editing (and a stunt double) allowed Fonzie to dance to the band's performance. The video also features brief cameos by some members of the band That Dog as dancers at Arnold's. Initially, actor Anson Williams, who played Potsie on Happy Days, objected to footage of him appearing in the video, but relented after a letter from David Geffen, founder of Geffen Records. The video was met with great popularity and heavy rotation on MTV.The innovative video scored four awards at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, including prizes for Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Video. The "Buddy Holly" music video became so popular that it was included on the Microsoft Windows 95 CD-ROM when the operating system was first released.

1. Goodwin:

• Concept and performance based video
• Comedy narrative - genre characteristics, appearance and representation of band and audience.
• Lots of close-ups of characters to identify the mood and facial expressions of each character.
• The mood of the video relates to the pace and attitude of the song.
• Focuses on created a positive and optimistic atmosphere amongst the audience.

2. Visual Techniques:

• Close-ups of band members facial expressions and instruments, providing the 'meat' of the video, representing the importance of the singer's voice within the song.
• Camera switches between audience and band members, providing illustration of the postivive attitude and meaning of the song, which is shown through a literal set of images.
• there is little evidence of editing apart from a few quick cut edits switching from band members to audience and back to band members, as part of the narrative.
• The costumes of the characters (both band and audience) represent the time period that the video is set in, and the instruments represent earlier models of current popular instruments.
• The restaurant is part of the "Happy Days" programme, acting as a conventional location for the video due to the time period, creating a Postmodern parody of the 1950's.
• Similar to Radiohead, the video is simple yet effective in connoting the mood and the representation of different groups.

3. Band Representation:

• The band are represented as High School and/or band geeks, similar to their Industrial image.
• The high strung guitar and small drum kit connote their geeky ability to play every note perfectly and apply a smart and high appearance, with a combed and precise haircut and dress sense.
• This helps sell their product because it continues their representation and image as outcasts and geeks, which is the main selling point of the band and the attractive appearance of the genre, 'Geek Rock'.

4. Intertextuality:

• Intertextual references to the original Arnold's Drive-In diner from the popular '70s television show Happy Days.
• The video combined contemporary footage of the band with clips from the show. Happy Days cast member Al Molinaro made a cameo appearance in the video.
• There're also intertextual references to High School dances and restaurant dances from 1950's films, such as ''Greece".

5. Postmodern Features:

• The video represents a parody of 1950's restaurant and High School Event by which High School (and nerdy) bands would play.
• The video also contains a parody of 'Happy Days', the T.V Programme with Al Molinaro.

6. Social Groups Represented:

• The audience represented is High School students of the 1950's (and 60's).
• They're represented as smart dressed geeks who are optimistic, happy and are out to enjoy themselves.
• The music relates to the visuals as the audience are happy and dancing as part of the narrative, and the music.

7. Ideological Discourse:

• The Ideological Discourse evident in the video is that the audience should go out and enjoy themselves at parties and dances, and stay positive and happy with themselves by having a good time to good music.
• The concept that happy music creates a happy atmosphere.

8. Video Consumption:

• This video can require both an ambient viewing and focused viewing.
• An Ambient viewing because the audience could feel that there is nothing else to do, and will watch this simple, yet effective video to help create or match the mood that they're in.
• An focused viewing because the positivity and comical parody of the video makes the audience attentive and creates a deeper relationship with the audience, by improving their attitude, and their 'geek rock' may not be the audience's usual taste but the positive tune of the song could make the audience like the song but not necessary buy the music.