Jamie Thraves is one of the music industries finest Directors. Whilst at uni he started making short films and he was given the opportunity to work with production company "Factory Films". Whilst working there he created his award winning short film "Calling Card" which enabled him to "get his foot in the door" with Factory Films. He began his music career shortly after and shot 3 music videos that were on a low budget of around £5000 each.He was at the stage in life where failure was not an option. Luckily he was able to reach success. As the treatments for his two best known videos were sent to production companies and each one was successful, such was his talent. Jamie Thraves stands out over many other music video directors because he creates videos that are like mini films with gripping story lines. A good example of where this type of music video was successful for Jamie is the video he made for Radio head to their song "Just".
Radio head's video was shot over the course of three days on a budget of £100,000. The video that was created is very much like a mini film. The video features Radio head performing in a flat. However this is just the amplified part of the video. The main part of the video which contains the story line takes place on the pavement outside the flats. A man is seen to be laying on the floor for no reason; he's neither injured or tired. He just wants to be left alone. Then a man trips over him and nearly falls over. The man on the floor refuses to tell the other man what is wrong and just asks him to leave. Throughout the video more and more people surround the man laying on the pavement. The all ask him whats wrong but he wont tell any of them.The narrative of this music video is extremely effective as it creates an enigma (a question that the audience want an answer to) in this case the enigma is "why is the man laying on the floor?". This is an effective device to use as it entices the audience to continue watching. However, the audience never receive an answer to this question. The man finally tells everyone why he is laying on the ground but as he does the subtitles disappear. Then we see everyone laying on the floor around him. This music video is an example of an open text as there are many different meanings that could be taken from this song. Going back to Goodwin's theory, the music lyrics have nothing to do with the story line in the video, which could confuse some audiences.
Another popular video Jamie Thraves directed is Coldplay's video to "the scientist". Similarly to Radio head "just" this video is also like a mini film because it has a strong narrative. However,the story line is very different. The narrative of this video is non linear; it starts with a man lying down and then the video slowly reverses backwards then forwards again. This is effective as the audience question why he is in that situation and why he ended up in the state that he is in. A while into the video it becomes apparent that the triggering event was some sort of fatal car accident in which a girl died. In could be interpreted that he feels guilt and sorrow as he was the one driving the car. If you were to analyse this video through Goodwin's theory it becomes apparent that the visuals in somewhat way match with the lyrics. For example when the song says "lets go back to the start" the video begins to rewind thus giving the impression that the video is taking the audience back to the start. In this case its before the car accident.
A more recent example of Jamie Thraves's work is his video to "another love" for Tom Odell. This video takes place in one room and throughout the video the artist does not move from the chair. It contains many close up of Tom Odell's face. The artists face acts as an anchoring motif for the artist which also promotes them as well as the video. at around 1:48 the dull background fades and a brighter colourful one is introduced. Then around 3:01 the colour fades and so does the light. This use of lighting and colour symbolises the sadness of the lyrics. The lyrics describe the feelings of pain and helplessness the singer feels about not being able to love his current partner as a result of being hurt from a previous relationship. Throughout the duration of the video he is staring directly into the camera transfixed. He completely ignores his girlfriend through out the whole of the video despite her constant attempts to get his attention; she frequently changes her costume to try and impress him but it does not work. The use of similar shots throughout this video (e.g close ups, medium shots, tracking shots and medium long shots) allows the audience to focus more on the lyrics and the of the aesthetics rather than try and keep up with a solid narrative. This video also features the use of a zoom. This zooming out allows the audience to gain more of an insight to the location. The last shot used is the same as the first one; a close up. But this time the lighting is subsequently darker. This is effective as it symbolises that at the start of the video the singer had hope as he was in a relationship. The darker close up at the end symbolises that now that relationship has ended he is now hopeless. Thraves's video interpretation of this song is effective as he uses the lyrics to guide him but not literally and he uses the same emotion in the video that there is in the song.
Jamie also used his music videos to get into the film business. So far he has shot three features: The Low Down, The Cry Of The Owl and Treacle Jr.
Jamie's Tips!
When creating a music video Jamie advises that you should use the lyrics but try not to be too literal and most importantly go with the emotion of the lyrics.
No comments:
Post a Comment