Sarah Svensson

Eng 357

Darren Zufelt

20 April 2013

“70 Million”: A Remaining of Paintings in the Digital Age

Description

The video remix I am analyzing is a music video called “70 Million” by a Franco-American

band, Hold Your Horses. I was first introduced to this video in my high school AP Art class. In

the video, the band members recreate famous paintings and have the subjects of the paintings

sing the lyrics to the song. The video was published in February, 2010 on Youtube and Vimeo.

The description explains the video as being “a wink at art history as band members playfully

reconstruct famous paintings in an off the wall lyrical interpretation all their own.”

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Analysis

Idiom

“70 Million” falls under Idiom II, pop culture remixes. The music video might not even seem

like a video remix at first glance, because none of the video or audio was taken directly from

another source. While Hold Your Horses’ video does not use any material directly, it does take

some of the most recognizable paintings in our culture and recreate them, mixing the masters’

works with their own.

Samples

“70 Million” samples work from many artists (list in order below.)

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     Leonardo da Vinci

     Sandro Botticelli

     Rembrandt

     Hans Holbein TheYounger

     Johannes Vermeer

     Théodore Géricault

      Jacques-Louis David

     Michelangelo

     René Magritte

     Piet Mondrian

 Frida Kahlo

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     Pablo Picasso

     Edvard Munch

      Vincent Van Gogh

     Andy Warhol

     Autor desconocido

     Giovanni Cimabue

     Caravaggio

     Édouard Manet

     Eugène Delacroix

     Otto Dix

     Gustav Klimt

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     Marc Chagall

     Diego Velázquez

      Vincent Van Gogh

 

The copyright information on these works is probably all different, depending on whether they

are old enough to be under public domain, and who owns them. The artwork may or may not

have copyright regulations, but this video has changed the works enough to not have to deal with

copyright infringement laws.

Transformations

On the continuum of no to radical transformations, the source material for the video was

significantly changed. The video takes painted images and basically creates live-action versions

of them. The essences of the paintings are still there, color, composition, and visual elements, to

remain recognizable, but the medium is changed. The paintings are also transformed by the

decision to have the characters actually perform the song “70 Million.”

Audio/Visual Relationships

“70 million” consists of medium shots, edited so that one painting could sing a line of the song,

and then the next painting sings the next line. The relationship between audio and visual are

associative and interdependent. As a music video, its purpose is to tie together its visual and

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audio elements. This is done by taking the art recreations and making them perform the song.

The performance ties the two disparate elements together

Our Culture Always Builds on the Past (McLuhan)

This video is a prime example of our culture building on the past. “70 Million” samples images

from our past, some created as early as 1485 (The Birth of Venus) to as late as 1967 (Marilyn

Monroe). Hold Your Horses remixes them, using a relevant medium, and by doing that creates

something that is exciting in the digital age.

Content Analysis

“70 Million” as a remix, serves for purely entertainment purposes. The lyrics of the song don’t

carry a clear message that would make the video take on an specific political issue. There

probably is deeper meaning within the lyrics, but it is difficult to make out. The lyrics seemingly

have no connection to the images in the video. I think Hold Your Horses was trying to create

something that is visually stunning. The video was created in the age where OK GO had multiple

music videos go viral; making them so famous they performed at the MTV Music Awards. “70

Million” is a bit more cerebral than something that would be picked up by MTV, as the viewers

would need to have at least a basic knowledge of art history to really enjoy it, but they did go

viral. The music video got 1,768,605 views on YouTube, a count WAY higher than any of the

band’s other videos.

The “70 Million” video, although probably intended to be purely for entertainment, does carry a

more subtle political value. The video accomplishes bringing new life to important elements of

our culture that are becoming less-appreciated as the times change. Some people might say that

the artworks used in the video are not very exciting, compared to all the images and memes

directly at our fingertips in the age of mechanical reproduction. But by taking these works and

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creating them in real life, and by making them sing and interact, I think Hold Your Horses calls

attention to the aesthetic value inherent in the works. I was particularly struck by how they were

able to recreate the trademark chiaroscuro of Caravaggio, and the energetic action of Gericult’s

“The Raft of Medusa.”

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos don’t really have a place in “70 Million,” because Hold Your Horses is

not trying to persuade us to believe an argument. They are, however, trying to persuade the

audience to like them and buy their merchandise. Similar values to Ethos and Pathos are factors

in this pursuit. The band establishes a certain credibility with the craft of their audio and video,

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all of which are well done. The song is well produced and sounds good. It syncs up with the

video, which is available in HD. The concept for the video is great, and there was obviously a lot

of work put into it. Everything that was done was done purposefully. They appeal to the

audience’s emotions by intrinsic nature of being art. It depends on a person’s taste, of course, but

the listeners’ emotions change when they feel the ebb and flow of the melody, and see where the

character of the song matches up with the character of painting, etc.

Evaluation

I love this video remix. The “70 Million” music video has stuck in my head for three years and I

still show it to my art friends because I think it’s great. I think they used source material from the

past to their advantage—bringing new life to old things. As a painter, I have to wrestle with the

fact that my craft isn’t very relevant in 2013. People, even other artists, will look at a painting for

only a moment and walk away. Digital art is becoming increasingly popular. I love that using the

spirit of remix; “70 Million” creates a harmony between paintings and the digital age, glorifying

masters’ works and hopefully inspiring more people to take an interest in art. Whether they are

an art lover or not, I think anyone would find this music video entertaining.

Works Cited

70 Million. Perf. Hold Your Horses. YouTube. Google, 26 Feb. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erbd9cZpxps>.

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Rael. "Rtfm.es." Rtfmes RSS. RTFM, 5 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://rtfm.es/2010/03/05/de-

viaje-por-la-historia-del-arte-con-hold-your-horses/>.