Codal Analysis & Detailed Research

By Luke Sams

Detailed

Research

‘Storm’ the animated movie

Identify the institution for this video and the institutional codes

employed by the institution: This video was directed by Dan Charles Turner (DC Turner) and produced by Tracy King who are the founder and co-founder for an animation and game development company called KerShoot.

This company is based in London and was founded in 2011 after the success of the short film/music video of Tim Minchin’s beat poem ‘Storm’.

They have the aim to ‘create beautiful artwork, animation, code and music for a range of clients and in-house productions.’ spanning several creative industries.

Their clients include Tim Minchin, Honeyslug (game developer), Nature magazine, Dreamworks and EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

Identify the institution for this video and the institutional codes

employed by the institution:Being a relatively small independent UK based company they do not have a very large portfolio of work but it is impressive and spans a broad range of subject and has a rather consistent style throughout their work.

Most of Kershoot’s work share the same unique and semi-realistic art style whether it be for a book, game or film.

Although working for several different clients the overall finish including the feel and effect of each piece is different. (different colour palettes, techniques or angles)

What are the key selling points of this video?

The video is of an entirely animated nature which is a fairly unique concept for music videos and I think would definitely help to sell the song and video to a range of different audience demographics as it would stand out a lot from other music videos.

The content of the poem contains some controversial issues about industrialisation and alternative solutions in a society where science and reason are portrayed as the enemy of belief but it is adapted to have comical value. This could help people relate to the story and increase sales.

The content is also quite personal to the performer Tim Minchin as it portrays some of his views and has him and his wife animated as two of the characters within the story. The video supposedly depicts a night that Tim and his wife spent around a friends for dinner during which Tim has a confrontation with a hippy named Storm. This could be a very appealing point of sale for any avid fan of the comedian.

How does the video establish genre, mood and expectation of the CD?

Genre: The song/poem is a Tim Minchin original and is described as musical comedy which is portrayed through the clever word play and the out of proportion section of the video and in some cases the way in which the words themselves are animated. This could also be indicated by the dramatic transitions between some of the scene or ‘camera’ angles.

Mood: The general mood of the song is humorous while at the same time being quite dark and mysterious which is clearly depicted through the animated visuals and the interactions between the ‘characters’. Because the song is essentially a comical beat poem the mood is primarily brought through with the clever word play but also by some of the animated actions and the way that they are extremely exaggerated.

How does the video establish genre, mood and expectation of the CD?

Expectations of the CD: I think that this music video really compliments the album and does give an accurate expectation to the target audience as the album is defined as being comedy and all of the songs are of a similar comical style, although they do vary in song format from beat poems to really upbeat musical songs featuring 66 piece orchestras. It could mislead some peoples expectations of the album as some people who don’t know Tim Minchin and his work very well may be expecting that the rest of the album would be constructed from other beat poems.

How successful is this video? Identify which elements work and

which do not work for you?I personally really like this video and think that it is was amazing successful – I think that the animation style used is really unique and fits the song fantastically. The animation was BAFTA-longlisted and premiered at Bristol's Animated Encounters, and in 2015 was reimagined as an illustrated book which kind of proves its successfulness.

However I think that there are some parts that an animated visual using the characters would have been a lot better and helped explain the ‘story’ more especially in some key points of the poem (like at 5:45) but the animators decided to go with stylised animated words instead.

I do however think that the mix of animated narrative along side the use of stylised text animation works amazingly well and the effects and transitions used are really effective and really help to keep the audiences attention focused. The colour palette used and the use of ‘setting’ so to speak works really well in relation to the song and its genre and accurately reflects what the song is trying to portray.

What appears to be the target audience for the music video?

Scientists?

Religious People? (not so much)

Target Audience

Ages 16 - 28 Mainly students

Mostly Males

Fans of Tim MinchinPeople who like

stand up comedy

People interested in the debate between religion and science

Dark sense of humour

How is the audience specifically targeted in the video?

There are specific characteristics of the target audience represented through both the video in order to make it more targeted towards them and more relatable. For example the large majority of the target audience is likely to have a dark and slightly twisted sense of humour, and this segment is targeted through the use of the dark and mysterious animated sections – some things are considered as a taboo area for comedy to touch on but if they are approached correctly are likely to make this audience laugh.

I think that this video also targets the age section of the target audience as it visualises concepts and contains content the I feel is more relevant to the younger generations as we are the ones that tend to push boundaries and challenge traditional concepts more often – the age is likely to be older teenagers (about 16) to university age perhaps slightly older (around 24-28). The content links almost directly to these people as the main concept is the battle between beliefs and the ‘industrial monster’ that is science, which is something I think young people are often caught up in.

HIGH VOLTAGE (Linkin Park cover)

Identify the institution for this video and the institutional codes

employed by the institution:This video was created by a company called cosmic toast studios, with animation producers Kenny Gage and Andy Pagana, producer Phil Haney and director Edward Tran. With the music cover created by you tubers Ray William Johnson and McSwagger.

Cosmic toast studios is based in America, Sherman Oaks

They are a fully in-house, state-of-the-art production facility specializing in everything needed to bring animated, live-action or puppetry projects from concept to completion.

There clients include Hasbro, MGA Entertainment, Maker Studios, Zynga, Fishbowl Media and Your Favourite Martian.

Identify the institution for this video and the institutional codes

employed by the institution: This is a page from there portfolio and contains snap shots of all the work they have done for ‘Your Favourite Martian’ with links to watch each video.

They are a relatively small but independent American company, but still have a fairly large portfolio of work

Most of their work has a fairly consistent style – the ones that differ I believe that they are client specific styles, and despite working for a long list of clients the overall finish and feel is pretty consistent.

What are the key selling points of this video?

The video is entirely animated which is a fairly unique concept for music videos (although hybrids are starting to become more common) and I think would definitely help to sell the song and video to a range of different audience demographics as it would stand out a lot from other music videos.

It is a cover of a song by a pretty well known and liked band ‘Linkin Park’ so this would have a good chance of attracting some of Linkin Park’s fan base as they know that it will be similar to what they like.

The content of the video itself contains zombies and cyborgs which is likely to appeal to a large portion of younger generations.

How does the video establish genre, mood and expectation of the CD?

Genre: The song is a cover version of Linkin Park’s ‘High Voltage’ (2000) from their first album ‘Hybrid Theory’ and is described as alternative rock, which I think is shown by the fast pace cuts between different ‘shots’/angles. The genre is also shown through the characters as they are depicted as a typical looking rock band all be it in a stylised futuristic way. I think the interesting narrative used, being apocalyptic themed also helps show its alternative nature.

Mood: The general mood of the song is quite fast and upbeat, but the visual element depicts a darker more depressing plot which compliments the lyrics and meaning of the song.

Expectation of the CD: This music video gives perfect representation of the CD as this was only released as a single by Your Favourite Martian and so is the only song but to compare it to Linkin Park’s original album it gives an accurate expectation of the genre as it is fairly monotone in this respect but everything else is ‘false’ so to say, due to the fact that none of Linkin Park’s music has animated videos and parts of the song have been stylised to make them sound robotic which doesn’t fit in with Linkin Park’s style.

How successful is this video? Identify which elements work and

which do not work for you?Again I think that the animation is a really great idea and the way it has been done fits this genre of music, although I think a ‘live action’ music video has the potential to be better for this genre.

I especially like the way that the animated characters are not only there to play out the narrative but they are also depicted playing the music creating a performance element to the video. I also like the angles that are used and the regular close-ups of different characters emphasising different actions within the narrative.

I didn’t really like the robotic parts that they added to the song I feel that it didn’t properly fit in with the rest of the song or the genre of music and subtracted from the original.

What appears to be the target audience for the music video?

Target Audience

Ages 16 - 28 Mainly students

Mostly Males

Fans of Linkin ParkPeople who like

alternative rock

Fans of Your Favourite Martian

How is the audience specifically targeted in the video?

One way in which the target audience has been targeted is through the content of the video itself as it contains zombies and cyborg like stuff which is most commonly associate with and liked by males specifically those of the younger generations.

The fans of Linkin Park are targeted through the use of Linkin Park’s song, although it may be slightly different to what they are expecting or what they have previously listened to.

Also all of the ‘characters’ at least the main ones are males which could make the music video more relatable to them.

Codal Analys

is

Codal AnalysisIn the following codal analyses I will take three music videos of two genres, as I am still unsure as to whether I would be capable of creating a full length animated music video, and look at the different codes and conventions for music videos.VisualAudioActionTechnicalNarrativeEnigma

For animated videos I have chosen:Tim Minchin’s ‘Storm’ the animated movieHigh Voltage (Linkin Park cover) by Your Favourite Martian

And for a non-animated video I have chosen:

Barthe’s Enigma CodeThis is the theory that suggests a text (whether

that is television, film, a poster etc..) portrays a mystery to draw the audience in, pose questions and become intrigued in the text. For instance a murder mystery would not reveal the killer at the start of the story otherwise there is no mystery to keep the audiences attention until the end of the story.

Todorov’s narrative theoryTodorov’s theory is that the majority of stories or plots follow the same pattern from start to end. These 5 steps are:

Equilibrium – The first part of the story, this would depict the ordinary life of the characters where they are usually happy and content with everything as it should be in its place.

A disruption – The second stage will feature the problem or something that disrupts the norm.

Realisation – This is the part in the story where everyone realises the problem and chaos generally follows.

Restored order – The fourth part of the plot is when the characters attempt to restore the norm by removing or solving the problem.

Equilibrium again – This is the final stage of the story where the problem is resolved and normality is restored and resumed.

‘Storm’ the animated movie

‘Storm’ The animated Movie

- Tim Minchin

Audio CodeSome music videos like this one might include other audio codes such as dialogue and

diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, this video contains the actual poem/song accompanied by an instrumental track throughout most of the video although there are also some added in sound effect to help retain audience attention and give it a sort of movie like feel to it as it is ten minute long.

Todorov’s narrative theory can be applied to this music video to an extent and in a fairly general sense as at the start everything is good but when ‘Storm’ shows up things start to become disrupted. Tim Minchin being the main character then realises this and takes steps to remove the problem, and by the end of the video equilibrium is as restored as it can be.

Narrative Code

Action Code

The action codes within this video are fairly basic and help to reflect a lot of the comical value of the video while keeping the dark undertone. The basic action is the ‘dinner party’ that the song is supposed to tell the story of, with the start of the video showing all of the guest arriving. The only other actions shown are the depictions of the argument between Tim and ‘Storm’ at the dinner party.

Enigma codeWith this video there aren’t really any enigma codes as the setting is laid out pretty

clearly through both the words and the visuals and the question about ‘what are they arguing about?’ has a pretty obvious answer and is pretty much answered for us. The downside is that there isn’t much of a hook to draw in the audience and retain their interest.

Technical Code

Technical codes include the editing (pace, special effects,…), camerawork and shot types used within the video. Given the animated nature of Tim Minchin’s ‘Storm’ there isn’t really any camerawork to comment on but there are different shot types in a way and plenty of special effects. The video includes a lot of ‘camera’ movement and techniques such as pans, tilts, zooms and tracking shot to enhance the action of the characters and add to the overall feel of the video.

The entire video could technically be classified as a collection of special effects that have been bolted together to form a video, although it does translate quite well into ‘normal’ shots and ‘special effects’ and ‘transition’. The transitional parts are all done in an interesting way that flows well helping to keep the audience entertained and focused on the video.

HIGH VOLTAGE(Linkin Park cover)- Your Favourite Martian

Visual CodeThe video begins with a montage of shots showing the characters doing various things

with a strange looking object. Alternative rock songs often have the focus of the video at the start on either something other than the performers or a hybrid between a narrative act and a performance sequence – High Voltage (Linkin Park cover) conforms to this.

Rock and Alternative rock can be about a whole range of different things from breakups to Nazi invasions with no real focus on any particular topic and have had a variety of different settings from plain black backdrops to open fields and circuses, although a large part of the video often focuses on the band/performance and whatever they are doing. This music video conforms to these parts as most of the shots include the characters generally in hybrid performance/narrative shots.

Audio Code This video only includes the actual song as its audio the narrative is merely a muted

visual tool to depict the story while the song plays over the top. Where the two merge they are synced together to give the illusion that the characters are playing the song.

I would say that this video does not conform to Todorov’s narrative theory as his theory begins and ends with equilibrium which doesn’t feature at all throughout the video, at the start it has already been disrupted and it is not restore by the end of the video.

Narrative Code

Action Code

There is not really any kind of action element to this video that changes the direction of the narrative and that there are not really any key action points that are vital to the understanding of the meaning behind the lyrics. The actions are independent of the song and are not entirely necessary but provide something to retain the audiences attention and keep them watching until the end of the video.

Enigma code There aren’t really any enigma codes within this video the only real questions are

‘what are the characters doing?’ and ‘what is the strange device that they have?’ both of which have not been answered in any real way by the end of the video and don’t seem to have any correlation with song.

Technical Code

Given the animated nature of video the creator did a good job of simulated professional camerawork with it using a variety of different shot types and camera angles as well as different camera movements and techniques like pans, tilts and zooms to emulate the music video feel and keep the attention of the audience

The animation does translate really well into ‘traditional/normal’ film and music video techniques and could most likely work as a ‘live action’ music video as well, as it does follow the same style of other narrative music videos in terms of camerawork, editing and to an limited extent things like props/costumes/setting.