- 1. Technical analysis of my favourite music videos. Tool :
Stinkfist Slipknot : Wait and Bleed Tool : nema
2. Tool : Stinkfist
- This video is one of myall-time favourites..For the reason that
isalike a horror movie in whichthe scary/make-you-jumpbit never
comes (the reasonI dont like horror !)..
- As with all Tool videos there is all ways a
stop-motion-animation element (the nail coming out of the poor guys
stomach). It is more subtle in Stinkfist, but still there enough
for the video to appear as artsy-fartsy as possible, as Tools thing
is the focus of the music not the bands image. This goes against
many typical conventions of music videos in general as the band
aren't featured, no instruments and no product placement
what-so-ever !
3. Strobe Lighting
- The use of blue strobes within this video exaggerate the all
ready prominent blue grading gives the entire first two thirds an
awesome cold feel. Strobing lights are used to great effect within
a lot of horror movies, as to give all the camera movement and
actual action a jumpy/frenetic feel, as the eye only catches every
other second of footage.
- Lighting is key within any sort of filming, non more so within
a music video. Here they have used to hard lights in conjunction to
produce to definite shadows which form the one. Hard lighting is
almost all ways used in horror movies as it exaggerates features to
make actors/monsters look more sinister.
4. Link with lyrics
- The entire song is about how humans these days are over
stimulated, to the extreme. As the characters shave off the layer
of a sandy blue dust. Which was probably achieved by covering the
actors in liquid latex, then glue, then coloured sand. This second
skin can then be ripped off in what looks like to be a VERRY
painful process.
- Another link to the lyrics would have to be the use of the
steam-punk looking breathingapparatus. Making the substance
supposedly exiting the masksome sort of drug, of which
thecharacters are addicted too, likeheroine where the first hit is
thebest and all the rest are dull incomparison. Not that Tool are
promotingdrug use or anything!
5. Shaky and rough.. Wait And Bleed
- Through the whole video, Waitand Bleed, every shot has
anelement of roughness. This is not surprising for aSlipknot video
as they are no wellknown for their subtlety, more fortheir
in-your-face aggressiveness(not quite counting their new album, but
Im not here to talk about that..).
- The entire footage has a dirty brown grading upon it, which
further enhances the alternative Metal look. The use of skulls and
the stereotypical horror crawling severed hand also denote the
genre as you wouldnt see such disturbing images within a pop
video.
6. Image
- The main thing to note with the majority of Slipknots music
videos is how they make sure that all 9 band members are shown at
least once. (8 now, R.I.P. Paul Grey.) This is one of their first
videos and, of course shows all their original masks in jumpy
stop-motion animation where they are revolting against their
maker.. This is important due to Slipknots image consistingof the
band members focusing onthe music and tending to preferbeing out of
the public spot-light. This ceased to happen when the band broke up
for a while andeach perused their own stuff.
7. Fun little touches..
- The attention to detail within this video is pretty cool and
really gives the audience the feel of the atmosphere. And as you
would expect, the image of body parts floating in un-mentionable
fluids is not one for the feint hearted. Thus giving the video with
not a lot of relevance to the actual song some character, even if
it is just background stuff.
8. Tool : nema
- This video (yes, its Tool again) is my favourite in the sense
of how it inspires me to emulate the same and do some stop-motion
animation of my own.
- In this screen-shot you can clearly see a figure walking up to
a blank, presumably grey wall. Yet, everything within shot has a
blue colour laid overtop with use of grades and tints. I like how
the shot can be so simple, yet raise more questions that it
answers. In this case; who is this figure ?, where is he ? etc
etc..
9. Ripples..
- Throughout the entire videothere are what seem to bereflections
off of water uponthe walls, it is the case evenwhen there is no
actual waterin shot.
- The production of rippling lightin such a stop-motion
animationfull video was probably the mostchallenging of the
productionelements in the making. As, theywere made shining feint
lightthrough loads of tiny lenses andmaking them spin at the
sametime as the rest of the animation.
10. Stop-motion water!
- The use of water within a stop-motionanimation is not a common
sight, as it makesthe entire process take all that much morelonger,
seeing as you need to wait for thewater to be completely still
before taking thenext picture. And at 25 frames per second,you can
see how this sort of animation istedious in the first place!
- The water also has a strong connection with the lyrics, as it
is chanted that we need tolearn to swim as if there is a great
flood on its way that will destroy civilisation as weknow it. This
is what Andrew Goodwin says, there should be a relationship between
the lyrics and the action.
11. Learn to swim..!