I watched a previous student's video based on the song Thrasher by N.E.R.D. I identified many references which can be associated with Andrew Goodwin's theory of illustration and amplification. Firstly I noticed that the opening lyric, "Every once in a while there is some a**hole, giving you sh*t" is followed by a few shots of a man (the boss) yelling at a young man thus making his life stressful. This amplifies the meaning of what the artist is portraying as an "a**hole". There are also references of illustration and disjuncture; when he says "usually I walk away" the camera cuts to a man walking away. What makes this great is that instead of the person walking away being the young man (who is portraying the artist), it is the boss who is walking to the young man and giving him issues. This contradicts what they lyric says as well as illustrating it.
There are a few points in the video which can be associated to disjuncture. An example of this is when the artist is riding the bike and doing a few tricks with it. In context with the lyrics, this has nothing to do with the song itself. It's just a mere act of showing off which has no reference to the lyrics what so ever. What I do like however is the way every time a certain lyric such as "a**hole" is said, it jumps straight to a cut of the boss. I also like the jump cuts used when the boss is shouting at the young man illustrating that the boss shouts at him often and therefore giving him (as the lyric says) "a bunch of sh*t."
The song is narrated by the artist singing the lyrics, but it is also illustrated by an actor showing what the lyrics mean. The mix of amplification, disjuncture, and illustration make this video very pleasing on the eye to watch due to its clear ideas and ways of presenting the meaning of the lyrics to the audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment