'Where is my mind?' Lyric analysis

Oh - stop

With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind? [3x]

Way out in the water
See it swimmin'

I was swimmin' in the Caribbean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin' to talk to me, to me, to me.

Where is my mind? [3x]

Way out in the water
See it swimmin'

With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind? [3x]

Way out in the water
See it swimmin'

Oh
With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
Oh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Oh
Oh

 

 

Analysis:

The song lyrics preclude disjuncture and allow for it. This is because they are not based around a set storyline or theme. The idea that this lyricist is ‘losing their mind’ is something we are going to use as a basis for the shoot. We are going to use a literal interpretation of the lyric ‘With your feet on the air and your head on the ground’, as it gives us the opportunity to make the actor appear deluded and aloof. Not only this but we are going to use a match trick in reverse to make it appear as though the character is catching the match and putting it out. This will be an extra editing technique to illustrate flair.

 

For the lyric ‘Your head will collapse’ our original plan is to get a balloon and dress it as the head of the character giving us the chance to do a graphic match with the balloon and the actors head. The balloon will then burst acting as disjuncture representing the actor. Which will then go into the songs chorus with the picture distorted around the lyrics of ‘Where is my mind?’ For the different shots on this we will incorporate graphic matches .

How does the director entertain and inform the audience with the music video ‘Black Chandelier’ by Biffy Clyro?

This music video features some key conventions of a rock band trying to promote the single of ‘Black Chandelier”. One of the main techniques the director uses to entertain the audience is through cinematography. We get a montage of establishing shots to illustrate where the music video is set before the song starts; this demonstrates the songs dark themes because of the close up on the black drips over the bands equipment. This then switches to a tracking shot of a helicopter flying over the building where the band is playing. This connotes an intensity bringing in connotations of danger and urgency. Not only does the cinematography help progress the story of the video, but it also informs the audience of who the band members are, with close ups of the guitarist/singer, bassist and drummer the director establishes who the video is promoting. Which is followed by long shots of the whole band, endorsing the equipment they are using such as Peavey and Fender.

 

Apart from the establishing of location and band members the director also brings in extras to create antagonists in the video, creating a theme of light verses dark. There is the use of a pan to take in the number of antagonists going towards the band. This is a technique that the director has used to link the story to the song itself with the lyrics of the song such as “There’s a Black Chandelier, casting shadows and lies.” This works with the intense close-ups of the vacant expression of the antagonists, linking the entertainment of the video with the lyrics.

 

Another feature of the music video that the director uses to create entertainment for the audience of the video is through the different editing techniques. One key technique used is through the variation of the editing pace. It switches between verse and chorus of the song with the verse having more regular changes in the verse, which are in time with the drums, to the more erratic changes of the bridge and chorus.

 

Not only this but the end pan of the antagonists frozen before the band illustrates the lyrical content of the song of “we’re going to separate ourselves tonight”.  This also is a use of match-on-action, linking together the shot of the antagonists with the lead vocalist singing. This is emphasized with the fade to whites that coincide with the lights emitted from the helicopters flying past the building. This illustrates usually is a technique to illustrate a dream sequence or an unreliable narrator. This use of editing entertains the audience because the director is constantly bringing in extra factors for the viewer to pick up on, adding action to the song.

The sound of the song is very typical the bands usual style of anthemic rock music. This was released as the second single off their album to show a progression from previous releases. In order to gather a sense of setting around the video the director opens with a diegetic sound of an empty courtyard. This builds suspense around the video because it is premiering the song.

 

The non-diegetic sound produced by the band begins with the repeated lyrics of “drip, drip, drip” which then goes into a minor key, with lyrics displaying the themes of the video. The song’s structure is a standard verse/chorus that switches into a heavy middle eighth, which gives a sense of this intense situation around the band. This resolves itself to enter a major chorus, which emphasizes its impact with the explosion that takes place in time with the music. Not only this but the end is an imperfect cadence and is illustrated by a fade to black, which connotes the end of the video. This is an entertaining technique because it gives the viewer the sense that the song isn’t properly finished and there is opportunity for it to continue.

 

Lastly, the music promo creates a vast amount of it’s entertainment through the use of mise-en-scene. The band are all topless in the video, this is because they are now identified for playing topless at all their live shows. This takes on the view that the director has made the promo to inform the audience on who the members of the band are. Not only this but the band all have the equipment they are associated with. This comes in the form of product placement for a signature fender Stratocaster guitar and the other instruments in shot.

 

Another feature of the mise-en-scene that is developed through the promo is the antagonists painted completely in black. This links to the name of the song “black chandelier” and as a colour the associations of death. They run in the streets towards the band running over cars making them appear animalistic. Not only this but the lighting that the director uses helps to encourage the dark atmosphere.

 

Study of intertextuality and disjuncture in a music promo

Analysis of 'Handwritten' by the Gaslight Anthem