Sound within Music Videos

Today we were discussing the importance the actual sound plays within music videos. By sound I mean the actual song/backing track which accompanies the visual.

The sound plays a huge role within music videos, mainly due to the fact that often the chosen visuals are selected because they are relevant to the song. Other aspects that have to be considered when selecting visuals, which include tempo, rhythm, tone, mood, emotion, colour and lyrics, all of which develop connotations and a meaning for the song.

We decided to focus on the song "Life is a Gun" by Jay Malinowski in order to establish how important the lyrics of a song are when deciding upon narrative and creating the visuals to accompany the song.

We heavily analysed the lyrics and what certain lines could connote:

• There is a lexical field of guns/war, which could link to the battles the two characters are having within their relationship
• "Crash into you" is sung at the same time the girl knocks over the milk. This reminded me of the phrase, "There's no point crying over spilt milk" which also links to the lyrics, "What's done is done" - they can't change it so they should move on and sort it out rather than worrying about what has happened in the past.
• Following on from this, there is a real sense of history betweeen the two characters which is perhaps affecting their current situation. This made me think whether the gun is being used as a metaphor for the problems/issues they have faced within their relationship, as at one point he has the gun in his back pocket, so he puts their problems behind them, but then when he turns around, she pulls it out again and points it at him, so perhaps she brings up past problems. In the end their previously unsolved issues are what ends them. The lyric, "On the road we became old" further supports this idea that they are running out of steam/their relationship is coing to an end.
• The gun could also represent teh power within tehir relationship, which heavily links to the lyric, "The well won path". This holds connotations to victory - and again war/battles. The power is constantly being fought for and it eventually causes them to end it.
• Another interesting connotation is seen when he places the gun down next to the Oscar Wilde book. He is wearing a trench coat, similar to that of Dorean Grey - who is on the front cover of the book, so shows he perhaps holds similarities to the fictional character. This idea is strengthened when in the next shot he is shown looking into the mirror (through a POV shot from the view of the mirror) and he is shown spending quite a lot of time looking at his reflection whilst washing. This links to the character trait of Dorean Grey who is extremely vain and self-obsessed, which eventually causes him to lose his mind.
• There are some very subtle references made to their relationship status too, for example, there is a shot of a kettle boiling at it's max, which could connote to their relationship having reached it's boiling point so to speak (pardon the pun). Another prop/costuming aspect which contributes to the meaning of the song is the fact they are both waering black/dark clothing, which represent death and negativity. This again links to the lingo of guns/triggers etc used as they too are very negative aspects, "Life is a gun"
• The lines, "A story shotgun that came undone" and "Lay these guns in the ground" represent something coming to an end, which again is linked to the fact their relationship is over, and the last battle for power is taking place.

So overall, sound within music video plays a huge role in representing meaning within the song and thus has a huge influence on how the accompanying visuals will look.