Music Video Analysis: Glass Animals - Gooey

Music Video Analysis VI: Glass Animals - Gooey

Australian director-duo, Lily Coates and Gavin Young, formally known as 'The Apiary', brought new meaning to an idiosyncratic, whimsical music video that relies purely on a conceptualised idea with their video for 'Gooey' released in 2014 by the Glass Animals.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS

As the narrative unfurls, it is evident that the lyrics bare no relation to the visuals whatsoever, but however form a compilation of varying shots that define it as being a highly experimental video with psychotropic exploration in which the lyrics haven't been taken literally to influence the cinematography. When inferring meaning from the lyrics, it seems to be a song dedicated to the naivety of youth culture and subtly references a potential relationship. Through an initial watch of the video, it became apparent of the varying statuses of characters throughout the narrative, these were shown through low-angled camera shots that empowered the character but disempowered the audience; with the close-up camera angles revealing the characters that were blatantly devoid of emotion. In essence, throughout the video, there is an underlying message that seems to pertain to that of a power struggle between the characters, this is justified with the myriad of low-angled and high-angled camera shots specific to each character and their status within the video. It is only until the narrative reaches a mid-point that I am able to identify that the conceptual stimulus of the video is that of the 'Seven Deadly Sins'; or it is certainly depicted in this way.

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

As an Indie Rock band, the music video certainly encapsulates the 'indie' genre, with minimal to no reference to the rock genre. However, the video exhibits less conventional codes and conventions that pertain to the indie genre. As the video is heavily conceptualised, there leaves mass scope for anything creative to be represented through the visuals, and as previously stated, the narrative follows that of the cyclical, repeated journey of 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. A more blatantly evident genre characteristic that appertains to 'indie culture' is that of the high-key lighting that remains constant throughout the entirety of the video. A music video for the 'Indie Rock' genre would usually have an element of performing in it from the band, but 'Gooey' is devoid of any relation to performance and features none of the band members, but instead relies entirely on the actors to further push the narrative along; therefore this music video subverts the typical expectations of an 'Indie Rock' video. 

LOOKING/MODE OF ADDRESS

Considering that the band aren't featured in the music video at all, and it is heavily reliant on the actors, the looking and mode of address is kept to a minimum up until the very end where a wide-angled camera shot captures all of the actors sitting on a sofa looking directly into the camera. This is the only time the actors directly address the camera. Personally, I don't believe that this was done with an intention to distance the actors from the audience as the video is more of a compilation of frames that forms a didactic purpose; to educate the audience of the sinister, cyclical cycle of 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. Because of the lack of the direct address to the audience, theories such as the Uses and Gratifications model remain partially unsatisfied, however, the audience may use this music video as a form of escapism as the video offers a complex yet bizarre narrative to pique audience interest and solidify some sort of deeper connection with them; thus compensating for the lack of mode of address. 

REPRESENTATIONS

The music video for 'Gooey' offers various representations, all of which have neither outlandish positive or negative connotations, and doesn't reinforce a particular stereotype. In this sense, the video is void of prejudice and racial stereotyping, although this doesn't seem obvious at first, with several viewings of the video, I was able to infer that age, race and stature bore no relevance to how the music video was shot, and was evidently based on their acting and dancing abilities. 

However, a striking representation that if anything, promotes body positivity is that of the wide-angled camera shot of the woman laying on the sofa, completely naked. This doesn't necessarily pertain to the ideology behind Laura Mulvey and sexual satisfaction of the male audience but rather has two inferences. One being that the nakedness of the women suggests an essence of vulnerability, the second being that it pushes the narrative forward as she is depicted as being 'Gluttony' from 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. Although, this may be inferred as being insensitive and inappropriate, I believe that it firmly reinforces body positivity, but is also reflecting the narrative.

LINEAR OR CLOSED & NARRATIVE AND/OR CONCEPT? 

As previously stated, the music video for 'Gooey' is highly conceptualised and takes the audience on a journey of 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. The narrative is cyclical in structure as the video opens with various close-up camera shots detailing the process of the sinister cycle with a scientific and psychedelic twist. What is interesting throughout the video is the minimal quick-cut or even slow-cut editing shots, and however only entails around 4-5 quick-cut jump shots to further pursue the narrative. Panning and tracking shots feature heavily in the video, as a rigged camera follows the actors from room to room in an abandoned mansion. This idea of slow, panning and tracking shots emphasise the smoothness continuity of the deadly cycle of the sins. 

MIS-EN-SCENE

The music video allows for in-depth analysis and inference in terms of it's bizarre but unique mis-en-scene as it takes the audience on a psychotropic, free-flow journey. As briefly mentioned, the video essentially follows the evolution of 'The Seven Deadly Sins' and the repetitive nature of the concept. Wide-angled camera shots address each and every actor and defines their 'being' within the cycle; as the music video opens, the close up camera shots of the woman with gold embellished over her hands is represented as 'Greed'; this is due to the fact that 'gold' is usually associated with wealth and riches, and as the camera transitions into quick-edited shots, the making of the "essence" (the liquid) within the video is made by 'Greed' and passed on from person to person, hence, alluding to the idea that greed is capable of being felt by everyone and leads to the exposure of other sins. A panning, wide-angled mid-shot captures the younger girl representing 'Envy'. She has stolen the "essence" that 'Greed' created, and out of spite, passes it onto the man in red: 'Wrath'. Colour Psychology is yet again at play here, as the man donned in a red wrestling suit depicted as being 'Wrath', further reinforces that the colour 'red' more often than not connotes with anger or danger. Jealousy then transforms into anger, wherein the wrestler in red beats the man dressed in blue, whom is depicted as being 'Pride'. 'Wrath' eventually spits on 'Pride' which would be generally humiliating, therefore the wrestler in blue has gotten his pride hurt, and then turns to 'Lust'; the woman dressed in yellow, to boost his ego and forget about the misdeed of 'Wrath'. To further justify this idea of 'Pride' being affected by 'Wrath', the scene ends with a high-angled camera shot towering over the actor for 'Pride' but elevates 'Wraths' status with a low-angled camera shot. The woman representing 'Lust' leaves the man as soon as she gets what she wants from him; something that lust does is lead to instant gratification; therefore, a tracking shot captures the woman dancing as she exits through the door to enter another room where she meets the man representing the sin of 'Sloth'. A high-angled camera shot tracks the man depicting 'Sloth' as he wanders over to the woman on the sofa representing 'Gluttony'. Laziness and subdued attitudes is an instigator for gluttonous acts and the power of 'Gluttony' ends up acting as a fuel to power 'Greed' and her consumption of materialistic possessions.

The video exhibits constant warm hues complimented with high-key lighting but also outlines and exemplifies the battle of status and dominance between the sins by utilising scores of high-angled camera angles contrasted with low-angled camera angles; both of which are used in order to sustain a fluctuating narrative in terms of status. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIA1XQnAv5s