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Thursday 22nd October
14. Alanis Morissette - Thank U
Alanis Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. 'Thank U' is a single from her fourth studio album 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'.
The video for 'Thank U' is primarily a performance with conceptual themes of being naked (spiritually/emotionally as well as physically) and being very raw and intimate in places where you're regularly need a barrier/protection from other people around. Morissette presents this idea by being naked throughout the entirety of the video, she wanders around streets, on the subway and in a shop nude to show her true, open self to everybody. This presents her as confident in herself and also presents the idea that her songs have deeper meanings and that her music tells a story that is not immediately obvious on the surface. She however is the only one not dressed in the video suggesting the idea that the other people have yet to reach the spiritual level she's on (Dyers Paradoxes: Ordinary and Extraordinary) presenting her as different from everybody else. This lack of costume is very unconventional in our genre, Alanis Morissette being known for being very experimental and unconventional in her music, this lack of clothing is something we won't consider doing for our music video however the idea Morissette presents may be something we look into in a different way.
The locations featured in the video are common scenes for people to see, she's seen in the street (0:40) on the subway (1:20) in a store of some kind (2:45) and in the middle of an empty road (3:50). With the exception of in the middle of a road these are common locations to be in for everybody however they're made to be unordinary scenes by the placement of a naked musician. Her being placed in ordinary locations connotes the idea that she's down to earth and trying to connect to her audience through the use of locations that her audience will have seen before. This presents her as more down to earth since she could be in a very posh sophisticated environment however she's just standing in the street. The use of outside locations is seen in many of the videos I've analysed and it conventional of this genre, something we will definitely make use of in our production.
The use of high key lighting throughout the film (like the ordinary settings) suggests the idea that she's not hiding anything from anybody, reinforcing ideas of emotional openness and being in her raw form where its most likely to be taken advantage of. The use of straight cuts through the video connote plainness again presenting the idea she's not being fancy with anything and instead focusing on the messages she's trying to get across (Dyers seven common values: Creativity/Talent). The editing is quite slow paced and shot length being quite slow, this creates a very calm tone and gives us the idea she knows what she's doing presenting her as sure of herself and aware of everything around her. This is amplified by the lyrics “Thank you fragility, thank you consequence” as she's accepting all aspects of life (even negative aspects) without any issue presenting herself to be accepting of life in general, this suggests she's mature and has an understanding of the world that we do not. This understanding of the world is relatively unconventional with most of the videos I've analysed highlighting issues in the world not trying to accept/understand it, I think this is a complex idea and probably not something we'll tackle in our production.
The music video features lots of use of editing particularly in editing other people, they're in fast motion and blurred through the video only those who stop to touch the artist slow down, however they speed up as they leave. This presents the idea only some people will accept a person’s true, raw state and only a few people can see a person in this open state. The use of sparkles/distorted images is a representation of her spiritual guide and as she sings about thanking the world, and the good and bad in it she encounters during life the idea is suggested that only by being your true self and accepting things how they are can you reach spiritual enlightenment like Morissette has. This fast motion effect on people is something we would like to use in our music video as we think it's an interesting effect and use of extensive editing is a convention of music videos of our genre.
The music video is primarily made of close ups (0:01, 1:21), mid shots (1:10, 1:37) and long shots (3:54) the simple use of camerawork matches the tone of the song, it being quite simplistic in terms of the song and the concept for the video. This is again representative of the rawness of the artist in this video presenting her as down to earth and like her audience. The simple use of camerawork is something seen in previous videos I've analysed (James Blunt/George Ezra) however most of the music videos have a wider range of camera shots, angles and movements and I think we as a group would like to be more adventurous with our use of camerawork.
 Close Up |  Mid Shot |  Two Shot |
|---|---|---|
 Long Shot |  Long shot |