Unfinished sympathy - Massive Attack Flashcards
Naturalistic:
mise-en-scene using real urban locations
Social realism:
media language focuses on the lives depicted in the videos
Song’s message:
loss,hurt and incompleteness.
Media language reflects the songs message:
by connoting gentleness and poignancy
Lead singer:
- Shara Nelson
- a very restrained, intimate sad performance which sets the tone for the whole video
Camera work:
-follows the lead by the use of a single, gentle Steadicam shot for the whole video
- usually considered bravura camerawork
- crane to take from a close up of some balls to Shara walking down the street
- most of the camerawork simply shoots Shara from the front in medium shot and occasionally medium close up in the periods of emotional climax in the song
Mise-en-scene
-Shara walks at a steady pace to reflect walking pace of song
- urban landscape
- members of the band
- extras
- ‘real’ people that live on that street
- all characters dressed naturalistically
- shot in a California low-income area at sunset
- golden lighting connotes a gentleness that reflects the song and projects a dignity around these lives
Narrative:
- constituted by the succession of people that Shara walks past
- montage is created by mise-en-scene instead of editing
Different characters:
-gang members
- a boy with a toy
- a man with amputated legs on a skateboard
- a leafleteer
- a man dressed as a native american
- women throwing vegetables
-connotes a cornucopia of lives, a richness in diversity
Performance videos:
conventions include:
- soundtrack consists primarily or completely of the music track
- expressive camera work and editing mirrors the tone of the song, but conventionally aims for movement, fast pace and excitement
- mise-en-scene includes performance to camera - usually the singer
- costume, makeup, sets or locations are used to mirror the meaning of the song
- the narrative is driven by the structure of the song, especially verse and chorus, and often does not drive towards a resolution
Intertextuality:
‘the street’ established in film and television
-rich in character and variety
Viewpoints and ideologies:
a celebration of ‘the street’
Social class and/or poverty:
-location in low-income Los Angeles, littered streets, graffiti, and cheap shops
-inhabitants of this social world are represented as diverse in terms of age, gender, race and ethnicity by creating a sequence of different social types, none of whom are judged by the narrative but presented as a matter of fact
Race and ethnicity:
-first few seconds through a mixed collection of social types:
- a latino gang
- a mixed race boy with a toy
- the black british singer
-a white couple
- an african american man
- man dressed as native american
Gender:
-women and men of all ages, body shapes, and both able-bodies and with disability
- singer not sexualised
- male members follow her
- she has the agency in this narrative
- women are shown be as active as men
