TASK 2 - Contemporary Music Video Reasearch

I will be analysing the video 'Saku' by the band Dir En Grey. The video was directed by Hiroyuki Kondo. The genre is J-Rock. The video doesnt really fit into any charecteristics of the genre.

There are some very interesting uses of Mise-en-scene. The lighting is very flashy, lots of strobes and lighting from TV'S which are scatterd around the band. They have wierd styled clothes on and the lead singer has contacts to make his eyes more scary looking and also grills to give him a scary appearance, maybe trying to show that the band is seen as a sort of scary looking band not to be messed with. Throughout the video theres shots of strange disturbing images that flash up only for a spilt second though so you dont have a chance to look at them in detail. The pace of the video is very fast nothing stays on view for no more than 3 seconds. As it transitions it looks like its being fast foward between them.

The lyrics are quite angry and the video is violent so that goes well. The lyrics sound like some boy fed up with people or angry at them, in the video he is shown to be killing his parents with a golf club.
UNDER THE SUN
'To be revealed as if you were to be
ridiculed, the disclosure
of the flow of the red river'
In the video theres a shot of blood running down a bath plug hole this could be linked to the lyrics in the song 'The flow of the red river.

The music and visuals goes well as the musics fast and it cuts to the beat so it cuts between shots very quickly. the video does change as some parts of the music are slow so the action in the video slows down to with it. During the chorus the music is very fast and so the visuals go very quick and cuts fast.

The image of the band in the video is quite frightening there represented as looking abit wierd being a little crazy almost. This video is alot like there others as there previous videos are a little disturbing and creepy.

The band are shown to be on tv alot being watched by the teenager who kills his family. The shots where the band is playing there surrounded by Tvs on the walls and they are all flashing. This is an interesting idea for a shot.

The video is narrative-base as this video is a follow on from a previous video about a baby who got aborted and left in a dumpster.

The target auidence is teenagers who probably have an open mind to music, as the band is japanese and they sing in japanese, you cant understand the lyrics. I have been to a concert with them playing and the majority of the crowd was teenagers 15-18 years old. I looked online for the lyrics to the song to quote on here. But you can tell by the way the lead singer sings if its angry, sad or happy song. This song is angry though.

The video promotes the band well and also the song. The audience who enjoy Dir En Grey will enjoy this video as well as previous ones the video isnt that popular on youtube but comments show that people how ever do like it here are some examples 'amazing!!!!!!!!! holy shit amazing!' 'fing awesome video
i love this song' . In conclusion this video is very strange and disturbing its quick paced with lots of visuals for the eyes some which flash up only for a split second. This is very like the bands videos they have done before and its good and promotes well.