Chris Cunningham - Music Video Assignment
Chris Cunningham, born 15 October 1970 and works as a Filmmaker, Video Artist, Photographer, Producer and mainly Directs music videos for ambient music and IDM groups has made some amazing and influential music videos, 3 of which are ‘Come to Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’ by Aphex Twins and ‘All is Full of Love’ by Björk.
Come to Daddy by Aphex Twins is a fairly dark and cynical music video, a large majority of the video is in low key which fits the dark way the song is made and how the rest of the video plays out. The video starts with a somewhat calm beginning when the old lady is walking her dog but you still get the tension that something isn’t right or somebody is being followed, as it provides you have a regular motif of Chris Cunningham and the Aphex Twins which is the Transformation they use when they put men's faces on the bodies of women and children. Tiny people with men's faces then almost worship abomination that comes out of the TV and then plays with them. This is unsettling but still works with this Techno / Drum and Bass song, the edits in comparison to the song are cut to the beat and turns some non-diegetic sounds into diegetic, like when the guy is screaming at the old lady as if he actually was instead of it being part of the song.
Windowlicker also uses elements of narrative like at the very beginning and the story of the 2 guys attempting to pick up some girls at the side of the road, for the rest of the song the girls in the video all have men's heads like in ‘Come to Daddy’ this is somewhat more distressing for those watching but that was most likely their goal because the brownish toned lighting made it look dirty and muggy as well as shots that pan up to show a full body shot. Because of the way they made this video and because of the way that Chris Cunningham makes his videos he might be making a statement about gender equality. Chris Cunningham uses transformation again to put the faces of men on the bodies of women.
All Is Full of Love is similar to both ‘Come to Daddy’ and ‘Windowlicker’. Out of the 3 videos made by Chris Cunningham this is my personal favourite, ‘All is Full of Love’ by Björk is a really well edited video in which 2 robots find love, at no point in the video does it mention or hint towards to gender of the 2 robots. The lighting and effects in this video really stand out though, where the 2 bodies connect and light shines through it gives a feel of mystery, like you can see what's happening without actually seeing it so you're still unsure, and the effects with the water dripping down off the parts and the robots themselves really stand out. The song fits with the music well with its Electronic genre, the High key lighting, Steel on White contrast and the symbolism of robots falling in love. The transformations used in this is with both the robots faces being Björks face which only adds to the obscurity of it.
I picked the 3 music videos ‘Come to Daddy’, ‘Windowlicker’ and ‘All is Full of Love’ because where ‘Come to Daddy’ some Narrative moments and ‘All is Full of Love’ is more Conceptual based then ‘Windowlicker’ is more Performance based, there are parts in Windowlicker where they are singing or dancing but it is also a Narrative because it is telling the story of the 2 guys at the very beginning.
Chris Cunningham is a Filmmaker, Video Artist, Photographer and Producer, who judging by the examples given above likes to use lighting effects and symbolism in his videos to cause the viewer to be distressed and in some cases he likes to play on the edge of the Notion of Looking and instead of using Close-ups a lot of the time he uses Medium Shots or Panning Shots where for a moment you're looking at the body of the lady who is being showcased and then you see an unattractive face on her which causes you to be distressed. The Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals is pretty strong, whereas All is Full of Love is about Love but also almost as an order, “You'll be given love”, “You'll be taken care of” and “You have to trust it” are all said as if somebody was ordering you to love which plays a part in the video because they are robots. In Windowlicker the lyrics and visuals have no comparison, “Mmmmmmmmm ummmmmm” and the whole song goes on like that, the beat and cutting do work together and actually help get their point across, because when cutting they take long panning shots of their bodies and then scroll up the viewer has no idea what is going on, shots of a guy singing surrounded with these girl/guys as they welcome you arms stretched and inviting you in is a way to maybe get the viewer to accept them but then also repulse them still. Come to Daddy is maybe the strangest 1 i have seen that Chris Cunningham made, even the title is unsettling. It involves small people who look grownup but are still small to run around and worship this demonic deity, the part where it screams at the old lady is loud in the song and can hurt your ears if its too loud and its Drum and Bass / Techno song is distorted in places, i actually think this video with its Low key lighting and other images is made to make you fear it, the song and video both play out as if you're watching a horror movie.
The purpose of these music videos are not intentionally for the Notion of Looking but more for making a statement, maybe about how regular music videos are produced because in most it has aspects of how they are normally made, e.g. with girls dancing in bikinis and with a love scene going on but they make it obscure, maybe so you would want to watch it again or more for the shock value of it after you watch it.
Because of how these music videos were made and how it was produced must of helped it during its marketing with Come to Daddy peaking at number 36 on the UK Singles Chart In October 2011, All is Full of Love peaking at #8 on the dance charts and Windowlicker peaking at #16 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming his highest-charting song.
