Friday, 9 September 2011

Autership ~ Jess Hitch

Auteurship – Spike Jonze

The director for the Beastie Boys videos uses Auteur theory to create a distinct image and project it to the audience.
The three videos we studied were Sabotage and two others.


Patterns
Themes
Motifs
·         Fast cuts – speed, energy and youthfulness
·         Extreme camera angles (high/low) – creates a sense of extremity and abnormality.
·         Low angle – makes the actors look superior and strong.
·         Cinéma verité – Creates a sense of realism and reality as well as connecting with the audience who would use hand held cameras to film anything. Shows that they are relatable.

·         Urban – Creates an atmosphere of normality, as it is a setting that people will be familiar with.
·         Cars – speed, youthfulness but also maturity, adulthood and adventure.
·         Backstreets – rough, tough, foreign yet something that exists in every urban area.
·         Humour – Creates an atmosphere of friendliness but also could be patronizing and mocking the audience, showing off how much money and talent the artists have whilst the audience is watching them.
·         California – references to fame, fortune, sun and girls. The American dream, making money and becoming famous whilst enjoying life to the fullest.
·         Basketball court – Youthfulness, neighborhood, friendliness and familiarity.
·         Men – Phallocratic society, men dominate over women


Feminist Theory – Women in the audience might find these videos sexist because of the lack of female presence and the constant motif of male dominance. There is no female dominance (or any females at all), which suggests that women are not fit to be famous, strong, youthful and energetic and shouldn’t be present in any male-related activity like rapping, basketball and gambling.

I their videos, The Beastie Boys often dress themselves up as comical characters which suggests that they don’t take things seriously and they don’t mind making fool of themselves by dressing up as old men or policemen. They also use their costumes to create a sense of fantasy or something that is not realistic or it could also suggest that they are trying to hide themselves underneath different costumes.

No comments:

Post a Comment