Media Product Analysis - Essay Example

Media Product Analysis s Quite often, media products are capable of doing something more than merely entertaining our eyes with exquisiteness of design, and this characteristic is deservedly applicable to the provocative music video directed by Floria Sigismondi and presenting the single of the famous David Bowie, ‘The Next Day’. Generally, the piece incorporates a great number of visual, musical and contextual elements, which – when combined and intertwined – produce a striking effect on the audience. However, to provide a detailed and comprehensive analysis, it would be the most appropriate to start with the outer, visual, aspect of the given media work. The imagery of the video is rather provocative, though it isn’t deprived of aesthetic value and adherence to design principles. The very first visual feature to be mentioned is a peculiar color scheme including no too bright or light hues, with the overall atmosphere of the video being a little bit sombre. The depicted venue is the bar – or even a brothel – hosting rather strange and extravagant characters: a cardinal in a red robe, a priest, prostitutes, musicians playing live, several oddly dressed women, a supposed sinner lashing himself with a whip and a beggar outside the bar. Dominating black, burgundy, white and various yellowish shades endow the color appearance with certain aristocraticism, which is then purposefully supported by other elements of video design such as style of interior, lighting and costumes. Moreover, the imagery contains balanced repetition of dominating colors and shades, which makes the video look like a whole and seamless piece and creates unity. Also, a design principle used in the video design is opposition, as opposite visual concepts are drawn together here (Bartel, 2012). A mysterious white-veiled woman, which seems to symbolize purity, is opposed to a weary prostitute dressed in black; moreover, the opposition of clergymen and prostitutes, i.e. sinners, arrests one’s attention. In addition, a very significant image used in the video is the imitation of a Renaissance painting, which is virtually “imbedded” in the ending of the video, yet, with a pinch of mocking. The visual imagery used in ‘The Next Day’ obviously serves to communicate a rather profound yet daring message – along with the lyrics of the song, it serves to express Bowie’s radical criticism of Catholic church and its corruption. Clear and hidden religious symbols as well as actions of the featuring actors depict the most unpleasant sides of clergy and church and obviously seek to draw the audience’s attention to them. Therefore, the message conveyed by the discussed media product is the following: the church is corrupt and rotten (however, it is not quite clear whether Bowie and the video director imply the same assertion regarding religion itself). Abundance of symbols and allusions in visual imagery is fascinating. The tablet with the name of the bar appearing briefly at the beginning states ‘Decameron’, which is a very translucent parallel to Giovanni Boccaccio’s literary work satirizing the corruption and hypocrisy of the contemporary clergy. Combination of colors and frequent infusion of ‘dirty’ yellowish shades contribute to communication of the message, too, hinting at the atmosphere of corruption reigning in the brothel. On the other hand, black, scarlet and white and their repetition and combination help the viewer identify the features expressed by the actors: the scarlet robe of the clergyman tells us that he is a cardinal – the clergyman embracing one of the most privileged positions in Catholic church; moreover, abundance of burgundy and scarlet hints at blood of Christ, which is an essential element in Christian religion. Costume designers, in their turn, have made their best in order to make the outfits of the characters speak for themselves and hence make the visual element of the video design very eloquent. The costumes redund in symbolism: the veiled woman entering the bar with the ‘bad’ priest has hyperbolized long lashes accompanying black holes instead of eyes, which she is carrying on a roundel before her – the visual details disclose the character of St. Lucy, a martyr of early Christianity. A short-haired woman dressed in metal armour is certainly Joan of Arc, while a topless woman under a white veil seems to embody chastity. The presence of these women in such a place and the fact that St. Lucy was brought by the priest probably communicate the idea that hypocrites in clergy disgrace purity of the faith. The repetition of shots, where women kiss the cardinal’s hand and receive dollars in return, helps communicate the idea of corrupted system of indulgences. In fact, the majority of symbols here are rather implicit than lying on the surface, and entangling them enables understanding of the hidden messages that constitute the overall sense of the music video. For instance, the shot of the priest punching the beggar at the beginning doesn’t speak for itself to the full extent. However, recalling the religious tradition of giving alms as one of the grounding tenets of Cristian faith, the viewer sees the deviance in the priest’s behavior and can anticipate the message to be conveyed by the media piece. Generally, the complex system of intertwining visual images including stigmata, biblical characters, blood, costumes and interplay of symbolic colors make the message of the video rather understandable. Of course, analyzing this music video in terms of design and message, it is difficult to overlook the fact that both the implicit message and the visual side of Sigismondi’s work might be perceived rather differently and evoke controversies – which, in fact, happened after the release (Savage, 2013). Considering strong critical message of the video, it isn’t surprising that it can be taken as offensive and provocative work by religious groups, clergy and adherents of Catholic faith, too, for it goes against the values held or promoted by these groups. Particularly, it is rather daring visual images that can evoke condemnation: proximity and flirt between clergymen and prostitutes; parodying of Jesus by Bowie himself; mocking flagellation, martyrs and saints; depicting priests as vicious and weird persons and so on. For instance, the authority of the church might be undermined by the shots emphasizing the outfit of the cardinal, with a supposedly expensive luxurious watch on his hand (If it isn’t a blatant image deriding corruption of the church, what is it then?). At the same time, ‘The Next Day’ can be seen as controversial in terms of its appropriateness for all ages. Depiction of topless women, inappropriate behavior and violence-related image of blind St. Lucy with her eyes on a tray can affect immature psyche negatively. Therefore, the nature of the imagery restricts the target audience terms of age and religious affiliations. However, the target audience still remains rather wide due to the genre David Bowie works in – rock music, which is among the most popular genres of nowadays. In addition, this media product might find response in such demographic groups as atheistic and agnostic population of the world, for their views of the church may coincide with those expressed by Bowie and Sigismondi. Given the saturated visual aspect of ‘The Next Day’ reinforced by the rather eloquent lyrics of the song, which serves the basis for the video, and bright public reation it has received worldwide, it is reasonable to assume that the chosen work is rather effective in terms of communicating the artists’ message. Translucent allusions speak directly even to the least competent viewers, who are unfamiliar with the depth of Catholic history and tenets, while more sophisticated audience aware of more details – for instance, story of St. Lucy, dogma of giving alms and Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’ – are likely to identify Bowie and Sigismondi’s message even more clearly. Moreover, this video can deservedly be considered artwork due to its aesthetic value, artistic design deploying various visual elements in a very professional way and implicit sense that is sure serve as the spiritual food for people. The essence of art is in its fundamental property to evoke emotions, thought and impressions, leaving no one indifferent. Thereby, the topic this music video cultivates, thoughts it shares and its visual ‘wrapping’ are unlikely to leave anybody cold – most people will either condemn it or like it for its aesthetics or message depending on their religious affiliations and age. These arguments provide enough evidence to consider ‘The Next Day’ artwork and hence respect its right for existence. Reference list Bartel, Marvin. “Some Ideas About Composition and Design Elements, Principles, and Visual Effects.” Goshen College Art Department, 2012. From: https://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/Compose.htm Savage, Lesley. “David Bowies new religious-themed video causing controversy.” CBS NEWS, 2013. From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-bowies-new-religious-themed-video-causing-controversy/ Read More