Music Video Analysis
– Chop Suey!
What are the Genre
Characteristics?
The song Chop Suey! by System Of A Down is
part of the rock genre so there are a few characteristics of this video that
are consistent with other videos from the same genre. One of the main observations
was that most of the band members are either shirtless or wearing clothes which
look very casual and not highly stylised by a wardrobe department. One of the
guitarists, Daron Malakian does not
wear a shirt for the entirety of the video, revealing his many tattoos. (As
seen on the right). One of the on things that gives the band a signature look
is the facial hair. The lead singer has gone through many different hair styles
and beard styles, leading to his signature goatee. Daron Malakian also has a
bit of a styled beard as it has been braided and goes into a chin strap. Many
heavy metal or rock bands use facial hair to give them a signature look for
example the lead singer of the band ‘Disturbed’ has an iconic soul patch mixed
with a piercing, another example being the lead singer of Metallica as he has
kept a signature goatee. All of this links into the point that within the genre
of heavy rock or metal, often band members will take off shirts or dress very
casually as they like to focus on the music rather than purely focus on looks,
even though they will have signature looks to put on a good show at somewhere
like a concert.
What is the relationship between lyrics and
visuals?
The lyrics and the visuals are linked which is evidenced
throughout the song. One of the points was that when the singing becomes slower
and more harmonic, the editing style changes, the cuts become longer and more
conceptual imagery is introduced. This is shown when during the slower parts,
the camera often would cut to the audience singing along. This changes when the
singing becomes louder and quicker, it cuts back to the band and the editing
speeds up again. As mentioned, during the slower parts there are elements of
conceptual imagery, for example at multiple points the band members can be seen
phasing in and out of each other
Relationship between music and visuals?
Similarly to the
lyrics, when the music speeds up so does the editing and when the music slows
down a bit, the editing slows down too. For example when the guitar riffs speed
up and become quite heavy, the camera shots are very quick and short. When the
instruments play more melodically and slow, the camera shots are longer and
jump around less.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image
motifs?
Throughout the
video the camera moves in different ways both near and far away from the band
members. Throughout there are various crane shots, chest mounted camera shots,
some establishing shots and some shots looking down to the audience. One of the
most interesting camera movements I saw was at multiple points in the song a
band member would stand on a podium and the camera would orbit them, starting
from above, then go down vertically underneath the podium and when it would
come back up another different band member would be standing there, this was a
really effective camera movement, incorporating some of the more conceptual and
random ideas in the song.
Is there reference to notion of looking?
Throughout the
video both the band members and the audience look into the camera. The audience
look into the camera whenever it flies overhead. The band look into the camera
during the chest mounted shots to give more of a crazy and mad look which matches
the song in a way as it’s very fast and crazy.
