Music Video Analysis - Chop Suey!

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.