Monday 22 October 2007
Gwen Stefani
Like many others this is not my favorite song of all time but I love the video as it plays with so many aspects of Multimedia.
The video starts with Gwen stuck in a rehearsal room 'uninspired', the music starts and she is spun into a virtual world (similar to Wonderland in 'Alice in Wonderland'). The use of multimedia allows her to sing to herself dressed in array of characters including Alice, the White Queen and the Red Queen. The video shoots back to Gwen in the rehearsal room frozen in her chair where the song records itself.
One of the main reasons I like this video is the images, one of my favorite being the Giant Gwen inside the house with the lyric "Take a chance coz you might grow". The image fits perfectly to the lyric. It uses similar techniques to the 'Model 5' video we saw in class, repeating still images in different ways in time to the music.
At the end of the video Gwens virtual world becomes a reality as she picks up the mic and sings to the girls. For me, the image of Gwen growing out of the house always remains in my head for days! Anyho hope you enjoy!
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5 comments:
I really like the sort of sub-aquatic shots of Gwen and the really fast cutting to and fro, it helps build towards the climax in the music at the end of the bridge section that it accompanies.
I really like the use of colour in this to capture the lager-than-life unreality of Wonderland. It also really helps to set Stefani aside from other pop stars - I can't think of many videos for similar songs that are quite this eye-catching or bizarre.
I really like how this video commands your attention with bright colours, and cutting to the 'tick tock' beat. I feel this video represents Gwen Stefani's personality well because it's very imaginative and surreal.
i have to say, i am not a massive gwen fan, however as aimee has said i think this video really captures her personality. Im not sure therefore if this is a matrix or non matrix effect; although she is playing a character of almost "alice" from alice in wonderland, she is also herself in the recording studio at the start and end, and as previously stated, possibly playing herself through the video aswell. I love the quick camera effects in this video and the use of dance.
An evident theme within this video is the rebranding of gwen's image and musical style as she moved away from her band "no doubt," into a solo career. There is a distinctive shift from punk to pop in her image and style by the time 'What are you waiting for' was released, branding Gwen Steffani individually as an iconic figure as opposed to 'Gwen from the band no doubt.'
There is no real linear narrative, but the references to Alice in Wonderland, with one of her dancers running through the maze as a beautiful suggestion of the white rabbit, and the mad hatters tea party, allows a sense of story behind the images...Here is Gwen Steffani, a lost girl, trying to understand and make her mark on a new world. This idea is also reitterated within the lyrics.
I really think that without this video, Gwen would not have done as well as she has within her solo career. The song itself is catchy and upbeat but the video is the impactive feature that really worked to seperate and define the 'character' of Gwen within the media. She almost appears as a new era bjork, a modern day madonna without the cone-bra, doing something extrovert to remain in the publics attention.
this video is visually beautiful.
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