Vid EG 2 Around The World- Daft Punk

ARTIST: Daft Punk
TRACK: Around The World
ALBUM: Homework
Year: 1997
Genre: French House
Director: Michel Gondry
Choreographer: Blanca Li

Audience: Predominantly male as it is a stereotype that they are more into house music than females. However, some females are also attracted to this genre of music, as it is rhythmical and are able to dance to it. You could also argue that the people who would mostly be attracted to these are artists would be French as they are from a french background meaning that they would be mostly recognized in their country.

Lyrics

 Relationship between visuals + Lyrics:

There is a clear relationship between the visuals and lyrics as each one of the characters in the video, represents a sound produced in the music.

 Genre Characteristics:

This music video carries out specific conventions to the genre of music as its “house music”, best known for being electro dance music. The way in which this is being portrayed in the music video is through the characters dancing, the background changing color and the location gives of a futuristic feel, as it's a typical convention to Electro/ House genre music because we would associate it to the future as there are no clear lyrics, but mainly focuses on the sounds being emitted. Furthermore, the characters all being different could also be seen as a genre characteristic because House/ Electro music is a revolutionary genre as its abnormal/ different to other genres because it mainly focuses on the music itself rather than the lyrics.

Performance, Narrative and/ or concept:

The concept of the music video is based upon the different groups going around in a circular motion to represent the record player, however each doing a different movement because they each present a different instrument sound being heard in the music.

 Linear, Closed narrative:

Closed narrative as it tells the story over and over again just from the characters different points of view as the camera focuses on the different groups at different times to empathize what role they play within the video.

 Performance Style:

The performance is the four different groups/ characters all moving around the world, showing that they each represent a different instrument in the song due to their body language. The Synchronized dancing swimmers are performing the ascending and descending bass guitar.

 Male Gaze:

You could argue that there is Male Gaze to an extent as the swimmer-dancing girls are wearing glitz swimming costumes, which remind us of ballet dancers as the costume could also be seen as a leotard as they are not your typical swimming costumes, more like they are outstanding and contrasting to the rest of the characters because they are not only glittery but they are in the three primary colors (Red, Blue and Yellow). This not only makes them stand out from the rest of the characters but it further reinforces that they are the main instrument presented in the music as they represent the high pitch synth of the ascending and descending bass guitar, which is the instrument that we can clearly identify throughout the song.

Fx:

There are some special effects such as spotlights focusing on the characters at different times when they are the ones producing the sound that’s being heard in the song.

Looking/ mode of address:

There is some direct address presented by the actors in the music video for example when the synchronized swimmers are about to ascend on the stairs to inform the audience that they are the ascending and descending sound that is heard in the music. However, the other characters rather than making contact with the camera/ audience they are focusing more on the body movement that shows which part of he song they each represent and by moving around in a circular motion (since they are presenting that they on a record player), this could also suggest that the reason to why they are not making eye contact is because their sound is not as powerful as the synchronized swimmers.

Pace + any variation of pace:

The pace of the music video mimics the pace of the song as it is creating the atmosphere of being in a music record box, which is what the narrative is trying to portray to the audience.

Notable Shots/ Framing:

The most notable shot framing throughout the music video is medium close-up when focusing on the various different groups being presented in the video. This shot mainly occur to reinforce that each one of the characters plays an important role within the music as they each represent a different part of the song.

Star Treatment:

The act is not present physically in the video however they are still present through the use of props as the futuristic men are wearing their statement prop which is the robotic helmet that is a convention of Daft Punk as when they are at concerts they wear them and it's also the main logo for most of their album covers. This helps inform the audience that the song belongs to the act ‘Daft Punk’.

Shot variety + No. of setups:

There is only one main set up in the music video, however it is positioned at different levels to create the shape of a record player. Furthermore, the reason why different levels are being used is to inform the audience of the instruments that are heard the most throughout the song. An example would be the swimsuit girl, who are positioned at a higher level to the rest of the characters and mostly shown through medium close up shots because they represent the ascending and descending bass guitar which is hear of the most throughout the song.

Location/s + Mise-en-scene:

The location of the music video gives off the idea that it is a record player. At first we are unable to identify it as we are only presented with the characters at different levels from a medium-close up shot, however when it transitions to a birds eye view shot we can clearly see the shape that the different levels create, which is a record player that the characters are going around on as they are presented as “the music” of the song.