The Infinite Mix

Today, all A2 students went on a visit to The Infinite Mix: Contemporary Sound and Image - a collection of 10 very creative, unusual music videos. They were extremely eye-opening and unlike any music videos I had ever seen before. Below I have briefly written up the videos that I feel are most relevant to my own music video.

Martin Creed - Work No. 1701, 2013

This video was an interesting example of a low budget video. It showed a range of people crossing a road - they all appeared to have some sort of impairment, eg. the last person was physically disabled and had to drag his body across the road. The song linked to the lyrics as the one of the main lines was 'the same again', and the video was different people crossing the same road again and again.

The mise-en-scene told the audience that the video was set in New York City, as the yellow taxis and American street signs represent the famous city.

Stan Douglas - Luanda-Kinshasa, 2013

This is a performance based video put on loop which is supposed to give an illusion of an endless real-time jam. It combines jazz, funk and Afrobeats to represent the target audience - the rising independence of African nation for the time era that this recreates (70s). The camera uses a range of different techniques such as handheld, pans and tracks between band members, which adds to the 'never stop moving' effect.

The content of the video depicts the band members really feeling the music, and they wear colourful, funky yet smart casual clothing which represents their fusion of genres.


Ugo Rondinone - Thanx 4 Nothing, 2015

This spoken word was set out in a unique fashion. A large room had a huge projection of the video on each wall, with four mini cube shaped TVs per wall, also displaying the video. Despite its simplicity, there was something very captivating about the artist and his poetry and I didn't want to take my eyes off the video.

The artist wore a black tuxedo with a white shirt - later on in the video, there are flashes were the studio behind him gets lit up and his suit switches to white while the shirt goes black. This was memorable for the audience and could've been done during either production or editing. Additionally, he was barefoot for the whole performance which added to the rawness of the spoken word - I am considering integrating this into my own music video.

A spotlight illuminated the artist, placing all attention on solely him. The camera used a variety of framing types - the close ups really added a sense of intimacy. At times, the video would link to the lyrics, such as when he would repeat a line three times, the camera would zoom in for every repeat. Also, when he said 'may they multiply,' the screen split into 4x4 mini screens.


Kahlil Joseph - m.A.A.d., 2014

This video had an extremely high budget, so any ideas I take will have to be adapted to suit a student budget. It was very well done and the dual screen meant and fast cutting rate meant there was never a dull moment. Many many things occured - at one point, home footage from an old camcorder was played to give the narrative some history and realism.

The two screens would somehow link to each other - sometimes they would show different angles of the same subject, other times one would show the setting while the other portrayed the narrative. A few shots were filmed from a helicopter showing a birds eye view of the city where it is set. This was beautiful and mesmerising for me as the audience.

Near the beginning of the video, some home footage shows a group of youths playing around with a large gun. Following this, an old woman's voice is played as if it were on a phone, and she started preaching about Jesus and peace in a call and response style with the youths. These techniques incorporated many different social themes into the video, such as race, culture, age, gun control and death.