Auteur Theory
The director that I have chosen to analyse is Chris Cunningham. Chris Cunningham is a English music video film director and he is also a video artist. I have watched many videos that he has directed and I find them very fascinating to watch because they are not what you would see as a usual music video. These videos include Window Licker, Come to Daddy and Rubber Johnny these are all by Aphex Twin. The music video that really stood out to me is Window Licker as it has a strong meaning.
The genre of the music video Window Licker is electronic and acid techno, but its also has a slight twist to the music. The basic characteristics from the video are is that it’s more like a short film rather than a music video as it has a long introduction of about 4 minutes. When we first hear the music we get the impression that it is quite a slow and relaxing song, but when the beat kicks in the song turns into an up beat dance track. Also what makes the audience feel this way is when we see a very abnormal looking man jump out of the car and starts to dance in the rain. This also has a close connection to the song ‘Singing In The Rain’ directed by Vicent Minelli. The song has a mixture of characteristics because the introduction is more like a typical gang scene that you may see at the start of a Hip-Hop or R&B track. But it is clear that the track is electronic due to heavy beats and loud noise.
This music video has no lyrics throughout. This is mainly because the visuals are so interesting that you don’t really need and words as it may be off putting to the audience. The introduction of the music video has a lot of swearing from two men who looking like they are friends but they are shouting loud which to the audience seems like that are having a row or argument. Because they are black this is the typical language that would except from them. This is because you can stereotype them as gangsters. Their language then continues as they see two girls on the side of the road, which then also turns into a row as they start to speak very nasty to the girls.
The relationship between the music and the visuals is shown through the editing of the video. The cuts at the start of the music are very fast pace to fit with the movement that we are seeing on the screen. This is when we see the man roll down his window and jumps out of the car and starts to dance in the rain. It is almost like he is trying to impress these beautiful ladies because he is not that good looking him self. This is when the video has a connection to the music video singing in the rain as the same thing happens.
The visuals then get even more interesting as the girls faces start to change into a very ugly looking old man but still have their own bodies. This is what really stands out to the audience because it look very funny and odd, as you wouldn’t really see this from a typically woman. The music then starts to change when we see the ladies dancing very sexy very close to the camera. This relates to Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze. The main concept of the Male Gaze is one that deals with how the audience views the people presented on the screen. This is mostly connecting to how mean look at women and how women look at themselves. Also how women look at other women. The main features from the Male Gaze are that the camera lingers on the curves of the female body and this is exactly what happens in the Window Licker video. Also it is a shot that starts from the bottom of a women’s body and ends up at the top. This could be from a Male point of view and how they look at an attractive woman.
The artist is shown through many different ways in this music video. Firstly he is the main character in the video, but really just his face is but no the body. The Aphex Twin’s face then appears on the two other ladies. This is what makes the video look weird and unrealistic. But by doing this is how the record company are looking to sell this track because he is a strong feature throughout the video. The audience are given a mixed illusion from the artist as he is shown on a women’s body as well as a man’s. But it makes the music video even more interesting to watch.
Chris Cunningham has worked with the Aphex twin on many occasions and all these occasions we see the Aphex Twin’s head but not he actual body. For example in the video ‘Come To Daddy’ his face has been placed onto a young girls body. Because most of the Aphex Twin music has no lyrics this is another way of showing who the artist is without them doing a performance. It’s a very interesting way that Chris Cunningham has made to incorporate viewers and a wide target audience. Also you could call this a motif because in his others video the same thing is happening almost but the only thing tat has changed is the way other people act. E.g. The children in ‘Come To Daddy’ act very scary and look scary because they have the face of the Aphex twin but in ‘Windowlicker’ the women try to act sexy but it just looks bizarre as their face doesn’t look right.
As I have already stated Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze is included in the ‘Windowlicker’ but this is mostly towards then end. But the artist isn’t on a sexual display as it might look like him but actually it’s a women body. The camera angles are at a low angle so we are looking up at them which make it more sexual and because they are wearing such little bottoms it also making it very revealing to the audience. On many occasions we see just a bum in the camera shot. This is one of the reasons that this particular Chris Cunningham music video couldn’t be played on a MTV music channel as it has very sexual scene in it. But MTV US did play ‘Come To Daddy’ but was edited so it wasn’t pushing the boundaries of the channel. Also ‘Come To Daddy’ showed the Aphex Twin’s face on a screen so the audience see a screen within a screen. This is a good idea from Chris Cunningham because it gives the effect that we are also there watching it and brings the audience into the video.
Chris Cunningham’s video’s are all very different looking at ‘Windowlicker’ and ‘Come To Daddy’ one is more of a horror and quite scary but the other is very different as it is more of a sexual performance with women dancing close to the camera. One thing that is similar in both of these music video from Chris Cunningham is having the long introduction at the beginning which make it more of a short film than a music video. This is a good way to get the audience to watch the rest as the beginning is so different they want to see what is going to happen next.
Most of Chris Cunningham’s videos are conceptual with a small amount of narrative. ‘Rubby Johnny’ is another music video that he has directed which also has no lyrics just electronic music. With this video it is also about grabbing the audience because the ideas that he has are so out of the ordinary. This is what makes Chirs Cunningham interesting and original because with most music videos you can almost guess what you are going to see but with his you are always surprised.
