(Appendix 4)

Autechre - Second Bad Vibel(Chris Cunningham)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hgNwfMoyNs0

I chose to analyze this video because it was the first video Chris Cunningham ever directed.

From the start we can see how it conforms to his distorted style of representation within music videos, the band are not present in any of the shots and we are shown a Montague of images which set up the video's narrative, an alien is shown to be trapped within a dark room, and then a series of flashing images are portrayed to us which create an ambient feel to the video and the contrasts of dark hallways and warehouses very much conflict with the luminous bright colour occasionally shown.

This video obviously has no major narrative and lacks some of the ideas and creativeness of Chris' later video's however because of its changed narrative and uninstructed feel it sets it apart from videos of the time because it is something different. As the video continues we see a robot in a white room appear and we are shown some weird mechanical machinery this however conforms and connects with the techno style of music that is being played throughout so therefore the video does not completely disagree with the music they do have some relation to each other, although the style of video is disjuncture because it shows no real link to the song, and the alien and robot create a whole new set of meaning which are viewed to show the videos difference and originality.

The Montague editing we see in the video very much reinforce its disjunctive purpose, with hundreds of images being shown to the viewer some so fast it is impossible to determine there meaning, this again shows the contemporary style of the video and how it is set apart form the rest. This video is very successful because it was made on such a low budget because of its little special effects and basic images are just being strung together therefore it is something very simple which intrigues the audience, also its use of the images following the beat as well as cuts matching the beats make it a very good video to watch because it creates a key rhythm.

The mise-en-scene of the video is very hard to describe, but the main focus is the alien and the robot within these separate rooms a contrast is shown through lighting when the alien is shown in darkness and the robot to be in a bright white room, and the almost electrical images and lights shown between the robot and the alien show how the images are changing to match the beat of the song, although the video may not have a particular meaning the flashing images and bright and dark colours of lighting really reinforce the electro style of the music.

I wouldn't say many visual techniques are used within the video it seems just to be a Montague of images and short clips, however bright light is used between cuts to signify the change from dark to light and also to match the beat of the music. I would definitely says that this video is post modern because no shots of the band are shown within the video and the bizarre images and clips show no specific meaning or purpose, it reinforces the postmodern style because it breaks the conventions of music videos and clearly shows its differentiation from anything else.

For me the reason the band has no meantion within the video or its distorted narrative is because of the contemporaneous of the video it acts as a real eye opener and will help publicize the band even though they are not mentioned, which is something Chris Cunningham does in allot of his videos, he takes out the technical elements to create something gripping, therefore the video can serve as a subsidiary media text by being outrageous and different is what will help propel the band. Within the video the view of technology/science and other life upon earth is represented through its images, this ideological discourse shows a dark side to the ever changing reality of the world the electro music and mono-tone beat help to make out the future as something almost to fear, and the conflicts between machine and alien within the video to me portray a feeling that not all technology is good. The green wash of the alien shows an inter textual reference to some sci-fi texts, e.g. The Matrix, and the alien clearly is represented as how we depict aliens to look like, with a thin body and large head.