Radiohead are one of my favourite bands, so when I hear a new song I instantly am intrigued and go to watch the music video.
I was delighted this time to find it was an animation, and a stop-motion one at that. My first thoughts were negative, I wasn't really sure on the style with playmobile, post-man pat style characters, and I wasn't so 'engaged', nothing was really drawing me in to watch it.
I also found it really sinister, the jerky tim burton style movements along with the character design, and even the song, with Thom Yorkes high pitched singing, really creating this creepy atmosphere over the whole animation. But this complements the sinister theme to the whole animation which is unveiled at the end, when the townsfolk from a town based on Salem from The Crucible, burn the main character in a creepy wooden statue.
I found it quite an uncomfortable watch, sometimes it felt like there are too many things going on, too many colours, commotion. It also didn't flow, after each scene the screen fades to black and then back out again, which left me feeling rather agitated, being used to effective screen cuts in film nowadays.
All these components I feel are intentional. Intentional to make you feel disturbed when watching, to intensify the sinister feel.
But why does it have to be so sinister?
Obviously the reason for this is because of its context. With the song named "Burn the Witch", Radiohead have wanted to create a sinister video with a dark context reflecting the Salem witch trials, and have definitely achieved this.
The most effective scene I feel was when the main character gets unexpectedly locked inside the wooden statue, because it coexists with the music very well, the music heightens and Thom Yorke sings his highest note yet, it really creeps you out, its quite powerful.
No comments:
Post a Comment