The music video is used in a way to promote a single for an artist, to use a visual form of gaining attention in order to boost the sales of a record, according to Jody Berland the music video has “reshaped the music industry irrevocably”.
1993, Routledge, Sound & Vision- The Music Video Reader, London.
The promotion of a song relies on a visual aspect for when the song is played on television, perhaps on music channels such as MTV or an advertisement for the single or album the song features on.
The song “relies on the visual” in order for the song to gain attention,
1993, , Routledge, Sound & Vision- The Music Video Reader, London.
The Theme for this music video was based on the musical genre. The song itself has a back drop of a brass band playing throughout which, like the vocals & the theme of the song as a whole performance ranges in tempo & volume.
The promotional video was intended to depict “modern musical with aspects of everyday life” – Björk- 2003, The Work Of Director Spike Jonze, Palm Pictures.
The verses of the song are in complete contrast to the chorus as they tend to glide along very diminuendo, In keeping with the title of the song, even describing the mood.
“It’s oh so quiet…shh, shh,
It’s oh so still”
It’s Oh So Quiet, Björk, 1994
The song itself, is built up of frequent bouts of excitement, as she sings about it being quiet around her, she breaks out into a raised voice as though she cannot contain her excitement of falling in love when it’s so quiet around her, the brass band pick in volume & speed also with her to enhance this feeling.
The level of performance for each verse is very much in keeping with the intended modern, everyday life vision, as each verse is performed similarly to the monologue of a musical in which, the performance is kept realistic; imitating everyday movements, such as riding a bicycle or walking down a street, up until the change in mood which calls for breakout of song , for example, in musicals such as Grease, the audience will not see the cast , as well as extras, dancing in the street unless the occasion calls for song, which usually forms when a character starts to reminisce or explain a situation.
As this is only a promotional video for a song, the timing is limited & the director has used the verses to separate the big performance moments (Chorus) from those intended to depict reality which are used for the cool down of the verses.
In the beginning of the song, Björk can be seen in a garage, surrounded by tyres, arranged to look like a promotion for customers , this creates a realistic approach for the viewer , yet the tyres are set out in a way that simulates pillars on either side of a walkway, as well as the entrance of the garage.
Björk singing about how quiet it appears to be walks through to the front of the garage where the tyres are positioned, the staff of the garage can be seen in the background getting on with their work, this is seen throughout the video with people walking down the street or even in front of the shot, unaware that the camera is there & making the performance more realistic as though it could actually be happening. While still in the verses, everything seems to move slowly, as if in slow motion emphasising a soft floating feel as Björk sings about the silence & peaceful surroundings.
The mood changes with a short build up to each chorus to create the crescendo of the performance during the chorus; this build up describes the change in surrounding.
“It’s oh so peaceful until…”
&
“…starts another big riot!”
It’s Oh So Quiet, Björk, 1994
The chorus parts of the song show the performance side of musicals as everything becomes almost like living fantasy; a delivery man discards a stack of soft drinks as he dances with the story teller & lifts her onto a car causing the driver to get out & join in the routine with the rest of the passers by. Also the dancing post box which comes to life after Björk leans on it, as well as the dancing pillars outside as she leaps through the street & the man in a suit who suddenly back flips away after she kicks the newspaper stand. This can also be seen in the final shot of the video where the audience can see Dustbins at the side of a building come to life & dance in the background, showing that everything in the presence of the character that Björk is trying to portray becomes involved in the mood of the performance & therefore happens to join in as though it’s a natural occurrence.
Another aspect of making the performance look natural can be seen back in the garage near to the beginning of the song, as Björk dances down the walkway of tyres (entrance of the building) we see mechanics dancing past her which is her main accompaniment, but also we can see a mother dancing with her daughter resulting in a lift as they glide across the front of the shot which suggests that as a whole performance, these same actions may be happening outside the shot & even behind the camera giving that unawareness of the cameras being & that this is out of the ordinary.
The ending shot of this video features a dance routine in the road with the extras seen during the song, the main character (Björk) then starts to levitate imitating the final scene from Grease, during this final scene there is a dramatic crescendo finish as is lifted higher & further away from the dancers in the street emphasising the head-in-the-clouds affect.
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