Its all very passionate and a great world wide romance until Scarlett betrays a ready to commit Justin by kissing another man’ a man who Justin has left to look after her he obviously got confused about the meaning of ‘looking after’. Justin immediately comes to blows with the other man punching and kicking the living daylights out of him .Thrusting scarlet against the wall violently he’s murmuring things angrily at her .
Scarlett then escapes from his clutch. She runs out from what appears to be a fire exit and into the streets .They both get into there cars Scarletts being a slightly old fashioned sports car and Justin a racy new model sports car .They chase each other onto a main road leading of to a back alley road. This scene is very similar to grand theft auto.
Both cars disappear into smoke .It then shows a close up camera shot of Scarlett in her car with fire reflecting in her eyes whilst a car (who sits in the car is not shown) fly’s over the fire. It is shot from a camera angle which really leaves you thinking about who is in the car .Then it show Justin sat in this car staring into the fire .He then gets out off the car and runs to scarlet who is lying on the floor at this point .The music slows down considerably he holds her in his arms and the video ends.
The video is quite believable due to its complex and detailed imagery
This makes it very real and lifelike to the viewer. A main feature of the video is the intertextual references .Throughout the film there are scenes very similar to famous films and books such as Romeo and Juliet and to fast to furious. The characterisation of scarlet Johansson is very similar to the looks and style of Marilyn Monroe through the film she maintains a mysterious and vexatious.
Most of the video is set in a grand club with a large main stage on witch Justin is singing for the majority of the film. The video has a number of scenes were there is no music just dialogue to enhance the viewers knowledge of the storyline .The end of the music video is set in what appears to be a typical New York back alley in witch the high speed car chase takes place. also a very significant part of the film in situated in a smoky room containing on two sofa and a table on witch Justin scarlet a friend of Justin and two girls are sat on .This is when Justin declares his love for scarlet ‘if you play your cards right you might just get the keys to the castle’ this is also the last time you will see the couple together and happy.
In the video Scarletts costumes reflect her ‘down for whatever with a touch of class’ very well because they are very similar to burlesque dancers dress e.g. revealing and enticing she is also very elegant and wearing her hair in same style through out the video. Justin is always wearing very minimalistic and modern clothing which contrasts greatly with Scarlett. It also creates a mysterious and strange atmosphere as there’s confusion to what era it is actually set in. The majority of the other characters are also dressed in modern clothes which reduce the confusion somewhat, and also adds to the mysteriousness which Scarlett beholds in her costume. In the video there is a lot of imagery to do with circles this is linking to the song name ‘what goes around comes around’.
The video is very similar to a mini film as it has all the characteristics a film should have: special effects, established start middle and ending and a gripping story line. its is made more than just a music video because it is told like a story with several intervals were there is only dialogue not music also it is very long and a lot happens in a short space of time witch is very cleverly put together by the director.
The music video is very well suited to the song, genre of music and artist .this is aided by the intertextual references ,dialogue and by scarlet Johansson her self because Justin choose her to be his idea person to work with on a music video and quite clearly he chose well.
‘The kill’ by thirty seconds to mars;
‘The Kill’ uses very different techniques, which creates an entirely different effect to ‘what goes around comes around’
The narrative for ‘The Kill’ is not as clear as Justin Timberlake, because there isn’t a defined plot but it follows the story of the well known horror movie ‘The Shining’. It starts with the band ’30 Seconds to Mars’ driving to a hotel, which is the same one used as the setting on ‘The Shining’
The band says that they’re going to stay there for three days, and use it as an opportunity to take a break from their busy life’s and relax. They enter the hotel where their keys are ready for them to collect at the front desk, there’s also a note which warns them to stay out of room 6277. They just ignored this and didn’t think it was really important, and all went up to their separate rooms.
Next some text flashes up on the screen reading ‘1 week later’ which is more than the time stated at the beginning. Then there are a few separate shots of members of the band on skateboards, exploring the hotel. One of the members comes across the room with the number 6277 on it, and obviously can’t contain his curiosity so he enters.
Waiting inside is a very seductive and attractive woman who’s just stepped out of the shower and she entices him with a kiss, but when the camera shows a shot of her back, it’s all decomposed and rotting, which implies that she’s some kind of supernatural dead form of life . After this, weird things happen about the hotel, this leads you to think that the room, has unleashed all of its ghosts and strange things happen in the hotel.
It also gives the impression that the band is going very crazy, because there’s a scene where the lead singer is singing to another version of himself. Then the ending scene is where the band is performing at a ball and all of the ghosts that we saw in the hotel are listening to them.
Again, one of the biggest features in the film is the intertextual references. The main one, being the link with the film ‘The Shining’ as the plot and most of the effects are based around this, even the location and costumes at the end are the same.
Another reference was, when the band member spots another version of himself in room 6277 with the ‘bear’ giving him pleasure, the bear combined with the complete insanity of the whole situation is weakly linked with the film ‘Donnie Darko’. This also suggests that the band members are imagining what they most fear.
In addition the scene where the lead singer is throwing his ball up against the wall of the lift entrance in boredom is very similar to a scene in ‘The Great Escape’. In the original Steve McQueen does the same in his prison cell, this could imply that the hotel is a prison for the band and includes negative connotations for the rest of the plot.
A feature which has clearly been carefully planned is the costumes as they differ from person to person gradually throughout the video. When the band first arrives at the hotel, they’re wearing casual clothes, but when horror strikes and the hotel becomes much more than a place to relax, costumes are used to distinguish the band members from their ghosts. The ghosts are wearing very old fashioned tuxedo’s which gives the impression that they’ve been there a long time.
The special effects in this video are used frequently to make it more like ‘The Shining’. The main one is the subliminal images which flash up as corpses. This technique is used in the same way in the shining, except in this video, they flash to the drumming beat to make it more dramatic.
On these images, there’s a lot of imitation blood used to make the corpses look realistic, make up was also used to make them look ghostly and decomposed.
Conclusion;
I feel that ‘What goes around comes around’ is the most successful video in terms of being ‘more than just a music video’ because it tells a great story which the viewer can understand and possibly relate to. Things that make it more of a mini film than a music video are things such as the interesting, contrasting and gripping dialogue, the superb intertextual references shown throughout the film and simply the tragic one hit wonder romance which I felt I could relate to, to a certain degree. Overall both videos are great and its only when you study something as close as we have that you begin to realise that they are far ‘more than just a music video’.
