Unfinished Sympathy - Essay

Explain how representations in music videos are chosen to promote the artist(s). Refer to one of the music videos you have studied to support your answer

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy

The purpose of music videos is to promote the artist to their audience. The representation of Massive Attack in the music video Unfinished Symphony is clearly linked to some sort of heartbreak experience. In the music video the vocalist (Shara) appears oblivious to her surroundings, despite them being shocking. This is attained by filming the vocalist walking down the very urban streets of Los Angeles, along with characters such as paraplegics, gangs, homeless, drunks and vandals. We are presented with a close up at the very beginning of the music video, this then pans out to show a gang following Shara down the street, interestingly on the wall behind the gang is a graffiti tag (PBS). I did some research and found out that PBS stands for Playboys 13 and is a violent, predominantly Hispanic street gang in West, South and East Los Angeles, California. They align themselves with the Mexican Mafia and are notorious for crimes including: Class B Drug Sales, drive-by-shootings, assaults and arms trafficking murder. This emphasises the fact that Shara is heart broken, as she appears to have no cares for the danger around her. The representation of the artist through the production values used in the music video is another way in which the representations of Massive Attack can project the message of the video. In reference to the way the video is filmed, there is only one-shot the whole way through the scene, the purpose of this being that its Massive Attacks's way of portraying how Shara being in her trace like state, is permanent. That there is no changing it and the one shot allows them to show the extent of which she is affected. This suggests that the artist is concerned with issues surrounding relationships and the hardships caused from breakups/ heartbreaks. Interestingly, as the video progresses, first Daddy G, then 3D, having finished making a call on a public phone booth and then Mushroom, who was pushing a cart. Can be seen walking several paces behind her, slightly out of focus This representation is also achieved in a number of ways. The whole scene in terms of mise-en-scene (costume) depict Shara in a full black dress. As we know, black is symbolic for death and mourning in many cultures including our own, and Shara is wearing black to symbolise how she is almost dead on the inside, this is further justified with the song lyrics "How can you have a day without a night" this tells us that she feels incomplete. And the dress shows us her mourning for her loss. The use of camera, in terms of almost the whole music video being a mid shot. The mid shot is chosen because the purpose is to allow the viewer to begin to create a connection with the character and understand them and their motivations.

To conclude, the representations in the music video is directed towards heartbreak. This is apparent in a number of ways in Massive Attacks music video, including the name "Unfinished" which makes a connection to the way people feel after a breakup, almost not whole. As well as "sympathy" which suggests people feel sorry for the time she's going through.