Music Video Analysis

Song: “Oh No”

Music Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr-SqRWImmI

Song Lyrics Link:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/marinathediamonds/ohno.html

Artist: Marina and the Diamonds (2005-present)

Director: Kinga Burza

Writer: Marina Diamandis & Greg Kurstin

Producer: Greg Kurstin

Composer: Marina and the Diamonds

Genre: Indie pop/ New wave

Length: 3:02

Country: Wales

Release: 2nd August 2010

Labels: 302

Narrative:The narrative structures around “Marina” and how she wants neither to be materialistic nor to be famous; but she wants to “make a change”, that begin in either herself or the world making a social commentary.

Burza said, “The concept of the video stems from the lyrics of "Oh No" which reference being obsessed with consumerism, success, money and fame.”

The videos visuals juxtapose what she says though; there are moments when she is showered in dollars and when she is working as an accountant joyfully creating money. So which is the real aspiration of Marina?The theme of the music video shows elements of 1990’s cartoons and comic books such as “Spiderman” and “The X-Men”. Which adds quirkiness to both Marina and the video’s presentation.

Star Image:

A self-described "DIY musician" and "indie artist with pop goals", Diamandis considers her music to be "alternate pop”. Whereas The Family Jewels incorporated prominent elements of new wave music, Electra Heart was heavily inspired by electro pop musical styles.”Diamandis is notable for her "experimental" clothing; she has described her fashion styles as "vintage, cheerleader and cartoon"

Relation of visuals to song & thought beats and technical aspects of the music video:

The sequence opens in a long shot with a yellow floor and red curtains behind Marina. She is dressed in a pink cheerleader style dress with golden high heals and pink boxing gloves. She is posting in a boxers stance as lenses flares show off the shot. As the beats begin she starts to punch in tandem with the beat of the drums. As she does this comic book style “OH-NO!” and a drawn kiss appears and floats. The music starts of with the diegetic instrumental introduction as the synchronous music matches her actions.

The shot changes to a bight blue office where Marina is reading an issue of “OH-NO!” magazine with the headline “I just want to change”. Marina’s hair is reminiscent to the beehive hair cut from the 60’s, the office is revealed and it is covered in extraordinarily large telephones, books and a typewriter. When she sings I’m only after success a comic book styled “money pie” emerges in a thought bubble. For a split second when the thought beat kick is again it cuts to marina spamming the typewriter and thousands of golden illustrated coins and bars pile up before it quickly cuts away. She looks into the camera and another illustrated thought bubble appears with a heart thumping indie of it and when she says “don’t need a relationship” the thought heart goes “pop”.

It cuts to a medium shot back the red curtains and others girls wearing pink yellow and blue dresses with multi-color “OH”’s on their faces. When she sings “I’ll never soften ma grip” she makes another boxing gesture though this time she is without the gloves.

Again with the though beats; it cuts way to Marina with a golden background as she wears a golden sequin shirt with golden teeth as she smacks a “wad of cash” against her other hand as she laughs almost hysterically into the camera. For a slip second it cuts back to the red curtains with the women posing in a long shot and then cuts back to a medium close up of Marina smacking the “wad of cash” with “KA-CHING!” around her head. After this point the pace of editing really speeds up and it quickly jump cuts though the continuity still runs through with every change in scene. After the “KA-CHING!” it cuts back to a medium shot of Marina (with elements of rule of thirds showing with her in the middle so eyes focus instantly on her) at the red curtains with dancing going on behind her. During the second verse in which she sings:

“Don't want cash, don't want cardWant it fast, want it hardDon't need money, don't need fame

I just want to make a changeI just wanna change [5x]”

As this happens the pervious scenes in the music videos quickly show up to speak (sometimes at the same time). When she sings, “don’t want cash” she makes a gesture of pushing her hand to the side as if to say she’s not interested. When she says “want it fast” a illustrated race car zips past the screen and makes a shocked expression when she see’s something in her newspaper that makes her exclaim in a speech bubble “oh my gawd!”. The actions in the music video seem to take the lyrics very literally in acting them out to convey to the audience. This continues as she takes a money gesture by rubbing her index, middle and thumbs together as each of the dancers stand us straight next to her each with illustrated currency on them (e.g £,$,€ & ¥), when she says the doesn’t need cash the currency drops and so does the dancers and for “I don’t need fame” she makes a pose and a newspaper monotone like freeze-frame stays on screen. When the chorus kicks in it cuts to multiple shots of her waving her hands around and her tone changes becoming more serious. To at least 0:40 when she see’s something in the newspaper that changes into an illustration and zooms in on her horrified expression. These themes continue throughout the video with the actions and thought beats, matching the rhythm of the song and remain bubbly despite the lyrics getting a bit heavy at times especially for the last verse though the video remains quirky upbeat throughout like many synthpop songs.