Can't Stop music video analysis

Name of video: Can't stop

Year released: 2002

Record label: Warner Bros

Album:

Style of music video (narrative, performance or abstract):

The Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Can't Stop’ video clearly has multiple objectives. The first obvious one is to promote the song by making a video that attracts a larger audience to create interest in buying/listening to their music. The second is to show off their artistic side, the whole video is a direct intertextual reference to Erwin Wurm’s ‘One-Minute Sculptures’ project, (a pastiche) where they re-created his works to reuse in their video . The main theme being playfulness, use of ironic humor and carefree attitude is a common feature of bands like the Chilli Peppers. Mention how this is an ideological value that will influence your own video and work to help you better connect with your audience and let it consume you in one grand narrative, but to escape this and live how you intend. As the lead singer, Anthony Kiedis sings “Life is more than just a read-through”.

Original project (bottom) Bands interpretation (top)

The editing techniques generally used in 'Can't Stop' is very fast paced and choppy, including many close ups, mid and full shots of the band members throughout the video, especially on the lead singer. This is a technique generally used by producers to establish the band and singer to create connections between the members and the viewer and so that they can get a grasp on the band's hectic erratic and often eccentric behavior the band is famous for and the main atmosphere of the song. The video contains many long shots which helps establish the scenes and setting, used to give the audience context.Throughout the video, the camera cuts from one shot to another creating a playful and hectic environment inconsistent and unpredictable flow of images in order to engage the audience and create an experience. This is used to portray the fast past life of such artists. Most of the angles that are used throughout the music video are at eye level which makes the audience feel like they are with the band and as part of the video and does not create any inferiority or superiority with the band making the band seem humble and adds to the down to earth nature of the video.

This music video has features of both a performance based style mixed in with an abstract way of storytelling with actions performed to confuse the viewer and keep them engaged. The Red Hot Chili Peppers feature key characteristics of a typical rock band as due to their appearance, with long frizzy dyed hair, tattoos and often appearing with their instrument. This helps portray the genre of the song that they are listening to along with allowing the viewer to understand the genre of the music video and the type of band that they are .The video is mainly shot in bright natural light with a general pop of colors in the band members clothing, the props and the surrounding environment challenging typical video stereotypes of alternative rock video which are generally filmed in quite dark and gloomy settings as their music is usually raw and energetic. However, the use of a brighter color palette could suggest

the band's more humble approach, likely to indicate that they could be considered cheeky, self mocking, and happy to make fun of themselves. Not somber, solemn or earnest as with many rock groups.es, this brings across a genuine image for the band that keeps the audience engaged as they feel as if they may relate if they also enjoy their music. This video sets the Chili Peppers apart from other artists due to its unique style and raw style which was different from typical narrative and performance based videos of its time. Throughout this era, the audience was very familiar with performance based videos and became accustomed to certain codes and conventions to create meaning but the Red Hot chili Peppers subverted typical features of performance based videos (typically just a collection of shots and movements of the members) by adding their own style In the music video, the lead singer in the band (Anthony Kiedis) is lip-syncing to the song as the atypical abstract narrative continues. This is a typical convention of a rock music video.

Goodwin's Theory on genre is present throughout this music video as it used the stereotypical elements of a rock music video as it shows the band playing their instruments and singing, them with their tattoo's and their hairstyles as well as them doing stupid crazy things in the video as they are shown to be in their genre characteristics. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals within the music video as the pace of the camera shots increases towards the build up of the chorus and the chorus itself so it adds effect for the audience and to show the link between the song and the music video. - i used this while developing my music by using stereotypical connotations of genre to portray a message to the audience. Within the video, the main singer in the Red Hot Chili Peppers is shown with a fisheye in the appearance of a mirror or peep hole from within shops which is a frequent reference to motion of looking which is part of Goodwin's theory and it in this music video.

Who is the target audience for this promotional video?

This music video is aimed towards rock fans. Although it can be aimed towards a certain age group (20s-30s and maybe 50-60s as there are still many older fans due to the period the song was released) and is made in a way that, the closer you are with the band, the more you would hypothetically enjoy it as the band creates characters for themselves that reflect the member themselves so fans can recognize their typical actions and personalities.There are also many comedic gestures in the video that appeal towards fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This type of music video is also made to inspire people to create and show their own interpretations of music and media.

In this video the Red Hot Chilli Peppers are portrayed as being rather energetic, and suggesting they have a rather chaotic and full lifestyle. It also sets the Peppers apart from other bands and videos with their different approach. They were able to explain a concept of art through their video which was very different from many bands and artists of the time.

Most shots used in the music video contain hermeneutic codes as the band leaves the interpretation of the video up to the viewer and does not explain it or provide a basis of understanding which is a typical postmodern feature. as said by Dominic Strinati.He argues that a postmodern reality now incorporate art in the form of media and that all media is what you make of it and your interpretation, which the red hot chili peppers were able to portray greatly in their video by creating narratives that are meant to be seen differently and interpreted. Postmodern features can be seen

Can't stop can be seen as both conventional due to the high energy performing aspect but also subverts common stereotypes such as the use of bright natural light with a general pop of colors in the band members clothing, the props and the surrounding environment which generally strays away from the typical features of an alternative rock video which are generally filmed in quite dark and gloomy settings as their music is usually raw and energetic

This video features many examples of intertextuality, the whole video is inspired by ‘One-Minute Sculptures’ by Erwin Wurm and the main parts of the video include both the band and Erwin recreating some of his work and also adding a comedic twist. This allows the band to show their artistic and creative sides .In the opening of the video, we can see the lead singer's head in a long yellow pipe which closely resembles the Loony Toons logo where Bugs Bunnys head is seen in a similar but red pipe. This is done as the Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s are with Warner Bros record label,and Bugs Bunny was created by Warner Bros.

Nearly everything that happens in this music video fits the music. At the very beginning we have the build up of the song which in the visuals show the lead singer going through a tunnel, and as the song starts so does the next scene of the video. There are also many visual and editorial effects as the bass drum hits create harsh and sudden jumps which fits with the energetic style of the song , for example; the lead singer jumping up in the mirror at 0:46 which provides an external fisheye effect. Again this happens on a larger scale between 1:13 – 1:16, with 3 different shots of things being dropped on the floor at the same time as the beat Not just cutting in time to the beat but choreographing action and movement in a way that adds complexity and harmony somewhat like a dance. Later, as the music slows down,so does the visuals, this can be seen at 2:40 – 3:20. After this it then builds up into a big drop with a build up of visuals, props used and overall tension in the music. As the song drops back in, many pink balls are then dropped onto the lead singer's head. At the very end of the video, it ends back where it starts with the lead singer at the end of the tunnel but suddenly the camera swiftly pushes back through the tunnel away from the lead singer, and as this happens the music fades out.