Grain of Voice and Synaesthesia

Roland Barthes' theory: 'Grain of Voice'

This sees the singing voice as an expressive instrument, unique and self-identifying; like a 'fingerprint' to the artist. The vocal grain of a song may even possess trademarks that incorporate the star's image, for example: Michael Jackson's yelp, Kurt Cobain's melancholy strained howl, Janis Joplin's alluring and bluesy soul, etc. Moreover, the grain of voice can be viewed as the signature mark of an artist, as it is able to create associations within itself and can be represented through the visual style of music video.

Liam Gallagher's distinct Mancunian rock and roll vocal lends itself to mesh perfectly with the star's 'working-class hero' image and controversial, rebellious persona. The Oasis frontman's voice is one of the most recognisable in modern British music, with his vocal style having been compared to 'a mix of John Lennon and John Lydon.'

Synaesthesia

The psychological process of synaesthesia enables one to visualise images from sounds. This idea is critically central to understanding the abstract nature of music video; building on the song's visual associations in order to connect with the audience and provide additional pleasure.

Once the 'stacked' elements that stem from the different musical instruments are fully appreciated, they can be used to create a variety of 'shapes'/'motifs' within the music. In essence, each shape can be used to trigger an editing point/series of editing points and as a directional guideline to determine how the camera could be moved. The elements of music (instrumentation, structure, dynamics, texture, mix, effects, etc) work with the grain of voice and lyrics to create visual associations. These visual images that are born from the sounds of popular music may originate from pop-culture imagery (intertextuality), shared cultural history or alternatively, could reflect a more personal mini-narrative.

Kasabian's 'Days Are Forgotten' portrays animated visualisations of geometric shapes and lines similar to those generated by electronic music visualisers and media player software. For example, the simulation of an oscilloscope display surrounds the band whilst they're performing, emphasising the high energy and frequency of the music, also suggesting the band and audience become trapped within a circulating soundscape of music.

 

The White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army' consists of one continuous shot through a kaleidoscope tunnel of mirrored black, white and red triangles. As the pace of the song increases, the speed that one triangle passes through the tunnel speeds up and as it decreases, the speed through the tunnel slows in unison. When the song's dynamics begin to intensify, strobe lights surrounding the triangles flash and other effects build up as well to imitate the gradual crescendo of the music.