Artist: Marina & The Diamonds
Title: OH NO!
Director: Kinga Burza
Oh No! by Marina & The Diamonds is directed by Kinga Burza, coincidentally the same director as Quicksand by La Roux. I really like this music video because it’s a complete portrayal of the artist; Marina loves to toy with the idea of “pop” in an ironic way. She completely detests the ideology behind modern pop therefore shooting videos that exaggerate the codes and conventions.
Bright, over-the-top, bubblegum hued colours are a prominent theme throughout the video with bubblegum-pink dresses and boxing gloves, sky blue dresses, gold dresses etc. Marina stays true to her trademark make-up which is a natural base with neon orange lipstick and dark eyes which develops her look and feel.
As Marina was going with the “cheesy pop” theme with this video there aren’t any obscure examples of cinematography, but some examples I really liked were the birds eye views of her and her dancers with Marina looking up directly at the camera, another birds eye shot where marina is laying down in a dress which appears to be a giant dollar bill with real dollars fluttering down at her and a worm eye shot of marina bending over looking shocked.
Editing techniques, as Kinga Burza is apparently famous for, are also utilised in this video. Shots suddenly appear as comic-book-esque style and there are also floating illustrations such as coins and comic-book typeface corresponding to lyrics. There are also repeat cuts, such as the same shot Marina spinning around repeated consecutively to the beat of the song and shots are sometimes reverse in speed motion.
The relationship between the visuals and music is strong; there are dancers in the video wearing various shades of pastel coloured PVC dresses surrounding Marina and a strong pop dance routine that stays throughout the duration of the video. She is also miming the song for the entirely, which compliments the strong conceptual base of the video, along-side the performance based dance routines that cut in and out frequently. The choreography is matched perfectly to the beat as well as the visuals and cuts which is perfect for a pop video. At the beginning, the punches with the boxing gloves are in synch with the beat as well as the comic-book typeface that appears.
This use of comic-book typeface and illustrations has strong intertextuality of 90’s comic-strips as well as the theme of 1990’s television in terms of strong colour, the “cereal-packet-family-lifestyle” and American dream office job (of which an opposition is made clear). Also, her view on consumerism is made clearer a she seductively consumes a dollar-bill sandwich. All of this disagrees with what pop is made out to be; stereotypically superficial. The characteristics of the genre are emphasises to highlight this in a very ironic, contradictive way. The colours are very “bubblegum”, her hair, make-up and costumes are perfect and the locations are very “ideal life”.
The video portrays Marina & The Diamonds perfectly. If you’re looking at this video with analysis in mind, you’ll see clearly that her ideology is anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism. It’s a video with socialist views done in a very playful way but also subtly. If you’re a pop fan, you won’t notice these subliminal messages and focus solely on the ‘pretty colours and playful props’ which I really think both Marina and Burza intended. This is Marina’s trademark stance on music and the industry and is portrayed perfectly in this video which is why there’s such a diverse audience. The reason I like Marina & The Diamonds so much is a mixture of her “anti-modern-society” approach to such a superficial industry but also the fact that I’m guilty of loving a easy-watch video with bright colours and interesting visual effects. This makes me believe that the audience is both children and teens who appreciate the latter and more adult/mature teens who “get” what she’s trying to portray.
Oh No! by Marina & The Diamonds is directed by Kinga Burza, coincidentally the same director as Quicksand by La Roux. I really like this music video because it’s a complete portrayal of the artist; Marina loves to toy with the idea of “pop” in an ironic way. She completely detests the ideology behind modern pop therefore shooting videos that exaggerate the codes and conventions.
Bright, over-the-top, bubblegum hued colours are a prominent theme throughout the video with bubblegum-pink dresses and boxing gloves, sky blue dresses, gold dresses etc. Marina stays true to her trademark make-up which is a natural base with neon orange lipstick and dark eyes which develops her look and feel.
As Marina was going with the “cheesy pop” theme with this video there aren’t any obscure examples of cinematography, but some examples I really liked were the birds eye views of her and her dancers with Marina looking up directly at the camera, another birds eye shot where marina is laying down in a dress which appears to be a giant dollar bill with real dollars fluttering down at her and a worm eye shot of marina bending over looking shocked.
Editing techniques, as Kinga Burza is apparently famous for, are also utilised in this video. Shots suddenly appear as comic-book-esque style and there are also floating illustrations such as coins and comic-book typeface corresponding to lyrics. There are also repeat cuts, such as the same shot Marina spinning around repeated consecutively to the beat of the song and shots are sometimes reverse in speed motion.
The relationship between the visuals and music is strong; there are dancers in the video wearing various shades of pastel coloured PVC dresses surrounding Marina and a strong pop dance routine that stays throughout the duration of the video. She is also miming the song for the entirely, which compliments the strong conceptual base of the video, along-side the performance based dance routines that cut in and out frequently. The choreography is matched perfectly to the beat as well as the visuals and cuts which is perfect for a pop video. At the beginning, the punches with the boxing gloves are in synch with the beat as well as the comic-book typeface that appears.
This use of comic-book typeface and illustrations has strong intertextuality of 90’s comic-strips as well as the theme of 1990’s television in terms of strong colour, the “cereal-packet-family-lifestyle” and American dream office job (of which an opposition is made clear). Also, her view on consumerism is made clearer a she seductively consumes a dollar-bill sandwich. All of this disagrees with what pop is made out to be; stereotypically superficial. The characteristics of the genre are emphasises to highlight this in a very ironic, contradictive way. The colours are very “bubblegum”, her hair, make-up and costumes are perfect and the locations are very “ideal life”.
The video portrays Marina & The Diamonds perfectly. If you’re looking at this video with analysis in mind, you’ll see clearly that her ideology is anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism. It’s a video with socialist views done in a very playful way but also subtly. If you’re a pop fan, you won’t notice these subliminal messages and focus solely on the ‘pretty colours and playful props’ which I really think both Marina and Burza intended. This is Marina’s trademark stance on music and the industry and is portrayed perfectly in this video which is why there’s such a diverse audience. The reason I like Marina & The Diamonds so much is a mixture of her “anti-modern-society” approach to such a superficial industry but also the fact that I’m guilty of loving a easy-watch video with bright colours and interesting visual effects. This makes me believe that the audience is both children and teens who appreciate the latter and more adult/mature teens who “get” what she’s trying to portray.
This double message represents Marina & The Diamonds in two ways; as an artist and as a person. As an artist, Marina is represented in this video as very 'pop' and the bright colours and pop-art visuals present her as a fun, energetic young musician, pulling in a demographic that has already been proved to enjoy elements of music videos like this (such as Britney Spears fans). Alternatively though, audiences that do their research are able to see Marina's self-representation which is quite tongue in cheek- this definitely draws in an older, maybe more political fanbase in a light-hearted manner.
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