1. Music Video Deconstruction Poison Heart The Ramones (1992,Radioactive Records)

2. Goodwins First Feature Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (egstage performance in metal video, dance routine forboy/girl band). This video obeys this rule well, as the generic videofor punk-rock bands are performance based, but TheRamones also use an injection of story basedelements to back this up. The dark setup of the lighting connotes the idea of theband being slightly darker than some, which isanother common stereotype. 3. The Second Feature There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals(either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting). The song talks of everybody having a poisonedheart, whilst the narrative within the videofocuses on a small boy being corrupted from thepath of God by a strange demonic looking figure(here). This illustrates the idea of the lyrics, andthe use of the young boy connotes that innocenceis easily corrupted when we are little, giving thesong more of a message to it. The repetition of the chorus is often accompaniedwith shots of the narrative sections of thevideo, allowing it to play alongside, or amplify, thelyrics. 4. The Third Feature There is a relationship between music and visuals(whether illustrative, amplifying or contradicting). The flashing light in the video corresponds to themusic to amplify the guitar and drums. This is denotedby the way the light flashes on beat with the drumssometimes, or whenever the guitarist performs acertain riff (see 0:24-0:26 in the video, or next slide). When the chorus or other enthusiastic playing kicksin, the video often illustrates this with showing moreaction on-screen in the narrative, either with theyoung boy struggling or the demon-like creaturefighting back or lashing out. This reflects the beat ofthe music and makes the video seem moreaesthetically pleasing. 5. 0:43 (Demonic Figure)0:24-0:26, bandmember0:19, religious imageryin crosses, priest etc.0:15, band memberclose-up 6. The Fourth Feature The demands of the record label will include the need for lots ofclose-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs whichrecur across their work (a visual style). There are lots of close-ups of the band themselves(here), despite the dark backlighting. These shots are mostly oftheir faces or instruments, highlighting the popularity of certainbrands or showing the viewer what the band looks like, perhapsto promote certain fashion ideas. The song is taken from the album Mondo Bizarro (1992), whichhas a strange album cover that relates to the video in that it usesthe same sort of colours and has the same connotations ofcrazy behaviour or attitudes. 7. The Fifth Feature There is frequently reference to the notion oflooking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc.)and/or particularly voyeuristic treatment of thefemale body. The idea of the demon watching the little boy orfollowing him follows this rule, and connotes anunsavoury feeling about the character. The band also seem to watch the narrativesections sometimes, though this could just bebecause of certain editing techniques such as theeyeline match. 8. The Final Feature There is often intertextual reference (to films, TVprogrammes, other music videos, etc.) The video gives as lot of denotations towardsreligion, (here), possibly the catholic religion, withthe use of crosses, the priest and the demon-likecharacter, connoting a right and wrong style idealwithin the video. It is possible that the video also relates to the filmPet Semetery II directed by Mary Lambert, as itwas used in this film. However, without watchingthe film, the intertextual references are hard topick up on completely. 9. The Video As A Whole Overall, the video is stereotypically mostly performance-based, although it does contain an interesting narrative that prevents the video from being boring. The use of shots of the band promote the band themselves and the ideas of mystery and unique ideas are denoted heavily with the bizarrely staged narrative creating an almost uncomfortable feeling in the audience. This is very generic of punk-rock bands that wanted to stand out and be a little bit different.