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Comparison of Unfinished Sympathy and Burn the Witch

Unfinished sympathy and Burn the witch show some similarities and differences throughout their videos. Their videos both appeal to their genres, which are mainstream for Unfinished Sympathy and urban for Burn the Witch, as Unfinished sympathy focuses on their singer Shara Nelson whereas Burn the Witch offers a more theatrical element, as it is based around the film Burn the Witch, so it's like a performance, especially with the clay figures.


The song Unfinished Sympathy originated with the man who wrote the melody for the song, and recorded it, Nelson, and the producer Jonny Dollar. They were later joined by other members of the group who built on top of their recording. The song's strings contributed a 40-piece live string section, and the song is about love, whereas the video focuses more on urban street life. This shows the audience that the artists of Massive Attack do not care about status and they believe everyone is equal.
All of the members of Massive Attack feature in the music video, however they aren't all noticeable as they are background people who fit into the setting of the music video. They're all being represented as normal people who have been brought up through street life, following the urban style. The main singer, Shara Nelson, is filmed whilst she is walking down the streets which shows the audience of what street life is like from wide angled view. She also uses a lot of facial expressions when she is singing which implies to the audience that they are very passionate about their lyrics and the message they are putting across. Her facial expressions used implies that she actually cares about what she is saying. The lyrics mean something to her and the band making it more personal. The band members walking down the street during the music video show that they are not judging anyone living in a poorer community, and that even if their lives are very different to other's, they still enjoy their time.
An example of how they don't care about money or classes from the music video would be that they are not wearing flashy designer clothes compared to most other music videos. Some artists are typically more bothered about their appearance rather than the lyrics and the message they are sending to their audience through the song, or if they do they make sure that in the video their appearance is stronger then the true meanings of the song. The band are just wearing ordinary clothes and act like they are ordinary people, showing that they don’t need to look the part to achieve a higher status.


We then see in the music video Daddy G holding his sons hand. This represents the artists as people who are loving and caring people who are close with their family members. This also shows that as a family they are not ashamed to walk down the streets of their hometown. The audience would appreciate the band even more as they are sharing a song that is personal to them. This gives meaning to their music and represents the artists as people who are not all about the fame.


Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke, Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway, and brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood. They have been together since 1985 and have worked with producer Nigel Godrich and cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. 
The band is known for their different style of rock music.
They portray themselves to be alternative in their photos and videos by conveying an abstract and individual tone. Their videos are detailed yet differ from each other, for example the video for 'Creep' shows the band singing in a live portrayal of performance however 'Lift' is a performance video and shows the main singer in a lift encountering different scenes and people. 

The video shows similarities to the Trumpton triology and the Wicker man.
Virpi Kettu, discussed the motives behind “Burn the Witch”. Interestingly, she believes the video was intended to be happier than the song. “They wanted the video to contrast with what they’re playing and to wake people up a bit,” Kettu explained.
Lyrically, Yorke is typically poetically vague. “Stay in the shadows, cheer at the gallows,” he begins, as the song whirs into life. “This is a round-up, this is a low-flying panic attack.”

                                     

Firstly one difference between the two videos is that Unfinished sympathy uses actual people and focuses on Shara Nelson whereas Burn the witch uses clay made figures in the form of the Trumptonshire triology. Nelson is shown walking down the street in LA which appears rather violent due to the gang members, graffiti, rubbish, the boy with a toy gun and multiple other characters. This can relate to Burn the witch as the entire video relates to an inspector viewing the eeire village and finally being burnt in a wooden structure which connotes the film 'The wicker man'.





Massive Attack uses their music video for 'Unfinished Sympathy' to represent street life in a an urban setting. They use natural lighting to indicate to us that everything that is happening in the background of the video is actually all based off real, natural events, even if it is being staged for the purpose of the video.

The camera starts of by focusing on two steal balls, that are being rolled around in a gang-member's hand. They're making a small 'clanging' sound and as the camera zooms out of the close up shot, we are shown a dog wearing sunglasses. Stereotypically, the gang's dog is on a chain and has a studded collar, which a lot of people would picture if given a brief description of a 'street' dog. The group the dog is with is clearly a gang, who are all dressed like 'bikers' and drinking beer in the street.

As the main character walks down the street, all we can see is litter in the gutters and drains. This reflects urban life to be disrespectful, and shows us they're brought up without many rules, boundaries or restrictions.


The structure of the videos also differ. Burn the witch follows a cyclical plot as it beings with a blue bird in a tree at the start then ends with the same bird but also the inspector that got burnt. There is constant reference to 'The wicker man' in the video as we are taken around the village in the video observing multiple scenes such as men in masks with swords dancing around a woman strapped to a tree. Unfinished Sympathy however begins with Nelson walking in the street and the camera pans round her till it is in front of her and uses the same tracking shot until the end where Nelson walks off from the camera.


Overall these videos are different from each other due to their genre and also their camera work and structure.


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