Sóley – Halloween “Halloween” was composed by Soley who is an Icelandic singer/songwriter, this song was taken from her album ‘Ask the Deep’ which is to be released later in 2015. She explores sounds using organs, synths and crooning melodies to form as dissonant, minor key sound.This song is known as indie folk/ indie pop with experimental aspects to her work.This music video was directed by Máni Sigfússon . Máni Sigfússon is based in Iceland and makes experimental, dark music videos and has made videos for Sin Fang – Look at the night and Ulfur – Black shore. As both Soley and Sifgusson are independent, there isn’t much feedback from critics however from the various articles on websites such as strereogum, the reviews seem positive. One of Andrew Goodwin’s theories for a music video states the music video must demonstrate genre characteristics, one of the features of indie pop is the use of narrative alongside of performance which uses a theme. This will usually explain the story behind the lyrics however as Soley is very experimental with her work, she slightly goes off this convention and uses a performance theme with a narrative with a deeper meaning behind the images. As the song is named ‘Halloween’ the music video has an eerie, dark atmosphere to it; using low key lighting throughout and different experimental lighting throughout the video – this is done by changing the natural lighting to different colours. For example, the shots of the kitchen show a harsh red light coming through the windows. This video focuses on the imagery in which the lyrics try and create in the minds eye to suit the haunting music which Soley creates. The music feels quite like shoe-gaze and conventions of this tend to stay quite natural with images of nature as of the feeling that the music gives off which is quite dreamy. The also rely on the mise-en-scene to create the effect and feeling which they are hoping for. In this they have dressed Soley up to look quite mystical and ill so that it makes the audience feel slightly uncomfortable.

The colour of this shot makes the imagery seem quite unreal and gives off a thriller feel.

The red colours distort the imagery to make it not look like a normal room in house.

The second theme the Goodwin states is that the music video shows a relationship between the lyrics and visuals (it illustrates, amplifies and contradicts.)Within the lyrics, Soley writes “shadows open up their eyes” by stating shadows, she may mean a deeper meaning like the souls of the dead as the lyrics seem to focus on a melancholy feel relating to war, death and ghosts. There’s an image of a dark house with a ebony black silhouette in the room in front moving ever so slightly in the distance giving off a chilling feel. Later in the song she also states “laughing nightmares float away” and “the ghost ship sails away from this dream.” So this image fits best with the feeling with the paranormal. Including in this there’s also visuals of abandoned buildings which seem to symbolize the ship wreck; this also relates to the first and final shot of the long shot of the sea with the words “preparing their long way to shore”, the lights in the distance may be there to symbolize the people/children lost at war which all seems like a nightmare which she want’s to wake up from as she repeatedly sings, “tell me how can I wake up again?”The whole video seems to be a symbol for war and abandonment as referring to as a nightmare, it shows the real dangers of nature which shows the images of the waterfall and waters of the shore. I also really like the effect of the overlapping wallpaper and flowers on Soley’s face. This also gives the impression of nature as of the beauty of the flowers even though with the effects they have used, it makes them feel somber and dark.

The next theory states there must be a relationship with the music and visuals. The music written in a minor key with a slow tempo, this has affected the pace of edit to also be slow and long shots. The shots of imagery always change when the chord changes on the synth to the original key in which it began with. They have also used slow motion on the waves scene so that they aren’t moving at a quicker pace than the music. Within shoe-gaze and indie music, the music videos seem to carry on a theme throughout the video but very subtly. There is a relationship with the title and video in an artistic sense as of the visuals created, it’s called ‘Halloween’ and throughout you see that the mise-en-scene suits this theme by creating a sense of horror and dressing Soley up with the different eerie figures which appear in the video. Halloween is based on remembering the dead: saints (hallows), martyrs and all the faithful departed believers. Therefore by looking at the lyrics on the previous slide you can see the apparent relationship with the horror film like visuals with the music and the overall meaning of it.

The record label also focuses on the lead singer in music videos using close ups and motifs. Within this music video, Soley is the composer so she is focused upon but she is recognized in an unusual way throughout the video as she is dressed up and in an eerie, dark setting. There’s also the use of lip singing to show the audience that it is her singing. All of the unusual figures all seem to be Soley but covered up too, she is seen in the kitchen, living room, on top of abandoned building and at the end of a pier (using long shots with a slight zoom in). Even though the shots are very slow and long, are are never fully still; they are always zooming in or turning towards the right. It’s shrouded in black, with Soley posing amidst various moody, stunning natural landscapes which is edited to look 3 dimensional. By using her throughout the video, it helps familiarize the fans and can help new audience recognize her work in the future. Since there aren’t many music videos like this, it also gives her an authentic, different style to many other artists which may help people recognize her by. Morr Music released the song, they are an independent music record label based in Berlin, Germany, it was founded in 1999 by Thomas Morr. The label fall into intelligent dance music, electronica and dream pop. The focus on both the aural and visual elements of this label’s released and through Soley’s work, you can can this is prevalent. These genres tend to appeal to pop, dance and rock fans so through the music videos they may use elements and conventions which may be used in these. Within this music video, the convention of pop music is the focus on the lead singer but not in a sexual way.

The next theory states that there may be frequent references to the notion of looking, within the music industry, the treatment of females is a large convention of this at it tends to sexualize them and highlight the stereotypes of both genders. As this song falls under dream pop/indie pop, this doesn’t apply as much as it tends to focus on visual imagery and the art of the music video with inclusions of the artist. This is prevalent in the music video as Soley is included in the full video but used subtly as she is dressed up creating the Halloween feel and following the similarities of the lyrics and visuals in the video. This theory may apply to people who are interested in art as the notion of looking will appeal to them when looking at all the visuals created by the director. Especially in this video, the director included gothic imagery of landscapes and explores many different textures by overlapping them.

The sixth hypothesis is that there must be an intertextual reference (to a film, or tv). Within this music video, the director has created a dark setting like they would in a horror or thriller film with the use of low key lighting and unique, odd visuals which create a quite somber mood. This music video may have been influenced by original horror movies such as The Haunted Castle (1896) and Dracula.

Goodwin’s final theory was that the video is primarily based on performance: either narrative based, concept or both and how this element of each is used within the music video. Due to its vast explanations and theories of the video and the lyrics, the music video is mainly performance based. It may have a narrative but it’s very ambiguous and not simple to understand.