I got her for Christmas my fourth grade year, only it was Christmas, it was February when I got her. She is a life-sized stuffed golden retriever now appropriately named "Latesy." She weighs much less than a real golden retriever, only five pounds or so, but looks quite lifelike. Her position is laying down, paws extended forward and hindlegs resting lazily to the side. Her head is erect, though, and she has a bright look in her face. The black outline around her mouth is revealed through her large smile, which also exposes her bright pink tongue. The texture of her fur is also quite nice. It's as if the toy maker sewed actually hair into the fabric that made up light buttery-cream colored stuffed dog.
Since she was a gift from my grandparents, she was even more special. Latesy always had precedence over any of my other hundred or so stuffed animals. She took over my bed, as she preferred sleeping next to me with no other animals allowed. She also got to sit at the dinner table, watch TV in the comfy recliner, and ride next to me in the car. As I grew she never became less important. Constantly Latesy demanded to be the queen of all stuffed animals. Eventually though she was replaced on the bed by a basketball, track tights, softball gloves, and volleyball kneepads. Latesy had to take her spot on the floor for once, but that too became crowded. Sometimes I can hear her demanding some attention, as most dogs tend to do, so I will allow her to come sleep in the bed, her soft fur always a comfort after a long day with the basketball. Although she now resides in the corner of my room, she will always be the most important stuffed animal in the house.
For nineteen years, the Wurlitzer in my living room has been a constant source of musical companionship. It is a small, upright piano, but holds many musical secrets. Songs ranging from "Amazing Grace" to "Fur Elise" have been produced by the eighty-eight ebony and ivory keys that make up the keyboard. They are slick, slightly rounded, perfect for precision and ease of playing. Currently, the low C string is snapped, leaving only a dull plunking sound when this key is played. The A above middle C sticks slightly and some of the lower keys buzz, but they add to the character of this old instrument.
The dull medium colored wood has been polished, and gives off a deep sheen when the low light of the piano lamp dances off it. It sets the perfect mood for a few hours of music making. Along the lid are pictures of family portraits ranging from the early 1900's up till the present. The music stand, most likely not originally with the piano, has a golden eagle fused to it. It usually sits, heavily laden with books and sheets of music. The piano bench perfectly matches the piano itself with the glossy sheen on all surfaces. The bench, like the piano, has seen much wear. It is beginning to bottom out, so full of music the staples and nails can no longer bear the weight.
This piano is a source of delight for many users, but now that I'm at college it sits dormant for weeks at a time. Whenever I go home and walk into the living room I see it begging for someone to spend some time with it, to wipe off the dust that has begun to collect and produce melodies to fill the house. So I will oblige and spend three to four hours at a time with my Wurlitzer, my friend.
The hot new craze--the Nintendo 64--was upon all gamers in early 1996. A small gray box holding hours and hours of gaming pleasure was now below the TV in many homes, including mine. Of course there was a struggle over which color of controller was best. They came in a variety of colors, all of which my console has seen. The generic gray seemed to work the best. The bright green, blue, yellow, and red buttons were clearly visible for optimum reaction speed when trying to destroy mushrooms in Super Mario 64. The three handled design played a versitile role for steering, depending on personal preference. Some other popular controllers are the solid red--fine if the user doesn't need to find the start button. The transparent green is also popular, but when trying to find the "B" button in Super Smash Brothers, the blending of the green colors slows down reaction time, making it ineffective when Pikachu needs to use "thunderbolt." All of these controllers were connected to the evenly spaced plug-ins located on the face of the game system. In the middle, there is an arch with the "N" logo strategically placed in its 3-D design. Behind this arch lies the game slot. Many games have seen time here. The 2.5 x 4 inch games used in the N64 system are archaic compared to the tiny CD's used in the new-fangled Wii's, but hold a sort of nostalgic place to many gamers. The curved, arching design replicates that of the game system itself, making a complete look when the game is inserted.
Diddy Kong Racing was a popular one for many first and second graders such as myself. Each character brought something different to the race--steering ability, speed, and agility being some of the more popular. It's always a competition to see who can select Turtle as their character first as soon as the character selection screen appears. The other three players' performance is undoubtedly affected by this important selection. From this point a variety of courses are offered, one is selected, and the games begin!
This clip uses pathos to draw the viewer in and actually feel what the song means. This is accomplished by drawing from the ethos of the movie it incorporates within it. Twilight has been established as a huge best-selling book and now a box office hit. The use of Twilight clips within Paramore's music video helps give credibility to the relationship that is being described by the lyrics of the song. It helps the viewer or listener actually picture what they are singing about because the Twilight story gives background information to understanding the lyrics that the lyrics themselves cannot say. This use of ethos will also help Paramore to sell more records with "Decode" on it because Twilight fans will associate it with the movie.
Pathos probably is the strongest rhetorical appeal to the music video. It uses a lot of artistic camera angles and effects. This all plays together to set a particular mood to the video. It is trying to invoke feelings of mystery mixed with confusion about a relationship. The lyrics are hidden with feelings of pain about the relationship not working out, and the way this is portrayed on the band member's faces is very evident. Likewise, Twilight is a very emotional book. This emotional connection of the two main characters' relationship will echo the feelings being given off by the lyrics, adding to the effect it will have on the audience. The feelings of mystery are shown by the way the band members try and recreate the images of the bad vampires in the way they walk, move, and hunt. This combination of emotions all build on each other, making the emotional feeling a viewer would get from the video very strong.
The scene opens with an aerial view of a mountain scene in Washington state. It shows the green tips of evergreens high above a river with low hanging fog creeping in the top of the screen. The fogginess gives an air of mystery to the video, which helps set the tone for rest of the song. This first image is a clip from the movie "Twilight," but the rest of the video parallels this. It cuts to a similar shot of a dark green forest, but here a guitar can be seen with the hand of the guitarist producing the music. The video then takes quick shots from different angles of the band, showing them with mysterious looks on each of their faces. Suddenly embedded within the quick camera shots of the band, a clip from "Twilight" is thrown in. It has the two main characters, Edward and Bella, perched high up in one of the original evergreens in the first shot. The evergreens remain a constant symbol of being in a dark, moist, spooky forest in both the music video of Paramore and the film Twilight.
The way the band members are portrayed is very similar to the way the vampires in the movie. One clip shoes three vampires gliding quickly the forest. They are walking, but also appear to be on a moving sidewalk their movement is so fluid. The lead singer is also shown with this same type of technique. In some shots it appears as though she, along with the camera are gliding swiftly backward through the forest. There are even more movements and camera shots that parallel the movie. There are clips that show the vampires moving quickly, as though trying to catch some prey. The video will the suddenly cut to a camera angle where it appears that the camera is in the eye of the running vampire. It is shaky and moves quickly as it weaves through the trees, almost as if it is in fast forward. Members of Paramore are also often depicted running around trees, looking like the vampires themselves, which adds to the mysteriousness.
The final part of the video brings the climax. As they hit the bridge and go into the last chorus, the music begins to speed up. The band gets more excited and into their music. The clips from "Twilight," at this point, cut to the most violent, exciting scenes of fighting and running. The vampire James is on the hunt, adding anticipation. One scene shows Edward and Bella fleeing for Bella's life, driving at fast speeds down the road. Final act of danger is a fight scene in a ballet studio. People are thrown around, and it is very dark, giving this part of the movie the most drama.
2.) The video does a very good job of relation a very popular movie to a song. Not only does it give the movie some good background music, but it helps promote the band Paramore. In one way the band could be seen as trying to be like the "bad" vampires in the movie. Their actions, gestures, and different scenes related very much to the scenes in the movie with the vampires. The lead singer could be related to Victoria, the red-headed vampire with a huge attitude. The member that is shown creeping behind trees would be related to James the hunter. The way he moves gives off that aura. This technique of trying to be like the movie will hopefully help them sell records, since "Twilight" is a wildly popular book and movie, and the audiences who would read the book are likely the audiences who would be listening to music like Paramore.
Although they relate to the bad vampires, the music's actual lyrics relate more to the protagonists--Edward and Bella. The lyrics are fairly hopeless, and deal with he star-crossed lovers: "There is something I see in you. It might kill me. I want it to be true." Throughout the film, the two struggle with the fact that Edward wants to kill Bella, yet they are so in love that it doesn't matter.
The idea of taking Twilight and trying to relate a style to it not only was tried by Paramore, but amateurs took on trying to recreate this film. Some students made a spoof of the Twilight trailer, but they were basically doing the same things as Paramore--trying to recreate the popular film to heighten their popularity.
I got her for Christmas my fourth grade year, only it was Christmas, it was February when I got her. She is a life-sized stuffed golden retriever now appropriately named "Latesy." She weighs much less than a real golden retriever, only five pounds or so, but looks quite lifelike. Her position is laying down, paws extended forward and hindlegs resting lazily to the side. Her head is erect, though, and she has a bright look in her face. The black outline around her mouth is revealed through her large smile, which also exposes her bright pink tongue. The texture of her fur is also quite nice. It's as if the toy maker sewed actually hair into the fabric that made up light buttery-cream colored stuffed dog.
