The GazettE - 'DIM' Album Cover Analysis

On this album cover, the focal point is in the middle of the image, as the background isn’t quite as important. Thus, the vast majority of one’s attention is drawn to the focal point.

This cover shows a dark, cloudy sky, which I am thinking of doing on my album’s digipak. I am also considering having my album cover’s focal point in the centre of the cover.

The GazettE - 'Cassis' Analysis

This music video begins with the rhythm and acoustic guitarist, Aoi, playing his acoustic guitar, with an old-looking stone wall behind him. After the acoustic intro, we see the band standing together on a field. They then turn from each other and walk off in different directions -- this could be a visual metaphor for a man’s heart “breaking” due to his separation from the woman whom he loves. After separating, each band member goes to a different place in and around what we assume to be a mansion, but not together. Thus, they are still separated. The old-looking mansion in the video could represent the man’s love for the woman; he’s loved her for a long time. However, later in the video, the band are performing together in a different room -- with this room being the performance room, the implication could be that they are together in spirit. Finally, the video ends with all of the band members standing together on the field, again; the heart was pieced back together. However, the band then begins to walk toward the camera, and, consequentially, away from the mansion. Them walking away from the mansion could imply that the heart has “moved on”, and is no longer longing to be “reunited” with the heart of the woman, or something of the like.

Some of the lyrics in ‘Cassis’ are, ‘I will walk together’; this further implies that each band member represents a piece of the man’s heart, as the lyrics do not mean “I will walk together with you”, but they mean “I will walk with my heart fully pieced together”. The lexical choice of ‘together’ is implying “whole”, not “with companions”.

In conclusion, the music video is very well “thought out”, and is a complex extended metaphor to the point at which each of the band members represent something.

The GazettE - 'Reila' Highlight

I really like the use of focus in the music video for the song, ‘Reila’, by The GazettE. Throughout the guitar solo, specifically, the shot constantly changes from in-focus to out-of-focus. However, this is not entirely (possibly not at all) done by using the camera lens’ focus tool. It looks as though the blurriness was achieved with the use of a post-production editing package. Adobe After Effects’ ‘Blur’ tools could have been used.

This effect is a simple effect, and easy to achieve, but it looks very nice and adds “texture” to shots.

(Skip to '3:10' for the guitar solo; finishes at '4:20')

The GazettE - 'The Invisible Wall' Inter-Textual Reference

In The GazettE’s music video for ‘The Invisible Wall’ (left screen-shot), they include an inter-textual reference to ‘Kill Bill’ (right screen-shot). This is executed through their use of a traditional Japanese sliding door, blue “colour correction”, and a silhouette created by the lighting and the door. The GazettE’s music video is heavily influenced by traditional Japanese culture - they are also a Japanese band - whilst ‘Kill Bill’ is also influenced by this and even focuses on Japanese fighting styles and techniques. So, the inter-textual reference is relevant and makes sense.

The GazettE - 'The Invisible Wall' Highlight

I find the use of silhouettes in the music video for ‘The Invisible Wall’, by The GazettE, to be rather interesting. In this case, they had the guitarist standing on the other side of some traditional Japanese sliding doors, and added red lighting. They most likely did this to make reference to their nationalities culture, as The GazettE is a Japanese ‘Rock’ band. However, this is an interesting concept, and I could use silhouettes in my music video, but use something other than Japanese sliding doors.