Ya Mama by Fatboy Slim

Ya Mama - Fatboy Slim

Fatboy Slim, also known as Norman Cook, is an English DJ, musician, multi-instrumentalist and record producer / mixer. He grew up in Surry, and later moved to Brighton to study for a degree, which is where he began to DJ.

Fatboy Slim doesn't take music videos very seriously, and tends to leave ideas up to the producer. He first began making them when he was told he had to, in order to make money as he needed physical sales of his songs to be made due to steaming not being a thing then. The music video for 'Ya Mama' was produced by a group of filmmakers called Traktor, who came up with the idea and even shot the video is the Carriacou Island, West Indies without Fatboy Slim actually being there. In the music video, the main character plays a cassette tape of the song 'Ya Mama' and starts unwillingly dancing, as if he was possessed by the music. He then takes two other characters to a market with the idea of charging people to listen to the song and experience the same uncontrollable movements they had. Even though Fatboy Slim had no input in the video idea, the concept of charging people to listen to the song and dance uncontrollably as if they had been possessed by the music, could link to how he is a DJ as they are known for charging people to go clubs and dance to their music.

The song itself contains various samples. The guitar riffs are from 'The Kettle' by Colosseum, the "Push the tempo" vocals are taken from 'Let the Rhythm Pump' by Doug Lazy, the "Shake what ya mama gave ya" vocals are sampled from 'Shake Whatcha Mama Gave Ya' by Stik E & The Hoodz, and finally the majority of the track was taken from 'Block rocking' Bets' by The Chemical Brothers.

Key Words

In the video 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack, why would you describe the mise-en-scene as naturalistic? Why would you then describe the mise-en-scene in Fatboy Slim's 'Ya Mama' as less naturalistic? 

Naturalistic mise-en-scene is a realistic style of mise-en-scene that appears natural and recognisable to viewers as opposed to a theatrical style. 

In 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack, naturalistic mise-en-scene is shown through the use of the continuous tracking shot and natural lighting. The video was filmed in the streets of LA, showing a diverse range of people in the background, representing the realistic street life. This helps the music video to portray the seriousness of the band, and the diversity of people living in LA in the 90's. This further shows how realistic the video seems by making it seem like they haven't even made a video. In 'Ya Mama' by Fatboy Slim, a less naturalistic mise-en-scene is portrayed through the cassette player and Tom and Jerry playing at the beginning. This gives the video an 80's feel, however these elements could have been used to show how dumbed down the society they're living in is, which in turn gives it a less naturalistic feel as "Unfinished Sympathy' does. This music video also sees to look very staged and story-like which again, causing it to seem less naturalistic.

In the video 'Ya Mama' by Fatboy Slim why would you describe the narrative as linear? Why would you not describe the narrative in 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack as linear? 

Linear narrative is where stories are presented in a logical manner by showing you what happens from one point in time to the next without the use of flashbacks or other types of disruptions.  

The video for 'Ya Mama' by Fatboy Slim uses a linear narrative as it shows the story of the main character progressing from listening to his cassette and causing chaos in his home, to bringing it to the market and causing even more chaos, and then to the police station and again causing more chaos. Whereas in "Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack, the video is based on a woman walking through the streets of LA, and although she is progressing in terms of walking further down the street, there is no storyline that takes place throughout the course of the video.

At what point in 'Ya Mama' is there a narrative disruption? Explain the event and how this disrupts the equilibrium of the scene.

Narrative disruption begins in 'Ya Mama' when the song starts playing and the once calm scene changes into chaos. This disrupts the equilibrium of the scene as it goes from the main character painting ornaments and listening to Tom and Jerry to the music beginning and the main character acting like he was possessed by the music. 

In Massive Attack's 'Unfinished Sympathy', what do you see in the video that implies a wold of different stories?

Throughout the entire 'Unfinished Sympathy' music video, as the woman walks down the street, there is a range of characters that are seen behind her. Each of these people all have different stories that are shown throughout the course of the video. These people include a Native American, gangs with young children who have toy guns, and a paraplegic man riding down the street on a skateboard. 

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