Bob Dylan: A Wordy Music Video

Made in 1965, Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" music video combines words written on cue cards, with the moving image of him flipping through them, displaying the lyrics as he sings the song.


http://www.metacafe.com/watch/sy-187835137/bob_dylan_subterranean_homesick_blues_official_music_video/

(Insert Bob Dylan "Subterranean Homesick Blues" music video)

Dylan stands still in an alleyway in London, holding the flash cards in his right hand, and using his left hand to swiftly yet casually move through the layers of cards, revealing the next words of the song, written in all caps letters. There are small moments that intentionally create slight dissonance between the words and image, like when Dylan sings "eleven dollar bills," he flashes a "20 DOLLAR BILLS" sign. This was a collaboration, with the help of Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth, two contemporaries who helped write the signs (and appear to be lurking in the background throughout the video). Interesting to note, one of the cards says "alley way," words that not only are written in the song of course, but match the physical imagery or setting where he stands in the video.

This video itself is simple, using text and imagery to work together smoothly with the music, not to mention incredibly modern and innovative for the time. This simplistic approach, with the camera still the entire time, shot in black and white with no edits, and little movement but the flipping of the cards, certainly serves as an inspiration for future artists and designers. Quite literally, the same song and the visual text technique as seen in the original music video, was used in a recent advertisement for Google Instant, please see video below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcm0rG8EKXI

(Insert Google Instant video )

Google Instant is a feature that predicts words as you type them into the search engine, and allows you to quickly see the generated results as you type each letter of each word. Without even pressing "enter," or clicking "search," links will appear below the search bar space where you are typing. This Google update results in very fast, literally instant gratification. Users are able to see results, while they type, much like we see what Dylan sings, as we hear him sing. This correlation between word and image is quite powerful, as demonstrated in the advertisement by Google (which, by the way, rarely makes advertisements or advertises to the public). Ads like this, using image and word to deliver a message, are extremely effective, and speak to the way Dylan's iconic video in '65 has influenced and enforced the way text and picture work together in visual communication.