need help identifying something in a music video

[melancholymecha]

ok if you've ever seen the nine inch nails closer video there's a brief scene with this mechanical object that has an "eye" on a pole that moves back and forth. I used to think it was just some weird thing made for the video (like the spinning pig head) but the other day I was watching Howl's Moving Castle & the same thing is in the movie! Its in the scene where Sophie is watching Howl sleep in his room. Does anyone know what it is & what it is(or was) used for?

 

[M'Sharak]

ok if you've ever seen the nine inch nails closer video there's a brief scene with this mechanical object that has an "eye" on a pole that moves back and forth. I used to think it was just some weird thing made for the video (like the spinning pig head) but the other day I was watching Howl's Moving Castle & the same thing is in the movie! Its in the scene where Sophie is watching Howl sleep in his room. Does anyone know what it is & what it is(or was) used for?

If you mean at about three minutes in, it's a metronome, used for keeping a steady tempo in practicing music. The "pole" moving back and forth is the same as a pendulum on a clock, only inverted. The tempo is adjusted by moving a weight on the arm which would occupy the same position as the "eye" in the video.

Edit:

Here's a clip that gives you a better look at one. The tempo/speed is slower with the weight at the end of the arm and faster as it is moved toward the pivot point.

 

[melancholymecha]

thanks!
aw is that all!? a metronome? I was hoping it would be something spooky & occult related. I was thinking that it reminded me of a metronome but the creepy eye threw me off.

 

[M'Sharak]

Well, I could be wrong. The creepy eye may have some significance (occult or otherwise) which escapes me, but the classic shape of the wooden case is what said "metronome" to me as soon as I saw it. If you pause the vid there, it's quite easy to make out.

Come to think of it, I think I have seen a rig like it in old movies or television shows, used as a means of hypnotizing someone (you've probably seen the bit with someone swinging a watch on a chain) but I've got no idea whether it would actually work.

 

[melancholymecha]

well, I googled "metronome" and "eye" and found what I think inspired the one in the video and the movie.

 

[Michael]

well, I googled "metronome" and "eye" and found what I think inspired the one in the video and the movie.

Very interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[M'Sharak]

well, I googled "metronome" and "eye" and found what I think inspired the one in the video and the movie.

Okay, that works. With that in mind, I went looking and found this, which says that:

The aesthetic, atmosphere, and images in the video were inspired by the works of Man Ray, Francis Bacon, and, most notably, Joel-Peter Witkin.

I'm assuming here that the Francis Bacon in question is the 20th-century painter, rather than the 16th/17th-century Bacon supposed by some to have written Shakespeare's plays, but that assumption was not arrived at as a result of any great deliberation and could be in error.

 

[melancholymecha]

^yes they mean the painter, I had read about the Bacon influence in the video but I never knew about Man Ray thing. And now Im getting flashbacks of my art history college class.

 

[M'Sharak]

Isn't putting together puzzles fun? Drop in one piece in just the right place and all sorts of things start connecting up.

 

[Dale]

They still make music videos? Where do they show them?

 

[melancholymecha]

^Im afraid the days of the innovative music video is long gone. I loved music videos that were influenced by art styles & movements, like the R.E.M Losing My Religion video.

 

[M'Sharak]

I was also wondering about this, from your opening post:

...the other day I was watching Howl's Moving Castle & the same thing is in the movie! Its in the scene where Sophie is watching Howl sleep in his room.

I'm not familiar with the movie or the story, but is this the scene you're speaking of? I did a little poking around to see if I could find a clip of it, but couldn't find anything amongst the trailers and seeming hundreds of music vids made from the film. It'd be interesting to watch it in context, just to see what I could get from it.

 

[melancholymecha]

yeah thats the scene, there's a brief second where you actually see the eye move back & forth(that's when I thought "whoa, its that weird eye thingy from Closer!"). I guess Hayao Miyazaki(the film's director) is a Man Ray fan.

 

[M'Sharak]

I guess Hayao Miyazaki(the film's director) is a Man Ray fan.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit, whether directly, indirectly or both.

 

[zakkrusz]

Speaking of metronomes and anime there's also another version of one you'll see in a lot of anime. It's large and usually set outside in a garden fountain. The water trickles down from above onto a piece of wood or metal that's precisely balanced on a lever. When the recessed notch fills with water it unbalances the lever and causes it dump the contents. It also is set up so that when the water dumps the device strikes a surface and makes a noise to mark the minute has passed. Quite ingenius really.

 

[M'Sharak]

Sounds like you're describing a form of water clock.

 

[zakkrusz]

Hmm...yeah maybe that would be a better description for it. If I could get myself to remember any specific instances I'd post a pic but I'm comming up blank right now. You usually see them in fancy heavily Japanese styled homes in anime with a large rocky garden area especially if the family is well off.