Research and Planning - 1.2 - Music Video Analysis Part One

Music Video Analysis

1. Warm Me Up – The Audition.

The genre of this band’s music is alternative rock/punk.
The video for Warm Me Up is shown as a performance video but has a narrative to it, the story however is not linked to the song but certain images shown are well fitted to particular lyrics.
The lyrics seem to read to be about sex and one of the first shots we see is a close up of a couple kissing on a bed. The camera also has a circular frame on it, and gives the effect of looking through a keyhole; this adds a slight feeling of mystery.
Further shots throughout the video, for example, a girl lying on a bed provocatively and a couple hugging also show the sexier side of the lyrics.
Although, other hints/hidden images show you the true meaning of the video. This makes the audience have to think about the video more, and in turn makes them want to watch the video again to try and decipher what the things we see are.
One of these ‘hints’ is near the beginning of the song, where the shot is filled with smoke/steam, which turns out to be the steam from boiling water, which makes a tea to produce a new drug.
Other signs that show the use of this drug are; the blank expressions that we see on the girl’s face when the main boy in the narrative enters, also his reaction to seeing what she has been drinking emphasises that it is not something she should be or something he is proud of her drinking.
Near the end of the video, we see the main boy running through the woods and see a hand grab his shoulder. As this turns out to be an illusion and not actually happening it shows the side effects of the drug. Paranoia. The true narrative of the video is that a group of college kids discover a new drug that is extracted from a flower, but to make it you have to boil the flower in water, into a tea. After people start drinking it, it turns against them and starts like an epidemic making people lose control of themselves and become taken over by the drug.

The target audience for this video is obviously for fans of the band, as you constantly see various shots of individual members, and extreme close ups of particularly the lead singer of the band (Danny Stevens), but also in contrast mixed long shots of the rest of the band. The video is also aimed at the teenage audience because of the subject of the lyrics, talking about sex and relationships, and the narrative behind the video, being drug use.
Another audience the video is also aimed at is fans of video games. This is because the reason the video was made was because the song went along with a new video game called ‘Obscure 2’. The video was made to be used as a new way of marketing the game, as a third media outlet, it has also managed to promote the band and their music.

The video fits the genre of the band by showing a lot of close ups of Danny Stevens, quite obviously singing and addressing the viewer through direct eye contact with the camera. This adds a lot more affection to the video and makes it personal to the audience.
Long shots are also used to show the whole band playing, then cutting to extreme close ups of the guitarist’s playing their instruments. Especially on the guitar solo at 2:13 in the song, the shot is only of the lead guitarist, the combination of all of these shots adds a lot of emphasis to how much the music means to the band and lets the audience know that they play their own instruments.
When the drum, bass and guitar all kick in, most of the band members start to head bang (mosh), this is a cliché stereotype of a rock band.

The lighting in the video is fairly dim throughout to show mystery, the dark effects of drugs and gives us a feeling of ‘the unknown’. Also when the lead singer first walks into shot he has his hood up and his head tipped down this creates an enigma.

A final thing about the video is where the lyrics and the video fit together. I found 2 examples, the first being when Danny Stevens sings, ‘To feed your hunger pains for tonight…’ in the first bridge we see a couple kissing each other on a bed, this gives us the impression that they are provoking sex. The next one is in the second bridge, when ‘Come closer to me baby…’ is sung the main boy and another girl move together and hug. This unites the lyrics, the narrative and the video together making it everything fit together well and seem complete.


2. Pray for Plagues – Bring Me The Horizon

The genre that this band fits into is Deathcore, Screamo.
The video for Pray for Plagues is shown as a performance predominantly however, has also got a range of images that do link together to create an overall narrative.

The first thing we see in the video is a close up shot of the lead singer’s face, Oli Sykes (the lead singer) is seen from the shoulders up and we hear him scream.
I feel that not only this scream, but others throughout the song and video, that seem to be completely isolated from the rest of the screams and placed where no other words are distracting your attention, represent and create the panic that the actual plagues of Egypt caused, by sounding loud and harsh.
As the song is called Pray for Plagues the video and lyrics refer to mainly the Egyptian plagues, however other aspects can show us links to the bubonic plague and perhaps ‘plagues of the mind’, these being mental health issues like insanity.

Going back to the first scream in the video, Oli Sykes’ head spins round in a semi circle and as he is screaming, it looks as though locusts or flies are flying out, this is then the first reference to one of the many plagues. Other references to plagues are when we see the almost cartoon like image/shot of trees on a river bank and then the water truning red, this showing when the water in Egypt ran as blood.
Further shots of a wooden sign having the song title ‘Pray for Plagues’ look as though it has been painted in blood, this relates to when the population of Egypt painted red crosses on their doors with sheep’s blood to prevent plagues entering their houses.
The mise-en-scene of the video also shows parts of the plagues, this therefore almost subliminally shows the audience more than first meets the eye and also emphasises more obvious points.
The lighting throughout the video is very dim, this in itself shows connotations of evil and death, but also represents when the sun was blocked out across Egypt again, as par of the plague.
Also, in respect to the lighting we only ever see Oli sykes with one spotlight, it is constantly flickering and moving but creates a shadow of what looks to be a window. I saw this as representing when ‘fire balls’ fell from the sky in Egypt, and this was the only source of light then and now.

The narrative as I have previously said is fairly hard to decipher. But in conjunction with studying the lyrics with the video, I saw that the whole video is about revenge, but not from people, from the world itself and its creator.
In the first verse, the first couple of lines have a reference to alcohol and sex, these are 2 of today’s focuses that we all hear about and that some are affected by, and therefore I feel that these are supposed to be seen as a modern day plague. These are compared to when the sun was blocked in Egypt, ‘the sun goes down and so does she’. Another reference is to liquor. The lyrics read ‘Oh lord, cleanse this earth and bring upon our dooms day’ from this I understood that the only way to serve the world is to bring it to it’s end as we, humans, are the actual plague. This may then in effect make the audience question the way we live and the world that we live in.
Also in the lyrics near the end, ‘death will stand where life once stood’, this shows that death will always come and that life is a plague in itself as it ends in death.

A main part in this video is it’s editing, throughout there is a lot of parts that you can see have either been digitally re-mastered or added in. The whole band in the video are only seen by there outlined-teeth, which has a white pen and scribbly effect on it. These are only seen in extreme close ups of the band members as it makes their mouths the main focus, and in turn allows you to pay a lot of attention to the words they are saying. ‘count your blessings’

Other edited parts are for example the one where we see, a heart and lungs, and one of the heart with white veins being shot through it, these look like the roots of the trees from when the rivers run red. This makes the audience think that now the world is trying to take over us.

Images like the big mansion that are shown constantly in the video is dim and dull and at one point shows a series of white ladders going under the house – the white emphasises them against the black background - and then we see a long shot of a woman dressed in an orange dress, we also see a long shot of her spinning in circles and walking/crawling aimlessly around the rooms under the house. This makes the audience feel uneasy as they are watching a woman turn mad from being captured in society from the modern day plague.

Stereotypes of the genre of music are also shown for example when the band ‘head bangs’. This is a typical cliché movement for any hard rock or metal group. A lot of the main shots are extreme close ups or mid shots of the band members playing their instruments to make you feel more included in the song, and also shows the audience that the band has talent and play their own instruments and to show that they are mostly about the music.


3. Weightless – All Time Low

The genre of this music video is pop punk rock.
The video is shown as a performance video but has a meaning behind the video. The lyrics and video link together as well. This brings the whole video together as one and can therefore make it seem more complete to the audience.
The narrative of the video is quite unclear but when seen in context with the video it seems to fit well.
The lyrics are about not caring what people say about you or what they think and about being an individual. The video also takes the mick out of all people who judge and stereotype, not just the band themselves but anyone in general. Throughout the video we see ‘typical’ people you would expect to see at concerts and their thoughts are shown above and around them like signposts or ‘labels’. This gives the audience a better incite into each person that we see and to each stereotype they pay be put in. Also I think that it makes you seem a lot more aware of your surroundings after watching the video.

At the start of the video we have an establishing shot of Alex Gaskarth – the lead singer – with 5 girls, being obsessive fans, this makes you see that the band is already quite famous.
Also at the start the sound of the girls talking over each other, gives the impression of chaos and confusion, also how the camera is moving constantly emphasises the confusion that Alex experiences and allows us to empathise with him.
This is done because we are shown a point of view shot, from Alex’s eyes and the way that the camera tracks, shows how we would react.

Throughout the whole video we see a lot of establishing shits looking over the top of the audience, to show their hands but also to give an overview of the type of people the band play for. There aren’t many close up’s or extreme close up’s in this video because it focuses on peoples images as a whole to give it a rounded feel and to see the clothes that the characters are wearing. This allows the audience to relate to the people they see portrayed in the video making it personal and slightly interactive.
One of the only close up’s in the whole video is of Alex Gaskarth’s face when the screen reads ‘lead singers are pampered’, however the lyrics say ‘I’m so sick of watching while the minutes pass’. This shows how the band really feel instead of reading his thoughts he sings them to us making them seem more important and easier ton relate to.

In this video we know it is about point of view and how we see each other. The director of the video has incorporated a few point of view shots. One I mentioned earlier, the other main one is when Jack Barakat – The guitarist – is going to collect his guitar from the band tuner. We see from Jack’s point of view the guitar being handed to him. This shows the status between both of the guys and that although Jack is the more famous the other guy holds the higher status in this shot, which is intimidating to not only people in the shot but to the audience.
Most of the camera shots are always moving, not stationery, this adds interest to the video and makes it a lot more aesthetically pleasing. It also reflects how chaotic fame is and how it is never the same. This is heightened by how the pace of the shot varies from slow transitions to fast cut ones.

The lighting in this video is fairly simple and plain. This shows how things can seem simple on the outside. Yet when I thought again about the lights on the stage where All Time Low are performing, I saw they are blue which creates a sense of fantasy representing the feeling the band gets when they perform and how it is like a fantasy to them. The lighting over the audience is normal house lights which represents reality and as the stereotypes are in the audience it gives a sense of realisation to what the world is about in day to day life.

The band shows how they fit with the genre of the music by having, mid/long shots of them playing their instruments, letting us know they make the music themselves and are proud of it. Also the band are constantly moving on stage and interacting with the audience i.e. when Jack crowd surfs.

Finally at the end of the video everyone in shot – the band and the audience – are seen with ‘Loser’ written over their heads. This closes the video with the overall message of, we are all the same in the end and leaves the audience to think over it.