Group Research into music videos by our chosen artist
Joe Fisher
MISE EN SCENE / LYRICS
The opening scene is of an establishing shot from a low
angle showing the lead singer Dan Smith perched upon the top of a concrete
tower, which probably used to be a large concrete building that a company used
to own, but has now been deserted and left to rubble. This is an important
opening shot as it emphasizes Smith’s importance to the video as it shows him
from a low angle, and highlights his power and form. The building in itself is important as the
lyrics relate to the tragedy of Pompeii and the eruption of the volcano, and
the building is old (hence the dried out logo shown in the establishing shot,
and the grey colour dominating the screen could reflect that of the clouds of
ash dominating the sky, seems as the sky is shown shortly behind him. Smith’s
significance is also shown through the medium of clothes. The full black outfit
not only relates back to indie conventions and dress sense, but black is a very
outstanding colour against the blue sunset sky and the grey building. Not only
this, but it gives connotations of power, death, and fear, which also relates
back to the story of the lyrics being about the events of Pompeii and the song
title.
Two more establishing shots occur, but something seems
different about them. There are no people in the streets, though the lights are
on and cars are parked, and the office complex looms over it all. The bare
streets connote back to the story behind the lyrics and perhaps everyone has
escaped the city.
None of the lights are on behind him, and there is litter on
the pavement, the street has practically been abandoned. The connotations of
light usually point towards hope and happiness, and lack of it point towards
the opposite, such as loss of hope, and the unknown. There is harsh light, as
seen by the shadows that are portrayed upon the wall of the building, but it’s
the light of the moon and not the sun, making everything visible, but adding a
cold feeling to the shot.
Later on in the music video, the audience learns that the Pompeii
disaster has taken a different form, this time a contagious disease which turns
people’s eyes black. This is the reason why that people have abandoned this
city, and the eyes turning black can connote many things, as often the eye is
linked to the window of the soul, and it turning to a black nothingness could
imply that these people are losing or have already lost their souls. The shock
on the artists face signifies the fact that this disease is something to be
afraid of.
CAMERA
When the character realises that these people have black
eyes, he starts pacing to a car that is parked round the back of the area. When
he does start running, the camera shakes begins to shake, bringing in dramatic
camera effects to give the audience a feel of uneasiness which this character
is currently feeling. On top of this, the pace of the editing becomes faster,
as does the music, to give the feeling of intense motion as the story of this
music video builds
On the contrary, when the character’s eyes begin to turn black,
the camera becomes more stable as he runs through the fields and the plains
before him. This, giving an element of calmness through the effect of camera
motion possibly implies that nothing actually changes about these people apart
from their eyes turning a different colour, hinting at the fact that they’re
not actually dangerous, unlike what they’re portrayed to be at the beginning
through the use of facial expressions and motions of this main character. This
also relates back to the lyrics, such as –
“But if you close your
eyes
Does it almost feel
like
Nothing changed at
all"
Not only this, but the camera seems to shift its general
position slowly throughout the music video. At the start he is shown at the top
of a concrete office complex, from a low angle, a device used to highlight his
importance. As the video progresses, the camera takes position at the centre,
usually capturing all of his body and his facial expression in reaction to the
people with the black eyes as if the viewing audience is one of these
characters, showing perhaps a relatability between the audience and the main
character, or the people with the black eyes. The end of the music video shows
Smith from a lot of high angles. This contrasts with how he is portrayed at the
beginning, as if now he has lost a sense of importance, and this is shown
through the high angles, showing him, highlighting that he is just a small
figure, traversing through a large open plain.
EDITING
Eyeline matches often occur within this music video to show
not only the relatability between the characters shown on screen to Dan Smith,
but it also gives the audience a chance to look through the eyes of the main
character to see what he is seeing by using shot reverse shots. If two
characters are on the same eyeline, it usually means that relate to each other
in some sort of way, perhaps a common goal, or shows how two characters or more
are shown to be in the same situation. If two or more characters seem to be
above the eyeline of another, it shows that they are of more import and are
possibly more powerful than the person below them. In this sense, the person
that is below the eyeline match is shown to be weaker.
These two shots occur in the music video as it progresses. The
first, of the store owner looking at Smith and Smith looking back at her with a
shocked reaction. Instantly this makes the viewer want to see what they’re
looking at, and so it is revealed in the reverse shot and through the eyes of
smith we see that this particular store owner has black eyes.
Further on, the same scenario occurs, where the main
character stumbles upon two women in an arcade, he stumbles, and then the
camera cuts to a medium shot of his face, looking at them, again with a shocked
expression. This time however, when the two turn around, they are not on the
same eyeline, their faces very stern, unlike that of the shopkeeper who is
actually smiling. This opposition of emotions is represented through both the
facial expressions portrayed by each of these characters, as well as the fact
that the eyelines do not match.
SOUND
“But if you close your
eyes”
The music video responds to the chorus in such a way that
the visuals respond to the lyrics. When the line begins, the camera cuts to a
close up of a rear view mirror, in its reflection is the main character who has
been running through the streets trying to escape from those with black eyes.
The video responds to the lyrics here as when the words “close your eyes” are
sung, a black mist begins to form in his eyes, implications as to his eyes
turning black.
Bad Blood Analyse
Narrative
The narrative of bad blood is
about a broken down relationship and how it has left them nostalgic, constantly
thinking about the good old days and not being able to let go of the past. This
is frequently referred to in Mise en scene. We can see it when the female
protagonist is holding up her ex-boyfriend’s wallet. We see this same idea in
the same shot as she is wearing the same jacket as the masked man. This masked
man could represent her ex-boyfriend. This connotes that she isn’t over her
ex-boyfriend as she is still wearing his clothes. Later on in the music video
we see that she enters the kitchen and opens the fridge. The fridge is full of
mouldy food and sour milk. We see her drinking the sour milk and a man in a
mask appears. She then grabs the mouldy food and brings it to a table which has
a platter of mouldy food already on it, and puts the food onto the platter. She
then starts to eat the mouldy food and yet again she sees the masked man. This
suggests that when she eats the old food she’s able to see her old memories
when they were back together. At the door step we can see that there are many
flowers, this may be some kind of memorial. It could be that her ex-boyfriend
has died or it could represent that their relationship is dead. At the very end
of the music video we see that she is walking with a box of the ex-boyfriend’s
old things and we see it burning on the beach. This connotes that at the end of
the video she has let go of all her feelings for him.
Setting
Indie music videos are usually
set in the city, woods or studio. This is for two reasons. One is because indie
music videos usually have a low budget so they need a imply cheap/free place to
film and the second is because it adds to the vibe in which they are trying to
make, which is mystery. The opening location of the music
video is the sea. Then only a couple of seconds later it moves to a completely different
location, a house. This has been used to make the audience think. The start is
so out of place with the music video until the end. This is to aid the audience
in understanding the plot. It also brings a mysterious vibe to the music video
which overshadows the music video. The second location, the house from the look of the house it is hinted that the house is deserted. This is implied by the low key lighting and the fridge being mostly empty with only rotten food inside as well as the old fashioned furniture and dead flowers by the door step. At the end of the music video, it
revisits the sea and that’s when the audience discovers the purpose of the sea.
The sea represents the protagonist drowning away all her feelings for her ex
boyfriend.
Target audience
The target audience for this
music video and all of bastilles other music videos is 16-24 year olds. In the
music video there are only two characters a young male and a young female, who
are in their 20s. No other age group is shown. It is also relevant as the music
videos theme is about relationships and them ending and going to one
relationship to the next is quite common with younger people rather than
staying with the same person.
Representations
The female protagonist is
represented as dirty. This is shown through her greasy hair, which is greasy
throughout as well as the scene in which see eats a mouldy platter of food.
This is to make the music video unique as in mainstream music videos the
artists are persevered as beautiful and well kept. The artist Dan smith isn’t
seen as a celebrity in this music video, he is only briefly seen through the TV
as a missing person and through multiple pictures. This is usual for an indie
artist to not always appear in their music videos as the main character. This
is because they are more in it because of their passion rather than for
publicity, however just to inform that this is one of Bastille music videos
Dan Smith does feature in it. The house is represented as old fashioned and deserted. This has been implied by the low key lighting around the house, the dead flowers and old furniture. This gives the audience an idea that the relationship may have ended quite along time ago, most likely 34 days ago exactly. This is shown by the news report on the TV.
(Joe French)
Mise:
The
setting is fairly vague and dark, indicating that the theme might be isolation
of darkness, considering the location is a fairly isolated and derelict desert
with barely any people in it. It could be an expression of how one of them are
feeling about their lives or how they may have felt in the past. The part in
which the man picks up a bullet from the floor could indicate that there may
have been destructive feelings from one of the band members or their past could
have been violent and they want to express that in this music video. The part
in which the people in black are running past the lead singer could indicate
that he feels as if he is around so many people but still feels alone, it could
also be telling us that he feels as if no one notices him and that everyone
just looks over him as if he is not there and this is shown when they all run
past him but don’t take any notice of him being there. The overall lighting in
the music video is fairly dark and this could be used to express the feelings
that the band members may have had or an expression of a character’s feelings,
the darkness of this music video could be conveying mystery which is a big part
of the indie genre and it gets the audience thinking and widens their
imaginations. Although halfway through the music video the lighting switches
and becomes light and the characters look happy which could be suggesting that
the person/character this video is about has been through some bad times and
has no overcome them and gotten out of the darkness and has reached the light
and can now be happy with their life.
Camera:
There
are a lot of close ups of the different people in the music video, this could
be suggesting that the music video wants the audience to be looking at them and
seeing their emotions to show that there is a strong sense of emotion in this
music video and that feelings are a big part of the videos meaning. There are
also a lot of tracking shots in this music video which could be suggesting that
the events that are taking place are being shown from someone else’s
perspective which could be telling us that someone has been witnessing these
people suffer and is wanting to show the story from their perspective to get
people to understand how it may be affecting not only the people involved, but
the people around them. The large establishing shots with no one in it can show
the idea of loneliness or isolation because the shot shows off such a large
landscape but there is no one there, this could be representing the main
character’s feelings that are in their mind at the time due to the fact that
the story relates to a breakup so therefore he could be feeling lonely after
his relationship ended and could be isolating himself in order for him to not
get hurt again by anyone.
Editing:
In
this music video we can see that the perspective the video is coming from is
most likely the lead singer (Dan Smith) and this is because he has the most
screen prevalence in the music video which could be suggesting that the story
in the video is about him and that the feelings and ideas shown in the video
are relating to him in either a past life experience of it could be a story that
he is portraying. The music video is not very fast paced and I think that is
because they are trying to get the audience to pay more attention to the finer
details of the music video and want the audience to see the small connotations
of everything because if it was fast paced, it would be harder to notice all
the details that are being shown off and the audience wouldn’t be able to
understand the song as well as they could have compared to having it with
slower shots. I like how a lot of the music video is in slow motion and this is
because I think slow motion can be used to stress the situation sometimes and
emphasise it more which is good because the audience then have more time to
think about what is going on and have more time to process the situation and
have a better idea of the story. This can be good because it will interest the
audience the better they are able to understand.
Sound:
Some
of the lyrics have a lot of connotations in the music video that relate to the
story and the video. ‘These are the things, the things we lost, the things we
lost in the fire, fire, fire’ I like this lyrics because its repeated whilst
adding more to then end which can suggest that as time goes by, more
information about the relationship is coming out and its creating more of an
effect on the audience and the characters involved. Also, it’s the chorus which
is the first thing that is said so it sets up the entire music video because
its showing that he is then going to tell us all the things that the they had
in the relationship and it sets up what we could possibly be seeing in the
music video. There is also some diegetic sound in the beginning which is just
the wind gushing in the setting of the music video, this could have
connotations of their relationship because its saying there is so little there,
that you can even hear the wind because there is no relationship left which
also links to the setting at this time which is the open desert landscape.
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