Video Analysis 1

Opening shot - Long shot / Establishing shot

This shot provers the direction of the shot, moving forwards towards the protagonist

Title sequence / Clever way of formatting it, abstract and simplistic, providing good effect, also an over the shoulder shot

First close up of the protagonist / lead singer

Deep focus shot

Shallow depth of field - these two shots are an example of a focus pull

Long shot of protagonist / lead singer. Symmetrically framed shot

Over the shoulder tracking shot

Close up (beginning of performance element in the video). Key use of light shining up to him, generating shadows and effect, working well with the lyrics of the song which are somewhat negative at this point.

Cut away shots, helping set the scene / location, providing context

Centrally framed tracking shot of protagonist / lead singer

Extreme close up, key emphasis on the eyes

Close up, again emphasis on the eyes

At this point a hand held camera as protagonist is running away, here is a canted angle, suggesting something is wrong

Comes back to the performance with a close up

Final shot is of the protagonist, who has obtained the eyes, which were a continuous theme

Context:

So what is the music video about?

At first, the video is confusing, and many questions are asked, but having done some research there are a number of explanations, some more theoretical than others.

"I interpreted the song and the music video is that he is comparing the destruction of Pompeii by Mt. Vesuvius to the destruction of the world now by humans. I think that's why all the people in the video have black eyes, and he's in a run-down city with litter everywhere. Also, after he says "the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love / black clouds rolled over the hills bringing darkness from above" which is referring to the destruction of Pompeii, he says "but if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing's changed at all? / but if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you've been here before?". My personal belief is that those lines are referring to how we are still destroying the world and the environment now."

"The song itself refers to the destruction and deaths that occured when Mount Vesuvius erupted in Pompeii (hence the name of the song). The "black clouds that rolled over the hills" and the "darkness from above" refers to the ash that came from the volcano's eruption. "The walls that keep tumbling down", well, the walls on a major street in Pompeii literally did come down. The song talks about how Pompeii is repeatedly being destroyed and injured and how one person copes with it. Hence why in the lyrics it says "How am I to be optimist about this" or something along those lines. Now, the black eyes is a symbolism for all the deaths that occured during the eruption of Pompeii. Many people were killed and the guy running in the music video is trying to run away from it but in the end he stops and just surrenders like how everyone in Pompeii realized that they were all going to die."

"The people with black eyes had their innocence taken away from them in some way, shape or form. He was running away from and denying the truth that this had happened to him as he wanted to remain innocent and retain his idealistic view of the world. At the end of the video he accepts the injustice and imperfection of life." - Voted best answer

These are all theories and view points of the meaning behind the video, but I think what it comes down to is the idea of a reflection on what happened, it contains a form of mystery in that there are many theories, and ultimaltey this makes people think, and maybe re-watch it, helping the success of the video and song.

Music Video Analysis

Relationship between visuals and lyrics:
In the video, we have the lead singer playing a character, as we know there are a number of members to the band, but it was only the lead singer. There relationship between visuals and lyrics was scattered. Visually it didn't directly relate to the Pompeii scenario, but metaphorically it did. This is an example of intertextuality. The relationship between visuals and lyrics keeps you guessing and from this generates interest.

Genre Characteristics:
The song is acoustic, indie/pop, attracted to a mass market. In relation to the video itself, it leads towards a thriller. It contains suspense, during the moments of suspense the music picks up, this is a great effect and works very well.

Intertextuality:
To an extent, yes. As stated above, it crossovers with that of the injustice and imperfection with the life, in the context of Pompeii, it somewhat links then and now. It doesn't reflect other culture however, but the video can be interpreted in various ways. So depending on which way you see it, effects intertextuality.

Performance,  narrative and / or concept:
The music video had examples of both performance and narrative. It follows a story but with clips of performance within it, in the setting of the story, but unrelated to the storyline. This can be a typical convention of music videos. This style relies on imagery to produce a story for the audience to follow.

Performance Style:
There were many examples of the use of hand held camera, as well as a static camera. Lip syncing is also present in the music video. Shot variation was high, this could be down to the location, with it being outdoors as well as indoors, allowing a wide variety of possible shots as oppose to a smaller location where shot variety may be limited. No instruments are shown in the video, nor is it a genuine performance, there is no dancing either. The 'amateurs' we will be working with could possibly be able to re-create this style of performance, however we will not have access to the setting which was used. We could however work with what we have and replicate the actual performance from the actors in the music video realistically.

Linear, closed narrative:
The video has a linear meaning as it can be interpreted differently as proven by the researched descriptions above.

Links to theories:
Propp
Barthes
Strauss
Todorov
Mulvey
Goodwin

In this music video, I personally feel this video follows that of Strauss' theory, with the good vs evil being heavily dominant, and somewhat human vs alien coming through as well. Prop's theory isn't as obvious here. The video also follows Barthes theory. Firstly with the Hermeneutic code, whereby not all the facts are revealed, and clues are dropped. Along with this, enigma and proairetic code, whereby tension is built and the audience is left guessing. The semantic code relates to connotation, which is heavily invested into this music video, as proven by the number of possible reasons for the narrative of the video and the meaning behind it.

Looking/ mode of address:

These are 3 examples of characters in the music video directly looking into the camera, creating a sense of direct connection with the audience.

Star Treatment:
This undoubtedly occurs. The lead singer of 'Bastille' is the protagonist in the video and the camera very much follows him and his journey. Close ups, long shots, over the shoulder shots and tracking shots are all examples of shots used on him.

Audience in vid:
There is little representation of this. The only personal engagement between the band and the audience is the final shot as shown above. Of the lead singer looking into the camera. There fans however aren't represented in the video.

Representations:
Gender is balanced, with both males and females equally shown throughout the music video. This is fairly typical within the context of this video as this way it results in appealing to the mass market making the production more successful. In relation to age, as you can see from the screenshots its 20 and above. In terms of the relation to their target market as a band, this somewhat directly links, the band appeals to both genders however of all ages. Furthermore, ethnicity. This is somewhat balanced. The video does use a variety of ethnicities and background, it is somewhat blurred and the same goes for nationality. Sexuality in the video is somewhat non-existent.

Male gaze:
In the music video, there are no shots of women being used as 'eye candy'. No isolated shots of legs, cleavage, rear etc. There are female characters however they are not used for the 'male gaze'. Here for example:

Pace + any variation of pace:
During the chorus, the editing tends to use more short clips as oppose to longer clips used in other verses. However even these longer clips are fairly short. The reason for so many clips could be as a result of having a complex narrative and also using a performance by the lead singer, so shot reverse shot between the two sides to the music video leads to more shots. In chorus there needs to be a balance of these two sides leading to greater use of shorter clips. So there is faster pace editing at faster paced sections of the track. During the chorus, the narrative picks up more tension, at this time clips get shorter, therefore the video is edited to fit the pace of the track.


Shot variety, no. of set ups and estimated number of shots:

• There is high shot variety as shown at the top of this blog. including a close up shot, over the shoulder shot and a deep focus pull.
• Total number of set ups is 28 (estimated).
• Total number of shots is 82 when I counted through watching the video.

Effects:

The only effects in this music video are the eyes on the characters, which is what the protagonist is running from throughout the music video.

Locations and mise en scene:

There are 12 locations used throughout the production of this video. Some shots jump between locations. This leads to a good diversity in the mist en scene and the video is aesthetically pleasing as the shots are taken at a good quality. For my own production I will ask during market research to my target audience how many locations they feel they need to see, as 12 may seem a little excessive, and over achievable with the small budget and resources we have.

Sub Culture: 
There isn't any obvious examples of sub culture in this music video. However depending on how you assess the video, you could argue that Dan Smith himself is a sub culture, as everyone we see is possessed by this 'thing' apart from him. They are all part of the human race however he is the only on evident of being among a separate culture to the other characters. This does however change at the end and he is absorbed into the mass culture in the video.

Notable shots / framing:
One key shot which stands out to me happens on a few various occasions; this is the close up of the eyes. It has a creepy effect and the reaction of the protagonist is much like as it would be of any in his situation. The close up shots and specifically centrally framed eyes provide emphasis on them, giving them greater power as a result.