2. Of Monsters and Men – Little Talks
The first shot of the music video
shows how CGI has created a
ship which relates to where the
band originate from- Iceland.
This shows a sense of identity
to the band and that they are in
touch with their routes and
have established a clear theme
already for the video.
This medium shot taken from
the side shows aside from the
surrealism and CGI of the
video that we already
notice, the band plays a part
in the story of the video
showing that they are involved
and we recognise them as the
viewer.
The video incorporates
colour separation with this
point of view shot showing
the focused element being
what the individual had been
looking at from the last shot
linking the two together.
Close ups are used a lot
through the video to
create a sense of reaction
and identity between the
characters so us as the
audience can recognise
them.
The theme of surrealism is shown
through the burst of colour as this
character is introduced. The CGI
used gives a sense of the
individual genre of the music we
are hearing. The way she is
dressed gives a relation between
the quirkiness of the song and the
characters that are involved.
Another close up is used but
shows a contrast not only in
the colour but in the way that
the character is made up. She
wears colours that reflect
beauty and we get the sense
that she is the main theme of
the video.
Surrealism is used here by
completely contrasting what we
would consider a normal animal and
making it the opposite of what we
would see in everyday life. Using a
black bird here shows darkness and
a sense of a sinister nature with the
two heads and size enlarged to
emphasise surrealism.
Gargoyles being involved in this
establishing shot from the video
shows a more Viking and mythical
aspect which adds to the surrealism
that we see in other shots. Being
carved into rock also gives an
Egyptian feel to how the video has
been accustomed.
3. This shot starts to push the
animation of the video so far
showing this almost mythical
creature towards the end of the
video. Colour is introduced back into
the shot as well which
communicates freedom and
happiness as it has a rainbow affect.
This shot shows the band again which
is the only realistic part of the video that
is shown, their face paints disguise who
they are and portrays them as
characters lost within the story. Gives
the band the look that they are warriors
trying to find or fight their way through
the video.
This still from the video diverges away
from the connotations that we would
associate a horned animal with as we
would normally see this as a demonic
creature but seeing it with these happy
connotations within the story of the video
makes the reader change their normal
stereotypes.
Of
Monsters
and Men
– Little
Talks
4. Pendulum - Witchcraft
0-30 seconds- blurred unfocused
shots during this time with
various fades in a dark setting
which connotes evil and mystery
that we would associate with the
title of the song ‘witchcraft’ the
images are unclear and appear
to move in the form of germs or
mysterious beings.
The second shot of the singer shows
a split screen and extreme close up
with an overlay effect on the singer.
This creates this unknowing and
originality. The way we cannot see
the singers full face gives the
mysterious impression and a loss of
identity – or that the singers identity
isn’t important as the audience knows
who they are and doesn’t need to see
his face to appreciate the music.
The way that the women's body
could link to witchcraft is that the
pagans would say that a witch
floated when thrown into water as
we see here the woman rises and
wears a white gown which would
normally indicate purity and that she
may have been taken over along
with the lyrics saying this too.
The fast cutting rate building to
the drop and rising of the temp
repeating the shots that we have
already seen which goes with
the beat and the lyrics of the
song. This is similar to the
lighting as the strobes get faster
as we notice a change in temp
which suits the genre of music.
The video shows the band
playing their instruments in a
live performance effect which
gives the viewer a tie between
the visual and the musical
elements of the video. We
repeatedly see the woman
within the video which makes us
feel she is the main character
and communicates the subject
to the audience.
As the video nears its end we
are revealed more in the way
of how each shot is composed.
As we barely saw the singers
face in an extreme close up at
the start of the video we now
see the whole band in one
frame which gives the
impression that more and more
has been visible and revealed
throughout the video in a
paranormal element.
5. Pendulum - Crush
We see a close up of the character
featured as the main role within the
video. The camera shakes and is
almost in a twisted dream as the
character thinks about things that have
happened in the past or thinks about
things that he wanted to do with the
camera angle canted as he thinks
about this indicating that this is his
alter ego that is mental and unstable.
The emotions flip to when he is
happy and even as we are shown
that he thinks these thoughts he is
still flashed forward to this canted
angle shot as he looks bitter and
angry at what he is thinking or
remembering from the past. This
may indicate that he was once
sane and that he is frustrated with
himself as the character.
He is shown running and is clearly
the subject of the video at this
point. As he is shown to run the
cutting rate is faster which could
replicate his heart beat and that he
is trying to in a way run away from
himself and what he has become
in frustration.
This shot shows opposition of
emotion between the two
characters which could be
shown as past and present as
the past would now be behind
him which we see as smaller
and weaker in the frame and
now what has taken over as the
angry expression he shows as
he has been taken over by
someone else.
The screen flashes to red when
he becomes angry which
connotes evil and
anger, maybe this could also
represent the blood that he is
willing to shed to get out his
anger.
We see the female character
also turn to red within this
close up of her which turns into
an extreme close up. This
could indicate that she has
been killed or something has
happened to her as she
appears red in his mind.
6. Pendulum - Crush
We see a heart rate monitor printed
onto some glass which then focuses
out and we see the main character on
his own behind the glass. This
connotes that his heart rate is rising
and that he is trapped behind
something and cant get out –
represented by the glass in this shot.
We see a shot of dark figures which
could indicate that they are evil and
something is going to happen to the
main character. The fact they appear
dark opposed to the light
surroundings shows binary opposition
and that they are seen as the villain
now.
The shot shown to end the video restores
the peaceful setting of the beach back to
its former self. The way that the sun has
set in this shot also connotes that peace
has been restored and its all come to an
end now that the sanity is restored back to
normal and no more worries are present.
7. Outcome of analysis
From analysing the videos that we have as a group
we have decided to produce our music video based
upon the song Witchcraft by Pendulum. We have
chosen this as we believe that we can develop our
ideas and present a new exciting video for this genre
as we have a knowledge on the band and the genre
of music already. To do this we will further analyse
different album covers and existing digital packages
to get inspiration when producing our own that will
be individual and based on the band we have
chosen. This will make our end product of a better
quality and more original to us within this topic.
