This music video features some key
conventions of a rock band trying to promote the single of ‘Black Chandelier”.
One of the main techniques the director uses to entertain the audience is
through cinematography. We get a montage of establishing shots to illustrate
where the music video is set before the song starts; this demonstrates the
songs dark themes because of the close up on the black drips over the bands
equipment. This then switches to a tracking shot of a helicopter flying over
the building where the band is playing. This connotes an intensity bringing in
connotations of danger and urgency. Not only does the cinematography help progress
the story of the video, but it also informs the audience of who the band
members are, with close ups of the guitarist/singer, bassist and drummer the
director establishes who the video is promoting. Which is followed by long
shots of the whole band, endorsing the equipment they are using such as Peavey
and Fender.
Apart from the establishing of location and
band members the director also brings in extras to create antagonists in the
video, creating a theme of light verses dark. There is the use of a pan to take
in the number of antagonists going towards the band. This is a technique that
the director has used to link the story to the song itself with the lyrics of
the song such as “There’s a Black Chandelier, casting shadows and lies.” This
works with the intense close-ups of the vacant expression of the antagonists,
linking the entertainment of the video with the lyrics.
Another feature of the music video that the
director uses to create entertainment for the audience of the video is through
the different editing techniques. One key technique used is through the
variation of the editing pace. It switches between verse and chorus of the song
with the verse having more regular changes in the verse, which are in time with
the drums, to the more erratic changes of the bridge and chorus.
Not only this but the end pan of the
antagonists frozen before the band illustrates the lyrical content of the song
of “we’re going to separate ourselves tonight”.
This also is a use of match-on-action, linking together the shot of the
antagonists with the lead vocalist singing. This is emphasized with the fade to
whites that coincide with the lights emitted from the helicopters flying past
the building. This illustrates usually is a technique to illustrate a dream
sequence or an unreliable narrator. This use of editing entertains the audience
because the director is constantly bringing in extra factors for the viewer to
pick up on, adding action to the song.
The sound of the song is very typical the
bands usual style of anthemic rock music. This was released as the second
single off their album to show a progression from previous releases. In order
to gather a sense of setting around the video the director opens with a
diegetic sound of an empty courtyard. This builds suspense around the video
because it is premiering the song.
The non-diegetic sound produced by the band
begins with the repeated lyrics of “drip, drip, drip” which then goes into a
minor key, with lyrics displaying the themes of the video. The song’s structure
is a standard verse/chorus that switches into a heavy middle eighth, which
gives a sense of this intense situation around the band. This resolves itself
to enter a major chorus, which emphasizes its impact with the explosion that
takes place in time with the music. Not only this but the end is an imperfect
cadence and is illustrated by a fade to black, which connotes the end of the
video. This is an entertaining technique because it gives the viewer the sense
that the song isn’t properly finished and there is opportunity for it to
continue.
Lastly, the music promo creates a vast
amount of it’s entertainment through the use of mise-en-scene. The band are all
topless in the video, this is because they are now identified for playing
topless at all their live shows. This takes on the view that the director has
made the promo to inform the audience on who the members of the band are. Not
only this but the band all have the equipment they are associated with. This
comes in the form of product placement for a signature fender Stratocaster
guitar and the other instruments in shot.
Another feature of the mise-en-scene that is
developed through the promo is the antagonists painted completely in black.
This links to the name of the song “black chandelier” and as a colour the
associations of death. They run in the streets towards the band running over
cars making them appear animalistic. Not only this but the lighting that the
director uses helps to encourage the dark atmosphere.
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