Music Video research | Indie Pop
Artist: Bastille
Song: Pompeii
Visual Style/ Mise en scene
The music video starts off in a wide angle shot it makes the artist look lonely almost. The camera then zooms in to the artist which makes it look like all the focus on him. Then an over the shoulder shot is used to present the bands name and the name of the song, the over the shoulder shot was also was also used to show the city. A close up is used to show the artists face which shows the emotion of sadness or disappointment. This is when the music begins which creates a build up in drama. The setting of the video is in an empty city the words "walls kept crumbling down on the city that we love" this reinforce the hollowness of the city.
Narrative including techniques used
This music video has a really strong narrative as it's about the volcanic disaster in Pompeii as the whole city was buried in ash. I interpret the black eyes in the video a representation of fear as everyone the man bumped into had black eyes therefore, it connotes that they had been defeated and had lost all hope, and I think that was the groups message throughout as he was running away from his fear. It uses the binary opposition of fear V hope and even though the narrative is about that tragic event it also connotes that when something is lost it can be built back up. As an audience we are presented with a journey almost we are put in the perspective of what it was like and the lives that were destroyed.
Conventional/Unconventional
This music video is unconventional in a sense as it's not the your typical music video it tells a real story and portrays it in a very clever way. The uniqueness of the video really pulls off in my opinion. This is a good thing as it presents a message to the audience.
What works/What doesn't?
I feel like all the concepts work in this video as all the editing and narrative fits perfectly with the lyrics.
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The black eyes could also be used to represent the ash. These people with the black eyes could be people who were affected by the disaster but survived. The fact that he is the only one without black eyes could represent the fact that he feels alone and isolated in the world however it could also represent that he didn't realise the effect that the disaster had. Then at the end when he has black eyes too it could be showing us that he now knows how much damage it actually caused, not just physically but emotionally as he has seen all these other people who were effected. The close ups of the faces with the black eyes also make the video look quite sinister.
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