Vermillion - Slipknot (Music Video Research 7)

Artist: Slipknot.
Track: Vermillion.
Genre: Metal.




Visual Style/Mise-en-scene:
This music video is edited together at a fast face which matches the fast pace of the track. The video contains stop motion which makes the outsiders appear to be walking much faster than the woman which makes her look isolated. The woman's costume is torn and dirty which again links to the video that she is isolated. This video has a jolted effect to it which was created by the woman walking slowed than the other people and then editing it to be in stop motion.

Narrative:
The story in this music video is shown clearly and begins when the woman finds a Caterpillar that she keeps in a jar. Throughout the first part of the video the woman seems calm and misunderstood however, when the Caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, she loses it and with the butterfly goes her sanity. The rest of the video follows her search for the butterfly whilst slowly losing her mind. This is shown by her pulling out her hair and her standing and leaning over a bridge which shows us shes having suicidal thoughts. At the end of the video, she finds the butterfly, however, the butterfly is dead. Despite this, the woman's sanity is reinstated and she returns to equilibrium. The woman stands looking over the bridge with the butterfly in the final shot and then this video ends. This makes the audience wonder if her sanity really did come back or whether she still had suicidal thoughts.

Conventional/Unconventional:
There is a narrative resolution to this music video which is shown by the woman's sanity being restored. This narrative resolution is a typical convention used in music videos despite the genre. Despite this, what is unique about this video is the fact that it is filmed in stop motion. This is a feature that is not used often in music videos and therefore singles it out from other videos.

What works/What doesn't:
What works in this music video is the fact that it is edited in stop motion to make the woman look like she is at a different pace to everyone else. Not only does this keep the audience entertained and provide them with something they haven't seen before, it also allows them to sympathize for the main protagonist (the woman) and allows them to see the story even clearer. This creates an emotional response for the audience and makes their music video stand out and be memorable.