Thursday 4 August 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 2

Song: Burnt Tongues
Band: Your Demise
Year: 2009


  • This music video begins in a rather intriguing way; there is a dutch angle featuring the (now former) vocalist walking down a hallway. There is a grainy, dreary filter effect used in this shot, implying it was shot using a security camera or CCTV of some sort, and the band and the song's titles are typed out in green computer text below.
  • The camera then changes to a low shot/mid/close up of the vocalist walking down the hallway, and there are intermittent uses of dutch angles and extreme close ups of his face, and blurry and grainy filters.
  • The rest of the band are then portrayed in this fashion, with the guitarist walking outside with a mysterious case (obviously his guitar but used to signify a gun of some sort)
  • Another shot integrating the use of convetional CCTV effects is used, portraying a long shot of the vocalist and guitarist obviously organising some questionable deal. 
  • There are then close ups of various band members who have all rendezvoused putting on black balaclavas, making them appear scary and daunting, obviously using the British gangster archetype. 
  • A noticeable red tint is also used frequently here.
  • There are also a lot of POV shots of the driver and singer in the front of the van, and a zoom-in is used when another hooded figure starts approaching them with a baseball bat. 
  • It is here that the performance aspect of the video begins; the vocalist is portrayed in front of the camera screaming down a mic, and a wide variety of shots are used to portray this, including close ups, extreme close ups, mid shots, and at frequent uses, what I suspect is a chest harness camera angle. Once a few seconds of performance have passed, the video for Burnt Tongues then switches rapidly between the narrative, which seems to involve the band being beaten senseless by thugs, or the band beating eachother up (it's hard to tell with all the fast editing) and them performing live.
  • As the video progresses, there are more and more shots of the vocalist running away from what's happening, by using a chest harness-mounted camera and showing close ups of his terrified face.
  • A majority of the video is shot using handheld cameras, a perfect example being the camera following the vocalist as he sprints through some woodland.
  • It is around 1:30 in the video where the audience is depicted; there are circle/mosh pits everywhere and people having a good time, generally 15-20 year olds, at a hardcore show, audiences like these are often used a lot in metal videos.                                               
  • As usual, a large amount of the video is shot with a certain filter to make the footage look grimy and dirty, in fitting with the song and the band's hardcore image.
  • Within the performance aspect, there are frequent close ups of the band playing their instruments as well. 
  • Obviously the singer is lip-synching, but there are zoom-ins of the audience members singing along to the song as well, often done in black and white. There are actually two narratives of the band playing, one in a dark room with only them shown, and the other featuring a live show and the audience.
  • Towards the end of the video, the CCTV camera is revealed to be being used by another masked individual, being shown through a close-up.
  • The last still of the video is a stencil of the band's famous logo, with the computerised green text from the start being shown again, as "To be continued".
Here is the video on Vimeo. I would embed the YouTube clip but WMG forbids distribution this way.


Your Demise 'Burnt Tongues' from You Know on Vimeo.







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