Monday 5 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 12

Song: Meddler
Band: August Burns Red
Year: 2009


  • August Burns Red is an American, Christian metalcore band, from Manheim, Pennsylvania, formed in March 2003.
  • The band is primarily known for their heavy breakdowns and odd-meter riffs. They state Between the Buried and MeMisery Signals and Hopesfall as their main influences.
  • "Meddler" is taken off their third album, Constellations, and was released in 2009.
  • It is the second single to be taken off, after "White Washed".
  • "Meddler" is both a narrative concept and a performance-based music video, with the band playing in one location and other events happening elsewhere. 
  • The video begins with an extreme long shot of a hill's horizon set against a burning orange sky, with a man holding what seems to be a massive balloon.
  • There are a few following shots of various members of the band (you assume so, they are all silhouettes, shadows) creating a narrative enigma, toying with the balloon and examining it, all on the horizon.
  • The vocals come in and the performance of the video begins; the band begin playing in a corn field at night, but there are huge lights burning down from the sky in the backdrop. 





  • The two sets of narrative begin; the band start playing with lots of close-ups and panning shots to include every member, and the surreal narrative concept begins again as well, people running around brandishing balloons.
  • There are lots of shots involving the camera encircling a band member, normally at a close-up range, in order to focus on everything they're doing.
  • In addition, some of the footage is obviously done with a hand-held camera as there is lots of shaking shots, especially during heavier parts of the song.
  • During the first solo, the camera is focused almost entirely on JB, the guitarist. There are a few intermittent shots of the strange narrative as well. 
  • There are many shots as well of Jake (Luhrs, vocals) performing his role against the same backdrop as the narrative concept, i.e. the sunset and the bright orange sky, yet no other band members are shown this way.
  • There are a few moments where the film is tilted to the side anti-clockwise, such as the men running with the balloons about two fifths of the way through.
  • Dutch angles are also used frequently when filming Matt (Greiner) on his drums, yet the tilts are subtle and not overbearing. 
More of the video for Meddlers' strange narrative; there is also a constant narrative
enigma as to who the figures are, yet I assume it's the band. This part of the video
doesn't seem to have a storyline either, just a series of random occurences.


There is also a large focus on instruments during certain areas, like this close-up of
JB's guitar whilst playing his solo.
  • There is also a varied mix of lighting, the orange skies often blend with the bright white lights of the band's performance area, giving the video a more striking feel. 



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