Music Video Deconstruction 7

Song: Mothership
Band: Enter Shikari
Year: 2006

• Enter Shikari is a British post-hardcore band with elements of electronica, dubstep, and drum and bass, formed in 2003 in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
• They have become notorious for their fusion of the aforementioned genres, something which has never been done before. 
• "Mothership" was released as a single in 2006 but they only printed 100 copies, and it was also released as a digital download, and did very well in the iTunes store. It is from the album Take To the Skies. 
• The video for "Mothership" was shot at The Underworld in Camden, London on July 2, 2006 at a live performance and was filmed by overhead cameras, angled from the ceiling.
• The video begins with Rou Reynolds, the vocalist, operating kis keyboard and electronics section on stage as the song begins; obviously the music is perfectly asynchronous as it is a live show.
• The next camera then shows the live audience, obviously enforcing the fact that it has been recorded at a venue and at a concert. 
• The cameras alternate rapidly between each band member as the song begins, and the opening power chords is then played; this provides a binary opposite to the angles used already as it is a mid shot of the guitarist taken at a human height, rather than on the ceiling. 
• The vocals come in very soon as well, and Rou is shown shouting the lyrics into his microphone, this is shown through a close up low angle taken from what looks like his keyboard stand.
• The song gets in full swing and each band member as well as most of them in one shot are shown, in a series of midshots.
• The audience are also shown having fun and getting pumped over the music, moshing, headbanging; all archetypical ways of acting at an event such as this, and these are shown through midshots looking down.
• There are also a lot of lighting effects used; obviously it is a live performance so the lights on stage would act as the lighting for the video; there are lots of strobes and flashes of red, green, blue and yellow as the video progresses.
• The camera also often shows more than one person, such as this shot where Rou and Chris Batten (bass) are on stage together, doing vocals. This is a two-shot technique, and a midshot. To film this, there was probably a cameraman in the audience. 
• Editing for this video is extremely rapid and fast paced, no shot remains on screen for more than a few seconds, and the camera angles change all the time.
• When there is a guitar break about a minute into the song, the camera focuses primarily on Rory, the guitar player, in a variety of shots, such as close up, low angled and high angled. 
• The camera shots are cycled often seeing as they are in fixed locations; some show Rou's keyboard setup, Rob (Rolfe, drums)'s overhead camera, one near Chris and one near and in front of Rory, mostly providing close ups and mid shots for a more intimate feel. 

  

  Bassist Chris Batten with one of ES's iconic glowrings.
  

• The cameras often get the recieving end of the live show as well; there are often frequent moments where they get wet due to water being thrown about or hit by the audience or band members, and this too adds to the feel of the show.
• Enter Shikari, at least in their earlier videos, sported glow rings on their fingers, which are small devices that emit a coloured light, often blue or green, to add to their lighting of the shows; for example, as well as the video for Mothership, they also wore them (but unlike Mothership, the audience wore them too) in the video for Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour which again contributed to the rave feel they are well known for, and to the energy of their songs and videos.
• The video ends with the band finishing their live performance and them applauding the crowd; Enter Shikari are well known in addition to their interactions with their audience.
• I believe there is now strict method to how the director (or indeed the band themselves) filmed this, they simply put a few cameras around the venue at certain intervals and points and swapped between them, with no proper direction as a detailed one is not needed during videos like this.