In this blog post I am going to look at the music video 'The Pretender' by the Foo Fighters; this music video is a complete performance video and has a lot of pans, zooms and tracking shots and is presented in letterbox format. Foo Fighters perform in an air plane hangar; a big warehouse that stores aeroplanes, it has many strip lights on the roof and a big red screen behind the band.
This is the first shot in the video; the lead singer Dave Grohl walks in and picks up his guitar, the shot is a high angle long shot and the lighting is natural bright, and shows a reflection of the strip lighting on the floor. Because the camera is so far away we can't see the singers' face so we are yet to see the identity.
In this next shot we still can't see the singers' face, the shot is a low angle shot. The costume is very simple and basic, we can see that Dave Grohl has tattoos which we typically link with rockstars, as well as this we can see the guitar, the lights on the ceiling are very white mixing in with Dave Grohls' t-shirt and the bottom half of the screen is black mixing in with his dark jeans.
This shot shows the white floor with a black line, we don't know what the line means therefore we are more intrigued to watch the video. It looks just like the shot above with the black guitar strap across Dave Grohls' white t-shirt. Following this Dave Grohl starts singing with no instruments just his voice, then the rest of the band come in and drums and guitars are played, the volume increases and the tempo picks up. As well as this the camera shots get faster and zoom onto the drummer and the guitarist's faces.
This shot shows a black silhouette walking in, in the background the band are still playing, it turns out that the silhouette is a riot officer, the officer stands behind the black line throughout the performance and watches the band.
This is a good shot, it's like the band and the riot officer are having a stand off with the band using their instruments and the riot office using his guard. It is a long shot coming from behind the lead singer Dave Grohl with the officer in the background making him look small like the band has control over him, he is more powerful.
The above shot shows more riot officers coming in, they are opposite Dave Grohl who is stood on his own, it is like a fight. It goes with the lyric 'what if I say I will never surrender' this could mean that they are won't surrender to the riot officers. As the quieter bridge begins, the video slows down as the officers charge (below) at the band. Then just as the band repeat their chorus, the red screen behind the band explodes and liquid erupts from it, this overwhelms the officers however the band are not put off and revel at the fact while continuing to perform.
The shot above shows the riot officers being pushed away from the liquid, whereas the below one is of Dave Grohl singing and carrying on.
The last shot is of Dave Grohl smashing is guitar onto the floor and then he falls to his knees, this is like after fighting and winning the battle against the riot officers he has won. The red could con notate danger, passion, devil, fire, energy, power, determination, desire and war. Therefore the red on this video could represent the power and determination to win against the riot officers. Props are very limited in this video, it's just the instruments that the band use and then the guards and helmets that the riot officers wear, the setting is very basic and because it is so big and white it looks hollow. This music video is a very good example of a performance video because it is simple yet effective and tells a slight story between 2 people fighting against each other.
The costume in this video is very simple because it is a performance video by the rock band all they're wearing is skinny jeans and a t-shirt, skinny jeans are a common item that is con-notated as to being a 'rock' factor. It represents the rock band's genre and their image. The lighting is very bright as it is in a warehouse it shows big lights representing a bright and upbeat video. However towards the end the colour of the video is very red because of the water that comes through from the backdrop, the colour red connotes blood, passion, love and the devil. The action is very simple at first but then action builds up as we are introduced to the officers when they run in, the atmosphere increases and the action gets faster. Make-up again is very simple and noone is wearing it. Props include the shields and helmets that the officers wear however that is it, the band have their instruments as well. The setting is in an air plane hangar where air planes are usually stored, it looks like a big warehouse.
Hannah Culley
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