Music Video Analysis

Lostprophets

Bring 'Em Down

This video focuses mainly on narrative as there is no full band performance in the video. Like the Young Guns video, low key lighting is used which matches the darker tone of the narrative which conventionally coincides with the lyrics of the song. The video starts with close up shots, then cutting to a close up of the lead singer who lip syncs when the lyrics start, a typical convention of music videos.

As the video mainly focuses on narrative there is a lot more to it, including more characters and more thought into the actual plot of the narrative. There is a lot more focus on the lead singer of the band than the other members, so much so that for someone who comes across the video without any knowledge of the band, it would be unlikely that they would know who the other members are from this video. For Lostprophets, who have been around over ten years, it won't have too much of an effect, but for new artists I think it is important to establish the band in the music videos, as this is what the public are most likely to see from the band.

Effects used include slow motion shots which keep reappearing in a number of music videos across genre, and fast focus pulls. Both of these help to emphasis the tone of the video. Low key lighting also does this. There are several 360 turns of the camera on some shots which is effective as it is a way of putting across the feeling of the lead singer within the narrative. The editing becomes much more fast pace in the middle and end of the video as the story becomes more about action and the song nears the end. The editing starts of on the beat, but towards the end of the song it happens a lot less, because of where the narrative has gone and the fast pace nature of it. The video ends as it started with a shot of nothing but smoke.