Music Video Analysis: Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart.

(Unfortunately, I was unable to embed the music video onto the blog and could find no other YouTube links so I'll just post the URL : www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq-yP7mb8UE )

I chose to do a music video analysis of this song because I believe that the genre is close to that of the xx, whose song we are making our video to. I also chose this video because I believe that it is a great music video and that, as a group, we could take a lot of idea's from it.However, running at 8 minutes and 31 seconds, "I will Possess your heart" is more like a short film than a music video.

Type of Video: It is a performance/narrative music video.

Setting: The narrative features shots in several different locations around the world whereas the performance is located in a dark, wet and cold room.

Camerawork: In the narrative, the shots are mainly close-ups and midshots, however a few long shots are used also. In the performance, midshots are mainly used to show the band member with there instruments.

Lighting: In the narrative, it changes as the different locations of the woman are shown and in the performance, the lighting is mainly low key at the start but it slowly grows lighter as the video goes on and in the bridge of the song, the light is the brightest and is exaggerated post-production.

Main idea of the Video: A person's quest for the love a person who they cannot regularly see.

Editing: Straight cuts, growing slightly more rapid as the music builds up to build up the climax of the song.

Main characters: Band, Unnamed Woman (the love interest?)

I believe that the real brilliance behind this video is in the post-production stages, though the camerawork, lighting and other parts of production are good, the editing and lighting effects really help the video and the music blend together at the crescendo in the bridge and it is really effective.

Music Video Analysis: The xx - Crystalised

Genre: Indie Rock

Lyrical Analysis: Some believe that the song is about drug addiction, specifically Methamphetamine or Crystal Meth. This shows the link to the title and it can also be seen in the lyrics: "I've done things in small doses" and references to "paradise" and being "paralyzed". However, one theory is it being about global warming and the impacts it has: "Glaciers have melted to the sea, I wish the tide would take me over". I believe this to be the more credible theory and it is backed up the images of the sea, the sky and the sun that are shown in the video.

Video Analysis: The music video is entirely performance-based and includes the 4 origonal members. (second guitarist and keyboardist Baria Qureshi left the group in late 2009). The whole video is shots of the band performing with a projector shining images of nature onto them and the wall behind them. The camera shots are nearly always moving and are mostly short pans from one band member to the next.
There are many close-ups of all the band members and there instruments but the singers are the main focus as with most music videos. When the rhythm of the music increases, it is noticable that the shots become shorter and are all straight cuts. However, when the music slows down, the shots linger a little longer and there are more fade outs/ fade in's. Here we can see directors Alex Flick and Masato Riesser trying to increase the continuity of the film and to try and make it flow together.
The band members in the video move away from the stereotypes of their genre, through there black simplistic clothing they try to make it about the music and not about the image, which is not usually an idea an indie band would incorperate. However, the mannerisms of the band do very much fit with there genre; moody faces, apathetic attitude etc.
Overall, I enjoyed the video. It gives the watcher a chance to see what the band look like and how they use different instruments than that normally be used ( drum machine/beat pad instead of a drum kit) Though I suspect that The xx did not have a huge budget for this video, I believe it has been executed very well and is a great example of a performance-based music video.