1) Artist & Track Name: Breaking Benjamin - Polyamorous
How are genre characteristics used/ subverted?
The video features a lot of voyeurism, with a couple sitting at a bank of computers and spying on various other people through CCTV.
This represents the idea that there is no privacy in modern life, and that anyone could be watching.
In this way, the genre characteristics that the band normally uses (dark settings, underlying themes) are established quickly near the start of the video.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
The lyrics and the visuals share very little in common, with the lyrics refer to the concept of submitting to more base instincts while claiming that your morales are higher (referring specifically to the lead singer's alcoholism), and the visuals painting a picture that no-one in modern life is truly alone, and that anyone could be watching you.
What is the relationship between music and visuals?
The music keeps a steady beat, using elements of alternative metal and growled vocals that swell into a heavy intro at the chorus.
The beat keeps time with the cuts from shot to shot, whilst the music video really comes into its own once the beat increases at the chorus.
Are there close-ups of the artists and star image motifs?
As well as featuring voyeuristic imagery, the video is interspersed with shots of the band playing in a disused swimming pool with a cage around them.
The band's symbol, a Gaelic Knot shaped by four capital B's linked together, can be seen in various places throughout the video, such as on tables or walls.
Is there reference to the notion of looking? Where?
At certain parts of the video, the various band members can be seen in the various rooms of the people featured throughout the video, playing their instruments but seemingly unnoticed.
At one stage of the video, the lead singer looks directly at the camera and says "But how do you know?"
His moth and eyes then fill with static energy and the camera shoots forward into what seems to be a synthetic (mechanical) reconstruction of a person's throat.
Are there any intertextual references?
An alternative version of the music video was released shortly after the original, featuring clips from the video game Run Like Hell: Hunt or be Hunted.
Is it performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based? How much of each?
A majority of the video is a mix of performance and narrative-based ideas.
This is true of a lot of Breaking Benjamin songs, though in this case there is an underlying conceptual theme of being watched by someone who is unknown or not acknowledged.
2) Artist track & name: 30 Seconds To Mars - The Kill (Bury Me)
How are genre characteristics used/ subverted?
The cinematography used makes use of the split-screen effect near the end of the video, and also uses rapid cuts between shots.
The band's habit of making subtle references to real world culture or ideas is apparent in the numerous references to the film The Shining.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is one that is dictated by the themes of the video, which focusses heavily on the idea of evaluating your own personality and determining your faults.
The lead singer relates to his own experiences with the band, such as being in the public eye, characterized by the lyric "Come break me down".
The visual representation in the video comes in the form of the dopplegangers the band members encounter.
What is the relationship between music and visuals?
In the video, the music serves to emphasize what is going on in the video, such as the abrupt silences when the screen cuts to a typewriter with the words "This is who I really am" typed over and over again on the page, mimicking the film The Shining, where the same thing happens, except with the words "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" in place of the song lyrics.
Are there close-ups of the artists and star image motifs?
The video cuts between the narrative of exploring the hotel, and various shots of the band's doppelgangers playing on a stage in a ballroom.
The number 6277 appears in a close-up of one of the hotel rooms that one of the band members enters, which on a telephone keypad spells "Mars", and also serves as a reference to The Shining, where the main characters are told to stay out of room 237.
Is there reference to the notion of looking? where?
Jared Leto, the band's lead singer, sings portions of the song's lyrics as he explores the hotel, most notably when he slams his doppelganger up against the wall when they meet, shouting the lyric "This is who I really am!" at himself.
At the very first line of the video, Leto looks directly at the camera, saying the lyric "What if I wanted to break?" as he raises his head.
Are there intertextual references?
The video is heavily based off the film The Shining, using a similar setting, and similar ideas, such as the doppelgangers that appear when one of the band members enters room 6277.
Several other scenes, such as when Matt Watcher encounters a mirror image of himself, who serves him a drink at the hotel's bar, and when Jared Leto types "This is who I really am!" over and over on a typewriter, mimicking a similar act performed by one of the characters in the film.
The part of the video set in the ballroom at the end is also reminisce of a photo featured at the end of The Shining, which features people dancing in a ballroom with clones of themselves.
Is it performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based? How much of each?
The video is primarily narrative-based, and follows the plot of The Shining loosely, with many of the events occurring in the film happening to the band members as the video progresses.
The video is also concept-based, focussing on the concept of facing your true personality, and coming face-to-face with the worst aspects of your personality.
3) Artist & Track name: Linkin Park - Burn It Down
How are genre characteristics used/ subverted?
A lot of the band's iconic, long-standing alternative rock roots feature heavily in the video, mixed with their newer, more "electro" beat and imagery.
The video also characterizes how the band has grown since their formation.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
The lyrics and the visuals have no relationship.
The lyrics refer to the effect of pop culture on celebrities and artists, and how audiences build up a certain expectation of those artists, and are then disappointed when they do something wrong or are suspected thus, or are accused by the media.
The visuals refer to how hard the band are worked and the stress that fame puts on them, to the extent that they burst into flames near the end.
What is the relationship between music and visuals?
The music ties the song together, keeping time with the visuals and making the heavy, electronic beat match the pace of the music video.
the faster the beat gets, the more quick cuts feature in the video.
Are there any close-ups of the artists and star image motifs?
The video is completely performance based, featuring close-ups of the entire band playing and singing.
Is there any reference to the notion of looking?
There is very little relation between the band and the camera, the only one being when the two lead vocalists sing whilst looking at the camera.
Are there any intertextual references?
No, the band rely completely on their performance to promote the video and the music, with the only real intertextuality relating to their previous videos and promotions.
Is it performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based?
The video is entirely performance-based, with visual effects dubbed in such as the band bursting into flames and static electricity surrounding them.
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