MUSIC VIDEO DECONSTRUCTIONS

Lyrics:

(Mu-mu-mu-mad-mad-mad) x3

I… I can’t get these memories out of my mind.

And some kind of Madness,

Has started to evolve, mmm.

And I… I tried so hard to let you go.

But some kind of Madness,

Is swallowing me whole, yeah.

I have finally seen the light.

And I… have finally realized.

What you mean…

Oh oh oh

And now, I need to know if it’s real love.

Or is it just Madness,

Keeping us afloat, mmm.

And when I look back, at all the crazy fights we have,

Like some kind of M-m-madness,

Was taking control, yeah.

And now I have finally seen the light,

And I… have finally realized,

What you need, mmm.

(Mu-mu-mu-mad-mad-mad) x2

And now I have finally seen the end,

(I have seen the end)

And I’m… I’m expecting you to care,

(Expecting you to care)

And I… have finally seen the light,

(Have finally seen the light)

And I… have finally realized,

(Realized)

(I NEED TO LOVE) x2

Come to me,

Trust in a dream,

Come on and rescue me.

Yes, I know, I can’t be wrong,

Baby, you’re too head-strong.

Our love is…

(Mu-mu-mu-mad-mad-mad) x4

Theme of these lyrics is love. Muse sing about that period after breaking up, when you can’t stop thinking about past relationships and you can’t let that person go, doesn’t matter how hard you will try. Pain of the heartbreak makes you question everything you done and you start to think that everything you done was wrong. When Matthew Bellamy sings ‘Mu-mu-mu-mad-mad-mad’ in the begging of the song, it reminds me of the sound of heartbeat, which is very fast, because of the adrenaline. Also at that time we can see projected photos on the wall, which afterwards will refer to the memories of his relationships. Video is shot in dark, blue colours with some spots of pinkie-red. Dark, blue colours represent sadness, depression, which main character feel. Red colours stand for the pure love.

Before his first performance of this song alive, Matthew said that he wrote it after he got in a really big fight with Kate Hudson, his fiancée at that time. She left him alone to think about their relationships. After Matthew wrote this song and he said that it is his favorite one, as it is most personal and emotional for him. So originally this song is about the moment when he realized all mistakes he made and he asks her to come back and give him one more chance.

Narrative:

Overall, theme of this music video is love and how easy it is to lose the person you love. How sometimes our ego can break something what is much more important. It talks about the fact, that while we have person next to us, we don’t appreciate what he does for us. However, people usually realize it, when it is already too late.

Music video starts with the two shot of man and woman sitting back to back to each other, smoking and waiting till the fight outside will be over. I think it is representation of broken relationships, as they both are sitting relaxed and doing nothing, when it looks like they have to react on everything what happens. Fight with policemen shows their inner fight between what is right and wrong. It makes this video very abstract and more interesting, as it encourage people to watch it over and over again to find something new. Also it makes audience feel more personal to this song, as they will see in this music video something what is closer to them.

When Matthew sings ‘I have finally realized’, in narrative part police are getting over hooligans. It represents that main character realized his mistakes and got rid of wrong thoughts.

Costume/makeup:

Woman in this video is dressed very provocative, but it looks very tasteful and doesn’t look cheap. She has very short and open dress, which suggests that probably video was made for the male gaze. Band in this video is dressed in a dark casual clothes. First of all it is for the audience to concentrate on the narrative part. I think that these costumes are not related to narrative that much, but they are there to support visual, esthetic part of the video.

Woman in this music video doesn’t have any special make-up. Her make-up shows her as a mature sexy female, it makes her look a little bit wild, it shows her as a free woman. We can clearly see that she is not one of  the housewives, she is rebellious. She is seeking for attention, as it is possible that she doesn’t get enough from her partner.

All of that doesn’t affect narrative much, but it allocates target audience of muse. It shows their style and their preferences. It represent Muse as a mature band.

Main actors in this music video are very attractive, it gives to this video expensive look. Because of model actors, this video does’t look very real, it has American glossy feel in it.

Performance:

This music video has narrative and ‘live’ parts. Main characters are played by actors in this music video. I think it is made this way for the visuals, as this music video is supposed to be very stylish. From the one hand, this kind of divide between narrative and ‘live’ parts makes song less personal. From the other hand it might allow audience to feel this story better, as audience will see actors as simple people and not famous singers.

Actors in narrative part don’t show any emotions almost for the whole music video, they subtly suggesting the emotion, until the end. It makes the end bit even more emotional. I think that fight behind them is made especially for that. It represent actors feelings and emotions. It is possible that it is made as a suggestion of people behavior in their relationships. They are trying to show others that they are alright, when actually there is a big fight going on inside of them. The only emotion which actress will show will be screaming almost in the end of the music video. She will scream, while Matthew Bellamy sings ‘I NEED TO LOVE’. It is a break down of this particular music video, as it shows real emotions of the main character.

‘Live’ part of this video is shot in a very unusual place, it is not on the stage, but more like it is located within the mise-en-scene of narrative. However, it is shown, as if band were invisible. It blurs the lines between the narrative and performance. It helps this video to stay abstract, for audience to interpret it in their own way. Also live part with all the close-ups shows feelings of the singer, it makes this song more emotional and personal. Also, the song was written by Matthew in the time when he got in fight with his fiancee, it made it even more emotional and on the music video his performance was more sensitive.

Camera/lighting:

Music video starts with two shot of woman and a man sitting in the train, it shows their connection. However they are sitting back to back to each other, what represents that there is something standing in-between of them. Also they cant see faces of each other, what shows that in their relationships they are not interested in each others feelings and thoughts. Next close-up shows man looking at the woman over his shoulder, it looks like he is actually want’s to change their relationships.

For the most part of narrative camera was driven by main female character. It was shot with the dolly to make it smoother and neat, it showed her grace. She is represented like a woman for which you should fight as she is perfect. It is supported with considerable amount of close ups, which show all her beauty.

Live part of the music video is shot with the held camera effect, what represents instability and madness about which Matthew Bellamy is singing.

Lightening plays very big part in this music video. Music video is quite dark and in blue tones, it represents state of the singer and main male actor. Depression, sadness… However red and pink lights shows audience their feelings, represent love. Also the flashes used for this video shows audience madness and chaos. Flashes used in this video helps audience to understand state of the main characters. They are similar to one used in parties, when people can’t really understand was going on. The same feel actors in this music video, they are lost and confused, as lightening adds dramatic feel to the video as it contrasting and shows the action of band and actors in melodramatic way. Moreover, these flashes and lights help to blur the lines between filmic lightening and live performance lightening.

All of that together works well in supporting narrative, theme and visuals of this video. It shows audience relationships between characters, opens their feelings and shows their state. Also lightening is very stylish, it supports their choice of actors, as overall makes it more fashionable.

Edit, Special FX and overdubbed sound:

This music video starts with the silent two shot scene, it makes audience to feel a little bit uncomfortable even though it is not completely silent. It represents emotions of the main characters, they feel uncomfortable with each other. In this video were used lots of cross fades, dissolves and superimpositions. It added hypnotic visual effects to the video. Also it is sympathetic to the style of the song, as it is quite unconventional, stylish and abstract. Also because of the song rhythm and style there are no quick camera movements, everything is very smooth, shoot with the dolly or tracking shot.

While couple sits in the train, there is a fight between police and hooligans outside, which is shown in slow motion. This fight represent their fight with themselves, between what is right and what is wrong. Also, slow motion exaggerates the drama of the fight, shows reactions, muse and actors performance. All of that emphasizes the Hollywood styling. Moreover, it goes well with the relaxed, slow and pensive tempo of the track.

In this music video pace of edit was quite slow, it goes with the song tempo. However because of the flashes used, it looks like it is very fast. Pace  of the editing is fast closer to the end, when music slow. Also for this part they used shots of fight in slow motion. Combination of these makes audience to feel that something is wrong. At the same moment Matthew Bellamy sings ‘I have finally realized’, so by this kind of editing style audience can feel the same way as singer and main characters.

Representation:

Main character in this music video is sexy and beautiful female. They used exhibitionism here, as actress looks very vulnerable, but we know that she is charge in their relationships, she has all the power. She wares very open clothes, by that she exposes her body making men think about her sexuality. Also it shows that video was created for male gaze.

This video represents Muse as a real people, with real problems. They are popular band, but it won’t help them in their relationship problems, they have to deal with them as all the other people. Choice of location and costumes also helped with this task, it made this abstract video more real.

Target audience:

This video is targeted on mature tasteful and fashionable people. Visually this music video reminds clothes advertising, because of the model actors, it makes this video very esthetic and fashionable. Moreover, this clothes style is also very close to one, which prefers this TA. Location of this music video also is very close to their target audience. They are using undergrounds to travel all over the city, from their houses to their work. As target audience of Muse are esthetes, they will appreciate transformation of the part of their routine life. Also beginning of the video represent and attract their TA at the same time, as main characters in narrative part smoke and most part of Muse fans are smokers.

Inter-texuality:

This music video has reference to rioting in underground happened few years ago in London. It is familiar theme to everyone, as it was shown on the news all over the world. People know what it represent and it makes them feel in particular way. This reference suggest a moral edge to the song and it shows that Muse is aimed at the mature, globally aware people.