Engima: Exploring Similar Videos - Nickelback

Nickelback - This Means War While Becky was absent I researched videos which had similar locations. This Means War by Nickelback has similar ideas to what we have about having a primarily performance based music video. Nickelbacks video was filmed all in one take, where they just rocked out and went mental while the camera caught it on film.

The key elements is the lighting and the camera angles. This proved to me cruicial, because for our video not to get boring we need as many camera angles as possible and fast cuts to make it entertaining. Lighting also helped with a dramatic atmosphere to the song, along with the video. The effects they added in also was interesting, the use of shaking and bright orange flashes. Also the zoom in and out of the camera to emphasis of the drum beat, was very effective. It emphasised the aggression in the song, as if you were being attacked. The lights were two major lights in the video, giving a lot of shadow and darkness, which was useful as it contrasted with the light.

Continued...



Analyse

The opening of the music video are mainly extreme close ups, with a aged effect layered. The shots only last a couple of seconds before switching. This follows the fast pace beat of the music.

The extreme shot of the foot was particularly inspired for my music video, I really like how, despite it being short, gives it variety and the other shots which focuses above the torso.     

The wide shots show the band in a diamond formation. Were they are situated is balanced out and the one spotlight brings attention to the centre of the diamond, putting light on each band member. The lighting, clothing and colours are all very dark and relates to the song which is essentially a hate song, emphasising on anger. The lack of colour sets the atmosphere of the rest of the video.  

The pans and tracking shots are fast paced and do blur. The focus of the shots go in and out a lot, but it works with the video. It could be symbolic suggesting that the band are out of control and angry. The concept of being 'blinded with rage'  


The pace of the edit is in 3's which follows the drumbeat, allowing it to flow successfully on to the next track. The shots focus on all the band, not anyone in particular. 

Effects -
There is evidence of a type of earthquake effect, which makes the shots shake. This emphasises how loud they are playing, because when music is loud enough the amps move etc. Commonly seen in cartoons.
Colours - A bright orange/yellow light is inserted for a spilt second, which contrasts with the large amount of black and grey. It add colour, but the colour is reminiscent of fire - fire has connotations  of the emotion anger. The yellow contrasts with the black and gives the illusion of a heat sensor camera or a negative effect.