Pendulum- Crush
The music
video Crush by Pendulum is a fast paced drum and bass song and the video it
contains is almost a drama horror because the guy in it seems to struggle with
anger and ends up killing his girlfreind/wife. The genre is expressed through all
the media ways such as mis en scene and camera work which I will talk about
later on in the essay, but also the music is very fast paced so will always
create energy and drama. The conventions of the genre are drama and horror I
think they do this because they want it to be a serious song and they want to
show that the song contains the emotions of anger and confusion especially as
sometimes the words cant even be heard they are so fast sometimes so when you
watch the video you put together your own story and become engaged in
it.
The first part I am going to analyse about
this video is the mis-en-scene, the mis-en-scene is very interesting as
everything goes from sort of light to dark this creates for me a contrast of
guilt and anger guilt being because of the white and the actor looks calm but
you can see his guilt in them parts and then he has a black shirt and everything
seems dark showing his anger, the basis of the song is that he killed his wife
through his anger and in the video it shows how they had a good relationship and
he loved her like crazy but he obviously suffers from some sort of anger
issues.
The lighting matches the clothes as in
the parts I feel he is guilty it is lighter than when he is shown as angry and
confused it is dark, this shows a massive mix of emotions for the guy as well
with the guilt anger and confusion about hurting of killing his wife. I also
think maybe because in a couple of scenes it shows him being jealous of other
guys it could meen he’s killed her over jealousy. There are some props that hint
to this story and to it being a music video as in a part in the park it shows
pendulum making them look however like a normal Parkside band so integrating
them into the story which is clever, the fact that the women is killed by him is
shown as it shoes in one scene the guy trying to defibrillator her which gives a
good indication to my theory. The name of the song is crush which I think means
he’s crushed because she’s dead, crushed emotionally.
Also the places they are is at first at home
showing how they are in the step of a relationship where they live together
shows they were in love. Then when he is on a beach it shows that he is almost
no where he has run so far to get away from all his mixed up emotions he comes
to a place where there’s nothing, but then when he gets to this place the women
is there again haunting him he just cant do it anymore and collapses with her I
think he’s finally excepting what he’s done in this
scene.
Some more mis -en-scene is also the
colour its very bright when it shows him and his partner together but when he’s
on his own its dark and sometimes the girlfriends skin changes to a grey colour
showing she’s dead.
The editing in this music
video is very quick paced there’s so many shots at the begging again to shows
his confusion and anger, later on however the song does slow down for a bit and
the editing becomes slower this is a dramatic scene on the beach with his
girlfriend so its slow I think to make it more of a sad drama section than the
fast action paced bit, this is to match with the song. The editing after
that scene goes back to fast paced.
The sound
obviously as it is a drum and bass band is very fast and there’s no external
sound except at the begging like a light buzzing I think this is to signify that
he’s lost , maybe lost in his emotions.
The
camera work in this video is very quick shots a lot of close ups and also a lot
of the time the camera is wobbly as if someone’s holding it and watching him, it
is very quick because I think they wanted to make it fast paced and when you
bring in lots of quick close ups that also helps to create the speed and energy
I think they were hoping for in the video. There are long shots in this video
and they help you see the action in the shots and show the story. The wobbliness
of the camera I think also shows how he’s un steady and could snap at any moment
as he did when you find out he killed his wife. My favourite shot is near the
end when you see his wife on the beach she’s not in the centre she’s at the side
in a long shot with a sunken boat to the right of her, This I think outlines
that she’s dead so like the boat is dead she’s with it, maybe saying that he
drowned her because she’s at the bottom of the sea now with the boat or even
strangled her because she’s in a place that had no oxygen.
The representation in this is shown in many
ways one way is clothes the guy has like pyjama tops on and the women seems to
have just chucked a shirt on maybe even his shirt this I think represents a
couple who are in love, the guy however where’s a white one showing I think
guilt and then he will wear a black one which I think like I’ve said earlier
shows his anger and confusion. The women is always wearing whit which I think is
trying to show her as an innocent women she didn’t deserve anything that
happened to her she was just in love with this guy that couldn’t control his
feelings.
There is a great contrast in this
between his feelings between colours and areas something I didnt mention earlier
is when he is on the beach it contrasts to when he is in the heart of a city as
its crazy in the city but calm in on the beach. Overall I think this music video
creates good emotion through the music video and somehow creates a story in a
small space of time that can engage people like me quite quickly and is very
intriguing .