The song in question is Lies by Fenech Soler, the band first came to my attention whilst looking for video's to analyze. I found them on NME's website, they were promoting this single.
This music video by Fenech Soler has a narrative and performance in the video, narrative at the start, and performance towards the end. The video starts with a large spear pointed in the air, it then cuts to the lead singer of main band member lying on the floor, a close up is used. Close ups are used a lot to show the audience the main character, after they are trying to sell the band. A lot of cuts are used to establish the where they are, where he is positioned and where the women clutching the spear is, the cuts add confusion, tension and also a sense of anxiety to whether the man is safe or not. The first line of the song is "look up look up I'm bleeding", the visuals react and work with the lyrics as the woman pierces the spear through the mans chest, she does not react and stares down at the man. Cuts are used constantly in this video, from the dazed man struggling to get up, it cuts to four women standing around him, dressed the same as the woman who stabbed him with the spear, they are dressed like roman goddesses, long white dresses, with gold belts and jewellery, however he is dressed normally. The line "am i am i just dreaming" links very well linked with the visuals in the video at this point. The way he repeats his words also adds to the dazed and confused character we are faced with. For example "am i am i" and "look up look up". The bands mise en scene does works with the genre of indie rock, they where a lot of loose, light clothing. White and gold are defenitely two of the most commonly used colours in the video, not only with the women dancing, but also with the band members. Cardigans and gold chains are also worn by the band members, the lead singers tassels on his jacket almost make him look like an army official, i think that enforces his role of leader, he isn't actually captured untill very late on in the video and when he does there is a little fight from him, almost like he is the army general protecting his band members.
He tries to escape from their capture, and they try to block him off, he's there prisoner almost, "i want you to stop with me tonight" is the line whilst this image is shown, once again lyrics linking with visuals. As he escapes he sees more women dressed
the same, this time staring at golden skulls and a women strangling another women, the line at the time is "you're telling me white lies sleeping with another man" the visuals could represent the women killing off her lovers tot cover back. The fight is also in slow motion emphasizing the struggle between the two of them. Even th
e slow parts of the song cuts are still used, they are always building tension, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat, and keeping that confusion idea running through out. Up next comes a slow piece of dancing, quite seductive in a way. By the same women.A long shot of a man lying down in the grass, is a fascinating image, and it gets the
audience thinking, you are wandering if he also will be stabbed by the spear. He is also dazed and confused. However this time the women pick him up, and it looks like they are caring for him and helping him. The man slowly walks away with the women by his side. The camera slowly spins around the lead singer who is on his own singing, the line at the time is "look out look out I'm moving". The next man is found by the women, there are roughly fifteen cuts used during this 7-8 second period of filming, the video's feel of confusion remains with these fast rapid cuts, extreme close ups and close ups are used on the mans face to really show his feelings and his innocence in the situation at the time. However once again the women are there to help him and guide him up whilst he walks away. This sequence is mainly dominated by close ups, (see below)
The reason for why so many close ups are used, is to to capture the true emotions on the mans face. His fear and his confusion play a hugely important role in this video, and keeping that confusion link running through out is integral to the videos success.
"You're telling me white lies sleeping with another man" this line is used through out the song, the frame on fire, could be like a family portrait burning, or even the relationship that has become destroyed, it could also be a mirror, in that case the clip could mean something about people not being what they look like on the outside.
After this intriguing clip, comes the next band member lying down, confused and out of place with everything. Close ups are used for this sequence of events again, (see below) the music video is always wanting to push home that feel of confusion to the audience. Once again the women dressed like roman goddesses surround him and pick him up, and lead him off. He also touches the back of his head where he brings out a mysterious gold glittery mix, (see below) which was coming out of the first band member who was stabbed. I think the middle picture below really emphasize the fear and confusion in the sequence of events happening at the moment, he's pale, scruffy, bloodshot eyed and there are even signs of tears coming from the man. The colour gold is used a lot throughout the video, the lady's clothing, the mans chain and also the mysterious gold like blood they find. It adds many things to the video, royalty, luxury but mainly a sense of class, which many of the male band members are lacking.
The men are then led to a field using a tracking shot, where the four women are dancing around a tree in a very formal, sexual way. This is filmed stationery, i think filming it stationery makes it look elegant and you can really appreciate the true beauty of the dancing. However the dancing is then filmed by using hand held camera with lots of cuts to speed up the dancing and build tension, you cant see the band members it makes you anxious as the audience. The lead singer creeps up for a closer look and sees his band members flung to the floor in a very aggressive way, by the seductively dressed women. He is then also taken, and escorted by the women, using a hand held camera, it makes it look like you are actually walking with him feeling his emotions and fear with him. It then switches to a medium shot of the
lead singer singing on his own in a passionate way with a grey and blue sky surrounding him. A huge fire roars in front if him, and the line "you say white lies i say so long" plays whilst he is flung to the ground using a medium close up, he lifts his head up slowly, it is captured by a close up on his face to truly see the emotion and fear on his face.
The band breaks into performance! With close ups of instruments and the lead singer. It starts with a close up of the drummer, drumming frantically. Up next are the guitarists with close ups and medium close ups used to film them, this way the audience
gets to see and truly experience the skill of these guys and there extraordinary talents. Its not only the instruments they film it is also their faces, the audience can see their passion and how much they are loving it. The clips of the band are all 1 - 2 seconds long with cuts used to end the sequence the cuts keep the anticipation growing and the liveliness of the video going, if they were to use a cross dissolve it would completely ruin the whole pace and look of the video. The performance side of this video is fantastic with wonderful angles of guitars and drums streaming all the way through, when the whole of the band are filmed together the camera is at a stationery point, and the lead singer actually leans towards it, instead of the camera doing all the work. The third clip is the stationery shot, when the camera is in a still position, the band can work with this camera angle and position to show off the personal take and skills on to the video. Please see pictures below.
The video ends with the fire blazing in the background, the fire is burning all the way through out the video, as you can see above. The fire is filmed with a stationery camera shot, and it is also filmed in slow motion, emphasizing how destructive it is.
Lyrics:
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