Analysing Paramore videos

Video 4: Monster

I chose to analyze this video because it’s the latest one released from Paramore and it’s the one I want to create my own music video for it so it seems necessary. 

This video is definitely the most thought out one out of all the Paramore music videos and I think it has lots of hidden meanings.

The plot behind the video is very complex, but I think speaks out against the two members of the band that left and this is a huge part of the story. The video looks like it has the biggest budget out of any of the videos they’ve done and it’s definitely he most extravagant.

The video ends the same way it starts – with black water flowing, but at the start the three band members are in there and at the end they’re gone.

The video is set in an old hospital (the same place 28 days later was filmed) that is completely derelict but also looks as though an earthquake has hit it because everything within it is on the floor or broken and all the paint is peeling off the walls.

Paramore have three different costumes in the video and this could symbolize three versions of themselves. This is more than the other music videos they have done. The first outfit we see them wearing when in the water is formal evening-wear – Hayley is wearing dress and Taylor and Jeremy are dressed in suits. This could be something to think about in my own music video.

We then see them all wearing a light cream/beige t-shirt and trousers. When wearing this outfit they are trapped in the room and are very aggressive, kicking and bashing the instruments against the walls. This could symbolize that they are the monsters as Hayley has contact lenses in which make her pupils huge so she looks more sinister and her hair has been styled to look wild. The room they are trapped in has a thick line of red around some of the walls, this could symbolize danger?

The anger they are showing in the song, with one version of Paramore being so aggressive in the old room could show the anger they felt when two of the band members left, because the lyrics clearly link to the situation. Hayley sings ‘well now that you’re gone, the world is ours’. I think she is showing Josh and Zac how angry the band were when they left, but that they weren’t destroyed by it and that they would be stronger than ever.

The third outfit we see them wear are just casual clothes all different and this could show the real Paramore. These are the characters in the narrative part of the video – the ones trying to get away from all the explosions. When the version of Paramore in cream are hitting or kicking the wall we see the walls of the hospital shaking and lights exploding etc. so it gives the impression that they are causing it and the ‘normal’ Paramore are trying to escape, from themselves?

The lighting in the video is really good because although the song is quite dark, and the story behind the video is, you can still see everything really clearly – even when the lights are flickering there is enough light to see.

The camerawork is more varied than a lot of their other videos and it fits to the song really well. We see a lot of close-ups of all the band members faces (rather than just Hayley’s like we see in a lot of their other videos) and this could be because the video is telling more of a story than the others their acting is tested more so you need to see their facial expressions. There are also medium shots, long shots, high angle, panning, and tracking when the bands are running.

Something that worked really well was the camerawork being underwater at the start when Hayley, Jeremy and Taylor are lying down. It looked really professional.

The shots in this song are really fast, I think the editing was done this way to put across the urgency of one version of Paramore getting away from the explosions and to show the anger of the other version of them. There is constant cross-cutting from the narrative where they’re trying to get away, and the performance footage of them in the grimy room. The camera doesn’t seem to stay on a shot for more than a couple of seconds – this could also be because the story behind the video is very complex they had to try and cram a lot into a small time so the video overall is very fast pace.

At the end of the video the ‘normal’ Paramore end up running into the grimy room that the aggressive Paramore were in, but they were gone and only the instruments were left. This could symbolize that by the band running into that room the cycle will start all over again and they are destined to be trapped and angry, or showing that they got away from all the explosions and devastation in the hospital and are now safe and stronger than ever.

This video really gives the audience a lot to think about.