Music Video Analysis

I have also analysed Robot's in Disguise's music video for The Tears.

The video starts off with some old-fashioned organ music, with the title of the music video in thick black ink on a brown coloured screen, made to look like paper, with a crackly, marked image and lines running down the frame, to make the video seem dated and old. The song begins, and the image shows a room, seemingly drawn, in a sepia colour, with the character sat in the corner behind the table in black and white, with a very white face and black make-up, similar to that of a mime artist. Another character appears, using stop motion, she is standing on the other side of the room.

The shots change with the beat of the music, the video uses amplification to emphasise the beats of the song. The shots all have a black edge and black corners, with bleeds into the image and fades out, so the edges of the frame are hard to distinguish. The character that is stood up takes steps to walk towards the other character, and her movements are all exaggerated, she keeps her back very straight to emphasise the beat of her foot steps being in synchronisation with the song. The video then cuts straight to another room, showing a drape of fabric and two silhouettes. One of the silhouettes plays a guitar behind the drape, so the silhouette is less focused and more blurry. The other character is clearer, stood in front of the drape, making shapes and dancing, all of her movements are big, exaggerated movements that are impossible to miss.

There are also medium close ups of each character singly, with low key lighting, and lots of deep shadows being cast, which emphasises the intensity of the white face, and the character fans some playing cards, lip-syncing the lyrics of the song. The video goes back to the room where one character is sat, one is stood and the play a game of cards on a low standing table. As each character places her turn down on the table, there is a single shot of the character, and there are separate shots of both characters as they sing the lyrics "what's the number?" with a call and response effect.

Stop motion animation is then used; showing the cards moving around the table, rearranging to leave only the Aces in a line, and those three cards seems to "dance" on the table. The video then cut zooms to a picture on the wall of a male character, in similar, clown-like attire to the other characters. There is then a long shot of one of the characters trying to get into the room, pulling themselves along the wall, with jerky movements, seeming to be struggling as if battling against some unseen force.

The man from the picture on the wall then enters the room, bending down and some flowers appear in his hand, using stop motion, and the character stood up pulls a comic pose, looking flattered with her hands clasped at one side, mouth wide in exaggerated surprise. The other character sits with a straight back, hands in her lap as the flowers are placed on the table directly in front of her, hiding her face from view. The man and the woman who is stood up dance with jerky, unrealistic movements, using stills and stop-motion animation to create this effect, the dance ending in an embrace. There is then a close up of the other character's face, scowling, looking angry behind the flowers. As the first character leaves the male and takes the flowers out of the room, the man blows a kiss to the character sat down, close ups of both of the characters face, showing the woman's response to this as she bats her eyelashes.

There is an extreme close up of the first characters eyeball peeing through a keyhole, outside of the keyhole is just solid black, so her white face and eyeball stand out immensely. As she sees what is happening inside of the room, the expression in the eye is evident, as it widens in shock, then narrows in anger.

A two shot shows both female characters singing the lyrics, one on the foreground and one in the background at either side of the screen, and the shadows are extreme so only the areas that are very well lit are visible, such as their white faces. There are jump shots of the male and female character embracing, and then a slow motion effect as the first character slaps the second across the face. The male character writes on the blackboard in chalk, slow motion as he steps away to reveal lyrics from the song.

There are some more medium close ups of the female characters singly, in deep shadow and low key lighting as one of the characters throws her playing cars in the direction of the camera, lip-syncing, using direct mode of address and looking straight at the viewer. Close ups of each female character are used to show their facial expression, looking manic and angry as they fight violently, and the man attempts to break them apart, pulling them from side to side in time with the beats of the music. As the male is thrown backwards, there is a low angle close up of one of the females face, showing the shock on her face, then a high angle shot of him on the floor, as chalk scribbles appear by his head, the animation of his "blood". A low angle two shot of both females shows the devastation on their faces, and then there is a slow zoom in on the male on the floor.

Another two shot of the female characters stood side by side, crying, their tears animated. As their tears hit the floor, they explode into expanding balls of screwed-up paper, expanding and laying at their feet. A long shot of the characters, hands to their eyes, surrounded by screwed-up paper balls and a frame fades in around them, and they become the picture in the frame on the wall, replacing the image of the man. There is a cut zoom to show the frame in the centre of the wall, then the image fades to black. Credits appear again, on the brown, marked screen as at the beginning, with tinny organ music being played over.