Skip to main content

Midnight Music Video

Music Videos are perhaps the most experimental ways of testing a variety of filming techniques, from small short narratives to psychodelic patterns, allowing the maker to find new ways of portraying and relaying images to the audience.

This music video, by the popular band Coldplay, is from their most recent single called 'Midnight' - which is directed by Mary Wigman.

It is an unusual and unique piece of work, as well as interesting, both in the way the video is complitated but also in the approach. The music accompanying the video is truly haunting, but at the same time undoubtedly beautiful.

The lyrics are as follows: 
 
In the darkness before the dawn
In the swirling of this storm
When I'm rolling with the punches
And hope is gone
Leave a light, a light on.

Millions of miles from home
In the swirling, swimming on,
When I'm rolling with the thunder
But bleed from thorns
Leave a light, a light on.

 In the darkness before the dawn,
In the darkness before the dawn,
Leave a light, a light on.

The meaning of the lyrics is unclear, (or it simply hasn't been disclosed), but several individuals have interpreted the song as a message of hope. The tone of the music is generally positive, but the distorted vocals carry a darker shade of mentality - which is perhaps heavily portrayed in the accompanying video.

The video itself is clever, and contains many technical effects. What is most noticeable is the fact that it is filmed in what seems like night-vision or x-ray vision, which in turn allows the editor to experiment with a broader variety of effects such as ghosting.

Ghosting is an effect which means that the image is replicated several times, and then positioned slightly off the original and super-imposed over the top. You can see this in the above image as the man closest to the camera has several arms, but his body remains in the same position.

The colouration of the video is black and white, however, as it goes on, colour is slowly introduced. Another possibility of how the video was filmed, apart from night-vision and x-ray vision, is infra-red. This conclusion is apparent in one particular shot where the singer's hand is placed against a tree, and when it is removed the mark of the hand can be seen on the surface. This mark is undoubtedly a heat source, which reinforces the idea.

Other techniques include jump cutting - which is used particularly to make people reappear and disappear in a single shot- and video merging - which is when one shot is placed on top of another. The merging process is limitless, and several videos can be layered on top of each other.
You can watch the video here:



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hobbit - Defining the Look

A look into the use of lighting and colour to create emotion. Originally published in 1937, The Hobbit was written by J. R. R. Tolkien. It has since been made into a Trilogy by the film director Peter Jackson consisting of: The Unexpected Journey The Desolation of Smaug The Battle of the Five Armies What is most notable about these films is that they are very different to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Although set in the same universe of Middle Earth, there is a tangible contrast between them.  The Hobbit, some might say, is lighter, funnier and more suitable for children when compared with The Lord of the Rings. This being said, J. R. R. Tolkien did write the book for children and it was aimed at young readers around the ages of 9 and 10. One difference, for example, is the use of lighting and colour - which is used as a n extension of a particular character -  to provoke an emotional response from the audience. In general, the film is brightly lit,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gasman - the Importance of Trust between Characters

Gasman is a short film made in 1998 by Lynne Ramsay about a man who lives two lives. The film is shown mainly through the eyes of his daughter, in an innocent but hard-hitting way. It's the Christmas season. With her mom's help, Lynne, a girl of perhaps eight, dresses up; her younger brother Steven plays with a toy car. The children leave with their dad, who's affectionate with them. They walk down a railroad track where an unkempt woman waits with two children, about the same age as Lynne and Steven. The children go with them. They're all headed to a holiday party at a pub. Lynne notices that the girl acts all too familiar with her dad. What's going on?   Plot Summary - IMDB The film has an observant feel to it, like the camera itself is a 'third person' watching the plot unfold - sometimes from a distance and other times up close. The camera is mostly hand-held, free in a documentary style. It seems that the camera was left rollin...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are UFO's - working with children

How to interview children and young adults Introduction: There is much taboo about working with children in film. As W.C. Fields once said: “Never work with children or animals.” Sometimes they are too lively or energetic for a director to cope with; they may have short attention spans; they are unpredictable. "The audience always looks for the adorable young child or animal - they steal every scene. "many stars will never appear with animals or children in the belief that no adult can compete" has been cited in print since 1931, in a newspaer article indicating that this film tradition carried over from the stage."        - Barry Popik (2012), "Never work with children or animals" (Show Business Adage) But something special happens when you place a child in front of the camera, when you let them take centre stage and unleash their imagination. In taking away the pressure and the script, a filmmaker can use that unpredictability to cre...
Post a Comment
Read more