Sam Brown uses a lot of pans, zooms and tracking shots. Several close-ups and extreme close ups of the lead singer can be seen throughout the video. This is because Dave (the lead singer) is the most recognised and popular member of the Foo Fighters as he used belong to the well known band called Nirvana. Brown has decided to place the band on an empty airplane hanger to keep the visuals very simple and thus the lyrics and the band are the main focus of the audience. The riot officers and the strong lyrics ‘What if I say I’m not like the others’ ‘I will never surrender’ makes me think this video has political meanings behind it. When the band was asked about the meaning behind their song they said they want their audience to come up with their own meanings. But later on Dave did say the song he felt the song showed people standing up against what was going on at that time in the government and politics. What I found interesting is that the officers although shown to be very intimidating and threatening by their body language was shown to be cowardly unless in numbers; as the first officer did not attack until back up arrived. The band puts up a very energetic performance to cover up for the lack of action and a lot of edgy panning is used to give the video intensity and emotion. The red screen behind the band seems out of place and adds to the suspense; keeping the audience wondering what it is for?
I really liked Sam Brown’s music video ‘the pretender’ for the foo fighters and was blown away by how effective keeping a video simple and direct can be. When I met up with my band ‘In Your Honour’ for the first time in the Croft (Bristol) to film one of their live gigs I was very impressed by the emotion and energy they displayed throughout their songs (especially run). This is when I remembered Brown’s video and started considering changing my initial idea of filming live gig with real audience into something similar to the pretender and use an isolated location.
Filming a live gig shows the viewers the band in its element and they get to experience it as if they were there. Problems I found while filming the live gig was it was hard to set up cameras as the audience kept getting in the way of the shots and it was hard to use techniques such as pans and track shots as there wasn’t enough space. The lighting was too dim and some of the band members couldn’t be seen. By filming the band in an isolated location it would help the lyrics and the band’s performance to stand out. It would be easier to experiment with different shots and camera movements. Also the lighting and other details can be controlled. The negative would be lack of action and excitement for the viewers as they have to watch the band performing on an empty ice rink with not much else going on. But I am hoping the band’s energy and some clever camera shots can compensate for the lack of action. There would also be the narrative which will go with the performance to add tension, suspense action and a story.
