Analysis of Music Video

Analysis of A music video

Papillon by The Editors

The first video that I have chosen to analyse is Papillon by The Editors, which has only recently been released in the UK. Many thoughts and feelings can be depicted from the video and also the music, with the most prominent being religion. The song can be seen as arguing with religion, saying that we shouldn’t rely on a higher being, that we should take our own destiny into out own hands. The video to the song very much backs this idea and I am going to discuss how the director has shown this through editing, cinematography, and mise en scene.

One of the prominent ideas within the mise en scene is the constant disobeying of orders. For example we see the man in the video consistently running the opposite way to what the road signs say, and not even acknowledging them. This could be seen as the man is challenging religion, and God. That he is doing things his own way and not waiting for directions. This is shown in figure one below. Another way in which the director shows this is at the very beginning of the video, in which we see the man running through a tunnel. One thing that caught my eye is that the man is running away from what seems like a very bright, white light. This can be interpreted as the defying god as many people associate bright lights with God. This reoccurs throughout the video making it seem like a focal point. As we go on further we see the men running through road signs, which give the impression that they shouldn’t be there and that it could mean danger. However we still see the men racing through them, without any care, which once again makes us feel like they are pushing away from a higher being.

Throughout the whole of the clip we get a sense of rebellion, and a desire to push things in a different direction. The cinematography in the video also plays a role, with the director using different distances, camera angles movements to provoke a reaction. As the video begins we immediately feel like the man is travelling in a different direction to us at pace. This hits home that this man is different, that he does not follow the crowd and that he is going places. This once has an underlying issue that we should go our own way. As well as this throughout the video we see a high camera angle, almost above the buildings. This gives the feeling of an almost God like view, as if he were looking down on the men running. This portrays the ideology of the music to the audience further, showing us to go a different way. The director also uses close ups to show the mans determination to push forward, and what could possibly be seen as anger. Once again this is shown in figure 3. The camera shots are mostly tracking shots which are shaky and unsteady. This increases the verisimilitude as we feel like we are in the video with him, it gives a sense of rawness.

The editing in the film is very sharp and snappy. We see a motif during the video, were the shot cuts backwards, then cuts back again. This itself becomes almost a stylistic of the video, something that we recognise when we see the video. We also see the cut from ground level to up high, which reoccurs again and again. This could be us switching between the persons view, and Gods view. It makes us feel as if we are part of the person but then see what God is looking at. The video itself is continuity editing as we follow the man as he runs through the streets.