Thursday, 11 October 2012

Muse Hysteria Analysis


 


0:01- 0:13

In the beginning we see a very dark and gloomy corridor (probably of a hotel) and it is a low angle shot that is slowly tilting and zooming into the cleaner. The effect this has with the fast deep bass guitar is the effect that something is lurking around and is about to take effect.

0:13 – 0:30

The scene quickly changes to a close up shot of the main protagonist lying in a bed; whether he is just in bed sleeping or looks like he’s taken drugs (sweating) is unknown at this point. However as the shots of the man in the bed are slowly turning, there are cuts of the cleaner attempting to get into the room.

0:32

Eventually the man springs from his bed as the woman attempts to enter the room and he slams the door in her face, as he is doing this, the shots jump slightly as he is walking, portraying the frantic action. Quite interesting, that the jump shots only start when the vocals kick in.

0:40 – 0:47

The shots continue with the jump cut editing, portraying distorting and confusion in the man, unaware of surroundings and becoming frantic. So far we can see the connotations of the Alternative rock genre, stark lighting and colour and light editing, and a concentration of close up shots on the main character.

0:47 – 0:48

This quick POV shot is quite effective and it adds to the panic and distortion of the clip as it is edited to be blurry and to have a certain ‘hazy’ feel.

1:00 – 1:05

The jump cuts continue with a variation of shots ranging from close to a long shot ( possibly the first true establishing shot of the clip). I like the effect of the jump shots as it shows the distortion and the confusion of the man, as well as speeds up the narrative quicker and is far more interesting to watch, rather than just having a long scene of the man just looking around.

1.07 – 1.23

The jumpy quick shots between the man the tv are almost like a shot/reverse shot, showing the editing tv footage, showing a connection between the girl and the man. Strangely however the room seems to clean and less ‘destroyed than before’, I didn’t notice this on my first view of the clip, but this may add to the confusion of person, and how he may be unable to recollect events in the right order.


1:23 – 1:55

As he begins to watch the clip, the shots of the tv and him begin to get shorter and the editing begins to get quicker and quicker, which shots eventually lasting no longer than 2 seconds each. The editing is far more effective in this one, as the effects on the tone are much darker and have had the shadows intensified,    with a blur effect added to many of them to show that he’s out of touch and delusional to his surrounding other than the TV.

1:59 – 2:03

These collection of shots of the video recorder being broken and dismantled are very effective as they are fast paced and keep in line with the rest of the theme of the song. I particularly like the fact that the shots are short and not completely still, but jerky and erratic, whilst having a very rough editing (blur being out of focus in parts).

2:15 – 3 :29

For the rest of the scene we see all the previous style of shots intertwined together as he literally starts to break the room and the contents, the shots are varied here however as the we tracking shots of the objects he throws into paintings, and also jump cutting into close ups of him destroying a TV set. We also see low angle shots then a high angle shots, and then extreme close ups throughout this segment. These almost random occurrences of shots is rather effective as it adds to the atmosphere as a being somewhat psychotic and the ‘Hysteric’ aspect.

It’s also effective how there seems to be about 3 different scenes at once, the Tv playing with the girl, the male protagonist smashing the rooms, and a shadowy figure walking down the corridor (the same girl.

3:29 – 3:46

 Near the end of the clip we a a return to what looks like he beginning of the clip again, portraying that the male protagonist is within a vicious cycle that he cannot break. What is effective is the shot reverse shot which is zooming into each character every time it happens.

Overall, Muse’s Hysteria is an interesting video that has a narrative that makes you think and often confuses you for effect, however unlike many other alternative rock videos, the band is not present throughout the clip, focusing on the artistic side and telling a story, rather than selling themselves as a band.

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