Peace - Follow Baby music video analysis

I choose to analyse the video of Follow Baby by the band PEACE, as i thought it looked interesting and was an amplification representation as opposed to a more common illustrative type, or disjunctured. Here is the video I  analysed: https://youtu.be/hkUJXSvWiYE


The 3:01 minute video of Follow Baby by the 4 piece band, peace begins with a medium long shot of the whole band stood about to perform, this is indicated by the fact they are holding instruments and stood by microphones. In bold and large letters, the bands name 'PEACE' is presented on the screen in a white font, underneath stating the name of the song as the song begins.

Without changing shots or camera angles, the band play the instruments building up the first verse, with the PEACE still presented on the screen, which soon fades 7 seconds in. The camera angle swiftly changes to a medium close up of the lead singer, Harry Koisser, he is holding a guitar and stood behind a microphone which is centre framed. His mise-en-scene costume, is what could be considered a typical band 'look' as he supports the fashion choice of dark clothing and long hair. Before he sings, we get fast paced shots of the other members of the band, which continue to play the instruments in pace with the song playing.

At 0:21 seconds into the video, the lead singer Harry koisser begins to sing into the microphone, as the majority of shots at this point are all close up or medium close ups of him performing. Although there are several shots of the other members here and there, he is still centre framed most of the time, and has the most screen time out of all. After various of other shots of the band, all sporting close ups of sorts the concept behind the video begins and it takes a more interesting turn.

 

As the song slowly builds up to the chorus at 0:39 seconds, the scene changes in the way the floor starts moving, and all the furniture on it starts moving to the left of the screen. Remaining to be shown in a long shot of all the band, we see the members move out of the way of the furniture and performing regardless of the disruption they are faced with. The drummer continues to drum even when the drums actually fall over, which is interesting as it portrays a message and perhaps conforms to the stereotype that bands are oblivious to the world surrounding them, which could possibly link to the narrative of the entire thing.

 

As things continue to shift to the left of the screen, hitting the wall and creating disruption, the chorus hits at 0:58 seconds in, which results in more havoc in the video. As the furniture moves along the seemingly conveyer belt-like floor and hits the wall, more furniture is included which the members of the band attempt to dodge as they continue to perform the song. Full of chairs and tables, the bassist, Doug is shown in a medium long shot, centre framed sat on a chair which is basically layed across the floor, moving as he falls off. Adding this to the video could represent the recklessness or immaturity of the band, as they try to portray themselves through their music.

As the chorus ends with a heavy guitar riff, the lighting takes a turn for the dark, as the previously well lit room becomes quite low-key and the scene is as messy as ever. The band members are shown in fast paced edits individually, with several close ups of them and then of the instruments they are playing. The whole concept is interesting as it portrays how a normal situation can suddenly turn to do the unexpected, and i believe this is what the band were trying to portray when considering what kind of video was most fitting for the song Follow Baby, which has a mixture of slow verses and a heavy chorus.

The second verse begins as the room appears trashed, the lead singer however remains centre framed, which is stereotypical for bands to do. The other members of the band seem to have moved with all the chaos of a moving floor, with furniture crashing towards them. The drummer who was previously at the right of the screen, is now at the left, where all the furniture seems to be hurdling. He is among the mess and plays the drums regardless of the fact everything has been turned upside down.



In the low-key lighting of the extremely messy room, a large and bright spotlight appears framed around the lead singer as he sings the soft lines which build up to the chorus. It slowly zooms in and then cuts to a close up of just his face and the microphone, capturing his expression and lip syncing to the song. In this part, there are several other shots shown, again of the band members and their instruments, it's quite fast paced and links in well with the songs pace.

As the chorus begins again, the spotlight on the Lead singer, Harry Koisser, disappears as all band members appear the same in the dark lighting. There seems to be a smoke effect around them, which could add to the overall performance and stage-like presence of the band, seems as though the video is a balance between performance, mixed with a concept which isn't totally clear. The chorus comes to an end, with the same heavy guitar riff gripping the audience, as the band suddenly become very active and start performing more heavily, with the banging of drums and fast guitar playing. Flashing lights are introduced, as a part of the videos performance style which come together to make it look aesthetically pleasing and more interesting to watch. We see shots of the instruments, and although we have seen the same shots repeatedly, with a few additions here and there, we as an audience, don't grow bored because the concept of a moving floor in a what looks like ordinary room is gripping.

The havoc and disruption of the rooms appearance is multiplied with slow motion edits of the band trashing the room more. We see paper being chucked and blown all around the room, as well as curtains and pictures which hang on the wall blowing almost off, or appearing crooked. Fast paced edits at 2:12 minutes in amplify the video as it adds to the atmosphere and makes it look more interesting. It seems through out the video, the untidiness of the room slowly grows worse after each chorus, and that the heavy tone of it just makes the room even worse.

These shots of the band being shown for a split second, as the messy room is present in the background, and we see them almost trashing the room themselves. They chuck drums on the ground which is captured in a slow motion edit. It lasts for around 25 seconds until the song comes to an end. We see a long shot of the room, instead of just the inside of it, we see the surroundings as the entire scene is a mess. The lights go back to normal, as the song ends and we see the band members stood around with the mess that has been made.

Although the video has no narrative, or linking to Goodwin's theory, any links between lyrics and visuals, it has a concept which is followed throughout the 3:01 minute long video. It is a very interesting video, which conforms to band stereotypes whilst also doing something a bit different with their expression of themselves.