Music Video Analysis Of: Linkin Park What I've Done

The genre of my coursework will be Indie, however in order to gain inspiration and a greater knowledge of how different genres, such as hip hop, pop and heavy metal, produce music videos. Therefore the music video I have chosen to analyse is Linkin Park's What I've Done as the yare a hip hop/ alternative rock band from America. This video was nominated for the 'best hard rock performance at the 52nd Grammay Awards' which comes as no surprise as the band and production team have clearly produced a inspirational music video.

Narrative

The music video has a strong political and historical motif carried throughout with its editing technique of cross cutting from a live performance from the band playing in a desert interspersed to clips of infamous world leaders such as Hitler to enviromental problems; thus dealing with the worlds issues surrounding global warming, racism and other crimes commited in the world. The opening clip shows a revearsal of grass sinking into the ground which is juxaposed at the end of the video when it is growing again. This visual editing technique gives the impression that the band has to let the world hear its video in order for it to be 'reborn'. The establishing shots of the live band performance within the baren desert emphasises the abscece of life as if to imply that if the world carries commiting these sins against hummanity then the world will indeed become a desert; a desolate world of nothingness and destruction.

Prsentation of the Band

The picture on the left highlights the Mise En Scene choices in the video, the close up shot of the lead singer, Chester Bennington, wears avaitor style sunglasses to cover up his eyes which can be interpreted in numerous ways. Firstly, sunglasses restrict the audience from seeing his eyes however allowing him to see his audience. This implies a unwanting of puplicity or personal recorgnition from his audience. Secondly, the songs meaning resolves around the ammitance of past sins and being able to "face [yourself]" for what you "have done", therefore the glasses could be used as the artist is ashamed for what he, himself, has done that he cannot bare to reveal himself fully. Or thirdly, he is disgraced at how hummanity has becoming and it's colelctive sins that he cannot bare to look at them or for them to look at him. The band themselves are all dressed in black clothing which has connotations of a funeral (where everyone wears black suits). Therefore it could be concluded that they are hinting or foreshadowing, as their video suggests, at the inevitable destruction of the world.

Lighting

The live performance from the band is emphasised by the artifical light from the spotlights beaming onto the band as if they were performing to a crowd and a festival or gig.  However, as shown by the establishing shots, there is no audience in which they are performing to therefore, it can be interpreted as if they are performing to everyone and anyone who listens to this video.

Camera

At the start of the video, there are various camera shots such as panning around the musicians, close ups and low angle shots which highlight each musician within Linkin Park and the role in which they perform in the band. This way the audience are able to gain a greater knowledge of each individual within the band and not just focus on the lead singer; a typical feature for this hip hop/ alternative rock genre.
The injection of other close up shots of cogs and wheels which are used in clocks adds another insight to the narrative of the music video; how people are easy to fixed a routine and live their lives  like clockwork.

Following this is a series of time lapse shots (which is when a camera is fixed on a specific location and films for hours upon end and then in the editing process, the footage is sped up) which deals with the idea of time and how it is forever progressing. Alike the clockwork point, the time lapse shot also implies a fixation on a certain way of life without change as well as how time is forever progressing, quicker than everyone can grasp; which the enhanced speed at which the shot is being played at implies.
There is also a frequent use of establishing shots showing memorable and well-known locations from around the world which are highlight from the use of jump cuts to them. This, therefore, allows anyone watching the video to be able to relate to it in some way; as a result of this, the audience are able to share a common ground with the band themselves and feel a part of the video. The image on the right taken from the video shows Stonehenge, a well known yet mysterious location in England.

Editing

Editing, like most music videos, is a big part, especially in this video. Here, editing techniques such as jump cuts are used frequently and at a high cutting rate in order to convey as many images of either environmental issues, historical events and locations around the world as possible. Reasons for this could be to give the impression that there is so many issues which are taken place as we speak such as famine, unpredictable weather disasters like hurricanes and poverty, that the world needs to 'face [it]self' and see 'what [it's] done' to their planet. This is a very strong message the band is trying to highlight and the editing is relied on to emphasise the importance of the topic being raised.

Below is the video being analysed: