1. DetailedAnalysis
Artist:FooFighters
Song:The Pretender
Genre:Rock
Released:21st
August2007
Length:4:29
Once again I will be takinganin-depthlookatanother popular rock music video. This is primarily to
helpme further understand what goes into making a music video of this genre and it can also help
me to beginsynthesisingvariousideasIcoulduse in my own videos. If I want to create a good, high
quality music video I will first need to know and understand what made already popular videos
good. So speaking of why I chose “Foo Fighters – The Pretender” it is primarily because it already
adheres to the rock genre and that means I can cross compare this video with some of the tropes
and features of the videos I have already viewed. Comparing these ideas and tropes across the
videos will once again help me to further see what features work and what ideas I could possibly
alter and improve.
Moving onto the actual video we first hear this asynchronous guitar in the background so far we
cannot see the source of the sound but it is indeed the beginning of the song. The intro itself has a
fairlylowtempoandthistranslate tothe on screenvisuals.The editingpace isfairly slow to start off
with and there aren’t many quick cuts around. On top of that we also have this bird’s eye view,
establishing shot of the lead singer walking up to an empty microphone. Not only is this shot very
complementarywiththe musicitisalsoadheringtogenre tropeswhichI have discussed in previous
2. analyses.Thattrope beingshowingthe lead-maninthe videoandshowinghimperformthe musicin
sync withthe soundtrackof the video;previouslymentionedthishelpsto boost the brand appeal of
the band andhelpsthe audience tomore easilyidentifythe artistsbehindthe videoandincreasethe
watch time of the video across the board. This is mainly down to the fact that fans of the band and
similarbandswill see the artistandthatalone will immediatelygrabtheir attention and invite them
into watching the rest of the video. So overall the video opens fairly slowly but in a very strong
manner.Thanksto the visualscomplementing the audio by being fairly well synced up in tempo of
edits to the tempo of the song the video feels like one product rather than a song and a video
combined.
As mentionedearlierthe videodoesfollow some genreconventionsandthe mainone is the fact the
band members are actually performing the song in the video in sync with the audio track. It really
helps to add extra power to the song and the video as we, the audience, can see the energy and
emotionthe bandisputtingintoplayingthe musicandthat can create specificmoodsdepending on
the song.In thiscase the audience isanticipating the section of the song where the tempo kicks up
in speed and the rest of the instruments join into the song. At the moment there is only the lead
singer and a single rhythm guitar playing but in the background we can see more band members
walkingaroundinthe background.The soft focus does keep the attention on the lead singer which
makes sense as he is the primary instrument at the moment but we can see the other members
preparing which hints towards something happing soon. Once again it keeps that anticipation
building up and helps to keep the audience interested in the song.
3. You see the band members in the background and following that we hear their tracks begin in the
songaddingto the complexity.Thatsame complexityalsocarries over to the video. You quickly see
that there are more band members in shot and the mise en scene of the members also hints
towardsthingsescalating.Theirbodylanguage andmovementitalotmore erratic which once again
is another genre trope; often you see in rock videos the band members will make lots of erratic
movementsandthatlendsitselftothe musical style of rock which itself can be very fast and erratic
at times. Once again this is very compliantly of the video and helps to create that one cohesive
productthat createsa strongernarrative andmoodthan eitherof the videooraudioindependently,
insteadtheyare combinedtocreate somethingbetter than either of the products alone. Also since
the tempoof the songhas suddenlyincreasethe editingpace of the videohasincreasedto.We have
begun to see a lot more quick cuts to various medium close ups of the band members playing the
music.Once againthisincreasesthe overall qualityof the video as it adheres to the genre tropes so
that will probably please fans of the genre but it also retains some identity of its own and doesn’t
blend into the rest of the rock genre by showing its band in clear establishing shots.
Also another aspect of the video that applies to some of the less seen tropes is this idea of a hand
helpcamerarather thanit being set on a tripod. Many times throughout the video once the tempo
increaseswe see thiscameradoe thiswide fastpansthat are clearlynotdone on a tripod due to the
wobble.Thisit adds a sense of untidiness to the video. It’s clearly not perfect but that is the mood
the video is trying to achieve plus it may be trying to appeal to their audience and looking at my
audience profile you can see a lot of “rockers” aren’t perfect and they don’t bother about making
things clean and fine so that idea and principle comes across in the video thanks to these wobbly
camera pans.
4. Finallythe main“plotline”of the videoappears.We see thisslow crane shot moving up into a bird’s
eye viewof the bandand thisone Special Forcesofficer.This canbe seenasyetanothertrope of the
rock genre. It’s clear that this officer represents some form of authority and the band is on the
opposite side of asingle blackline thatisinthe centre of the shot.Thisuse of mise en scene is often
usedto represent some form of conflict between the two sides so this battle is the rebels fighting
the authority is a common theme that goes through various rock and metal genres. Another
interestingfeature of the mise enscene isthe use of colours in the shot. As you can see there is the
huge redblockbehindthe bandand contrastsstronglyagainstthe clinical white floor. It really helps
to make the band pop out and it draws the audience towards that bright red and therefore the
band.It is alsothe primarycolourof the bandso once again itsincrease the band’sbrandappeal and
making them even more easily recognizable.
5. Once again as the tempo of the song increases the editing gets even faster and we see even more
cuts between the band, the swat and the hanger they appear to be in. Once again it keeps the
audience’s attention and makes sure they won’t lose interest and look away. Another interesting
camera shot is these constant cross cuts between the lead singers face in a close up and the swat
officerhimtooina close upshot.Thisfurthercreatesthat sense of conflictmentionedearlier. Again
a commontheme inthe rock genre;oftenmanyof these songswill describe atype of conflict so it is
very compliantly of the video to portray that conflict in a visual manner on top of the fast and
aggressive audiotrack.Finallywe still see thatredbackgroundjustoutside the focus of the shot. It’s
once again a softfocuswhichdraws the attentiontothe leadsinger but we can see only red behind
him. It againcreatesthisbrand appeal andhelpstoseparate the two sides of the conflict created in
this video. It’s also bright and contrasts greatly against the floor which helps to keep the visual
aspect of the video interesting.
Finally,we have thiswide angle,establishingshotof the band and an army of swat members on the
other side. Throughout the video there has been this sense of conflict being created behind the
rebelsandthe authorityandas we reach of the chorusof the song which is one of the most intense
parts of the songinterms of tempoand complexity.Once againthe videoaidsinboostingthatsense
of tempoandcomplexityasalotmore ishappeningin the video as well as the audio side of things.
There are a lotmore people on screen to go alongside with all the instruments being played in the
songs. It is also almost like the song is reaching its climax along with the chorus to create a great
sense of momentum in both the song and the video. As well as conforming to all the
aforementioned tropes by showing the band and showing this conflict between the two sides.
Overall it should appeal to anybody who is a fan of rock which is the clear goal of this video
In conclusion after watching the entire video it appears to be much more of the same as I have
talked about here and for the most part that is fine. The band are targeting a specific demographic
and applyingthe tropesthatwill appeal tothem.Throughthe use of hand held cameras and editing
alongside the music soundtrack. Much like all the other videos I have watched of this genre the
6. musicalwaysgoesalongwiththe video in terms of editing pace and music tempo. It helps to boost
the music and increase the quality of both of the products.
