The music video for "Pompeii" by Bastille tells the story of a man living in the abandoned city of Pompeii. Shots show his dilapidated living situation and him riding through ruined streets, establishing the city is dead. He encounters people whose eyes have turned black, indicating something is wrong with the city. Later shots show the man's own eyes beginning to change. The video ends with the man isolating himself and completing his transformation, mirroring the beginning of the video and concluding the story.

1. Bastille - Pompeii

2. First shot
First shot of the video shows our artist looking over something,
without music and just the wind it is a very tense building time.
Raising the atmosphere, wanting the audience to know what’s there.

3. Second shot
This shot gives us the name of the song and the band. The way Pompeii
has been laid out makes it go well with the backdrop while also hinting
at the fact that the city is abandoned like actual Pompeii. We also
finally get to see what the artist is looking at.

4. Third shot
The music starts to play when we see this close up shot of the artist.
The audience is trying to imagine what is going through his mind before the
Shot changes to something else

5. Fourth shot
This shot shows us what type of place our artist is living in. All run down and
on a mattress which is on the floor. This adds to the idea of which the title of
the song gave us about the city being dead or abandoned. He is also looking
out the window, maybe looking for any type of life.

6. Fifth shot
The shot then changes to the singer singing in
complete darkness. Here with light shinning on his
face in this close up, along with him being in centre
frame, means that we as an audience are
automatically locked onto him.

7. Sixth shot
This action shot shows us that our artist is on a bike riding
through rubbish filled street. Since he’s not on a car or the
streets aren’t cleared then we can assume that the city is
dead. This along with all the derelict building support this
claim.

8. Seventh shot
This shot shows our artist in a close up, looking down and sad. Perhaps he is
remembering the way life was. It also appears he is in front of a tuck. This
could mean that he found away out of the city and is going forward in life.
Propelling the narrative along.

9. Eighth shot
In this shot we see a woman who has blacked out eyes. This is not normal
as our artist recoils from seeing her. This means that this is what’s wrong
with the city, also the lyrics go with this as it is saying he is going to be an
optimist even against bad odds when the city is like this

10. Ninth shot
Again we see that more people have been turned into these things,
resulting that they are the cause for the downfall. This scene goes in time
with the lyrics as when he says “close your eyes” they open theirs. Which
could mean that they do the opposite of good things or that they are not
optimistic.

11. Tenth shot
In this shot we see how he gets his vehicle which turns out to be a car. This only
shows progression of the narrative but also shows us that they have kept him still in
centre frame so the audience eyes doesn’t have to move to much.

12. Eleventh shot
As the music comes to a slow tempo we find ourselves on board in
the car. This symbolizes that things are calming down since he is safe
and sound. The music lyrics are also quite reflective and this could
link to him now. Being reflective as he drives away.

13. Twelfth shot
Here we see him checking his eyes in the close up shot. We see them
dilate and become blacker, indicating that he is turning into one of
them. Because of this we can assume the ending is near and the song
is ending.

14. Thirteenth shot
We can now see that he has gone out of the city for he wants
whatever it is to happen, outside of the city. This could symbolize the
fact that he’s accepting what is happening.

15. Fourteenth shot
In this shot we see that the singer is now got his eyes closed, this is new
for when we see him singing so it could mean that he has changed. He is
also talking about closing your eyes again which he is doing. This could
mean he hasn’t been taken over just yet.

16. Fifteenth shot
In the second to last shot we see him once again overlooking a view. More
natural this time, we can assume he has come here to change peacefully.
AS it mirrors the beginning of the video, we can conclude that this is
definetly the end of it and the story.

17. Sixteenth shot
He then turns around showing the audience that he has fully changed,
drawing and end to the video and story. This also is shown as when he turns
around and his eyes go dark the music ends. Showing the lyrics and videos
symbolizing the same thing