The document analyzes the Marilyn Manson music video "No Reflection" from his album Born Villain. The summary describes the plot of the music video, where Manson is sitting with his "wife" and others when strange events start occurring, including the girls throwing up and dying, while Manson escapes. The analysis then covers the camera work, lighting, editing, mise-en-scene, and relates the video to several music video theories about promoting the artist and their rebellious image.

1. Music video analysis
By Anastasia Molot

2. I will be analysing a music video by
Marilyn Manson - No Reflection from
the new album Born Villain .

3. "No Reflection"
Crushing, cheating, changing.
Am I deaf or dead?
Is this constricting construction
Or just streets with rusty signs
Of something violent coming?
This'll hurt you worse than me.
I'm weak, seven days a week.
Don't run from me. I won't
Bother counting one, two, three...
[CHORUS] I don't know which me that I love.
Got no reflection.
I don't know which me that I love.
Got no reflection.
Show myself how to make a noose
A gun's cliche, and a razor too
I'm not a deathshare vacation, vacant station
Made of scars and filled with my old wounds
This'll hurt you worse than me.
I'm weak, seven days a week.
Don't run from me. I won't
Bother counting one, two, three...
[CHORUS]
You don't even want to know what I'm gonna do to you. *4 times
[CHORUS]
No Reflection.
No Reflection.
I've got no reflection.

4. The story
In the beginning of the video we can see some liquid
running down the walls, it looks like outside there is some
sort of a natural disaster. MM is sitting next to his "wife",
there few girls around. They are eating, drinking some
weird looking liquid. He starts reading what appears to be a
"Living Bible" The girls go crazy, some paranormal things
start happening, like a table flying. Girls start throwing up
and die. He tries to save his "wife" but nothing works, she
dies. The next moment he is gone, leaving all the dead
people on the floor. His escape is physically not possible
because the doors have barriers and things on them.

6. Camera
* Many close ups used
* Shots with foreground, to create an
atmosphere
* In - Out of focus shots
* Low angle shots - showing that in this video
he is a more important character than the girls.
* Hand held most of the time

7. Example of a shot with foreground, showing his relation to the girl? Even
though his " wife" character is standing next to MM.

8. Very typical for MM close up shot, appears in most of his music videos (close
ups of his facial expressions)

9. Lighting
* The lighting in a room with all the main
characters is very dark, it looks like no artificial
lighting was used.
* Close-ups of MM - definitely an artificial
lighting was used, bright tungsten light

11. Editing
* Fast pace editing, shots are changed hitting
the beats of the song
* Very dark colour scheme which has an
unnatural look sometimes.
*

12. Mise-en-scene
* There is a contrast between the costumes of
the characters - MM is wearing all black, many
rings, make up, which is very conventional for
him and rock genre in general, but the women
are wearing white dresses.
* MM`s tattoos - conventional attribute

14. Theories
Andrew Goodwin
* We can see most of the key aspects he
outlined in this music video, such as "seeing
the sound", "narrative and performance", "the
star image" however, no relation of viduals to
the song, disjuncture. This music video works
to promote a song.

15. Theories
Michael Shore
According to Michael Shore`s theory I would
classify this music video as:
*Simulated experience
* Decadence
* Anesthetization of violence through chic
* Adolescent male fantasies
*Album art comes to turgid life

16. Theories
According to Sven
E Carlsson I would
classify this video
as a "commercial
exhibitionist" one,
it is made to
promote the image
of MM, and just to
promote the song.

17. My Interpretation
MM is contradicting the church and the Bible.
Very interesting that women are wearing white
and they die, and MM doesn`t, they are
represented as angelic creatures. I think this
refers to his idea of believing in yourself,
individuality and personality instead of
conformity and following what you are been
told.