Video analysis plug in baby

Plug in baby by muse is very Representative of the alternative genre we are studying. the video has a very haunting and meaningful feel to it, which is a similar effect that we would like to capture in our video.


This shot shows strange effects, almost like a visual effect on a stereo or equalizer. this distorted effect creates a disturbed feeling and instantly opens the disturbed nature of the song up to the audience. at this point in the song, there is a strange distorted noise building in the backgorund at the same time as the picture distorting making the music seem powerful and capable.

this shot shows the band jumping around and playing a quite high end looking home, which seems mainly to be in disjuncture with the song, not illustrating it. however the song and the video are related in the way that they are both sensless and seem to be representative of nothing. when asked, Matt Belamy the lead singer and writer said that he could not actually remember what he had wrote the song about, but rather that it had been a mixture of random thoughts in his head put alongside the chords and riffs he had written in the past. this shows that the video follows the tune and the music rather than the lyrics or singing, and is therefore not entirley in disjuncture with the song.



this shot shows after the band singing and playing a woman sat in a suggestive pose, which again seems to be in disjunture with the song. the shot emplys the male gaze theory, showing off the pose in 3 different shots, one of which shows her legs in an open position. this again supports the idea of the male gaze. Her clothing is also exposing a lot of skin e.g. her legs in the fish net tights. She also relates in a shot to chocolate box theory, pulling a suggestive face, looking directly into the camera, eyes slightly closed etc. this does not seem to fit with lyrics like the other shots, and the shot of the woman.

this shot shows female limbs without exposing the rest of the shot giving a weird, eerie and distorted tint to the video. the music has become calmer at this stage of the song and less powerful. the meaning of the limbs is unclear in my opinion but suggests something being hidden, or only part of something being scene. this fits very well with our conspiracy theme music video. Also, the lyrics at this stage of the song represent this idea: "i've exposed your lies baby, the underneath is no big suprise". this to me fits very well with our idea for the video, as it suggests people already suspect something is happening but their veiw has been obscured and as a result there are many different variations of the conspiricy. this is also what will be seen in our video e.g. some people actually believe the illuminati are lizard men.

The important part of this shot is after the build up in the chorus, when the woman bends down and puts the headphones on. When she puts the headphones on, showing us that she is listening to the music, her body seems to become distorted, which once again gives us a surreal and disturbing effect on the video and the song. the strange distortion of the body is very similar to that in the picture distorting at the start of the video. this could mean that the music has the power to change people, and could be symbolic of being able to change peoples feeling and opinions by listening to it. this also has a similar feel to our video because of our conspiracy theory video, which will also show the ability of conspiricy to manipulate people.