video analysis the pretender

The pretender by the foo fighters is a very popular song about political unrest and people parties and governments making promises they couldn't keep, however the band stated they would like for people to have their own interpretation of the song. i think this song can relate to our own video in the idea of a conspiracy because it is about governments making fake promises to please people, and our video will include goverments doing things behind there peoples backs. other interpretations of the song could also fit with the theme of our video such as the fact the song is about someone or something pretending to be something it's not in general, and the so called Illuminati do not display their true nature to the public, or so the story goes. the video also fits in with this theme as i will show and annotate, and the video to me also shows some sort of organisation or government body trying to silence the band from their singing of the truth, which to me represents our protagonist in that his memory was removed so that he could not tell the truth of what happened, i.e. he was "silenced".

i have chosen this shot mainly for the lyrics rather than the videos reflection of their meaning. the lyrics in the section to me are all about the way in which the band or protagonist they represent has been "silenced" and put out of the way so that he cannot cause trouble or get in the way of the plans. the music is slow and sad and reflects this idea. in the beginning of the video we can see the lights switching on to reveal the band walking toward the set. Andrew Goodwin theory tells us this is illustrating what the song is telling us, and shows us that the band, which we now know represents our protagonist, are "shining a light on" the truth and illuminating total darkness. the Pitch black in the begginning shows us that the public or the viewers that the protagonist would be preaching to know absolutely nothing of the truth. We also see Dave then wrapping a bandage around his hand, which could suggest that he has been injured by the Government body that is opposing our protagonist, or it could suggest that he needs support in sending his message e.g. no one believes the protagonist because he is alone in his beliefs and lacks evidence.


This clip shows the entrance of the first police officer, or riot controller. Even though our video wont be showing the enemy directly, it will be hinting about it. the band and the officer are opposite each other showing they are both on different sides from one another, and the officer is in a black uniform, which tells us two things: it relates the person to the government, the enemy of this particular song, and the colour Also connotes that this enemy government body is black and this could suggest they are twisted or not what they seem - similar to the point about the pitch black at the start of the video, it suggests that the public know nothing of the true government at all. The video once again illustrates the lyrics: " what if i say your not like the others, what if i say your not just another one". even though this suggests that Dave is comparing him to someone else, a different part of the government or a different countries government, the point remains the same in that he is saying that the government body isn't what it seems, and the video illustrates this by introducing the opposing character, who in one shot is shown lowering his visor on his helmet. This along with his shield and uniform shows he is here to stop the commotion and stop the protagonist from spreading the truth. the lyrics also at one point say "what if i say i will never surrender"? this confirms the illustration that the protagonist is engaging the enemy in war or battle and wont stop until his message is heard by the people. Our music video will probably be less aggressive and the protagonist wont be trying to spread his truth, but it will be more about the aftermath of this story. lets say that the government body in this video succeed in silencing the protagonist, our video would be the following on of this when the protagonist goes back to normal life having been "silenced".

this clip is important because it shows the arrival of the other officers. in the last paragraph i spoke about the arrival of the first officer and how the lyrics said "what if i say your not like the others". the arrival of the others could suggest that the truthful and good governments our protagonist was comparing the original officer too have shown their true colours, and they are on the side of the original officer. before the band were outnumbering the officer, and now the band are highly outnumbered massively by the officers, which works very well in connexion to our video as some Illuminati believers insist that they actually control the world and the governments are just their puppets. The lyrics are the same as those in the last chorus, amplifying the message that they are not what they seem. The lyrics seem to now be grouping them all together, which could suggest for our video that the Illuminati are all together, and they all wear the same uniform which further pushes this idea. The lyrics previously stated that the protagonist would never surrender, and he stays true to this despite being massively outnumbered, and continues to sing. this clip in comparison with the lyrics only shows amplification and illustration, unlike the muse video which i annotated, which shown a lot of disjuncture. this gives us a wide spectrum for our video as videos of this genre show a lot of variation.


the lyrics in this clip are key to the videos meaning: Dave begins to sing "Who are you"? over and over, which is amplification. this shows a very key point to our music video, as our protagonist will be unsure of what is going on, and as we can see here the band has charged into it's enemy, finding themselves massively outnumbered and questioning who the enemy actually is. Not knowing who the enemy truly is is something i would like to put into our video, and is a massive part of the structure of the genre of conspiracy. the mystery plays a very big part to keeping the novelty and excitement of the video. when these lyrics are sung the officers all begin lowering their helmets, not giving our protagonist an answer and showing they are about to charge, which metaphorically could mean silencing them. even when the officers are beginning to prepare for the attack, the band holds their ground, showing no signs of being intimidated or prepared to surrender, which will inevitable lead to their defeat as their enemy is so powerful.

this is the final shot of the video, and shows the officers running in slow motion as the song slows down, almost like the band is preparing to fall to their enemy. When this slow part of the song ends, the big red object behind them explodes and sends red liquid shooting at the soldiers, connoting the blood that would be spilled in battle. This leads to the officers becoming blind and unable to stop the protagonist from spreading their message as the band continues to sing the same lyrics, once again showing amplification. the video illustrates the music, as the fast paced music explodes so does the big red object behind them. From my interpretation this would be representative of the public finally becoming aware of the truth of the "Illuminati" conspiracy at the last possible moment before our protagonist is silenced.
From analysing this video i have seen that we have a wide range of possibilities for our own video as far as Andrew Goodwin theory goes. this video is full of amplification, illustration and symbolism whereas plug in baby was full of disjuncture. this video has also shown me the way in which camera shots can help to keep the video in time with the song at fast paced times.