Imagine Dragons - “Demons”

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 1

The video opens with a long shot that is set at one of Imagine Dragon’s

concerts. It has been filmed using a handheld camera to give it the appearance

to fan footage. This helps to create the mise-en-scene of a concert. This next

shot then directly correlates to this by breaking the ‘fan footage’ ideology by

changing the camera to steady cam and using slow motion effects. This helps

to create the tone of the music video. A close-up shot of each of the band

members is shown which helps to establish the emotion of each of their

faces. They all have serious looks on their face which again helps to establish

the tone of the video.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Before going into the flashbacks of each of the people, the video zooms in from a mid-shot to an extreme close-up shot. This is done to first establish the person before moving to the flashback. By zooming into the person, it creates an effect of us entering the persons memories. A variety of shots are used during the flashback of the woman who has lost her feather. This first shot is an extreme close-up that comes off from the extreme close-up in the previous scene. The shot then moves to a establishing shot in the form of a mid-long shot which establishes the location. It then moves to an over the shoulder shot that reveals the coffin. A close-up shot is used in this scene to show the emotion on the woman’s face. This shot is longer than the others in this scene because they wanted the emphasis of the scene to be on the woman’s emotions.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

There is a long shot of the band on the stage which helps to establish the group as a band after having previously established each of the members individually. Also there is many shots of the audience in a variety of shot types such as long shots, mid-long shots and mid shots. This is done to show the audience enjoying the performance, promoting the band in the video. There is also shots that feature both the band and the audience in the shot, establishing a connection between the band and their fan base. The first shot of the guy who has bulimia shows him through a mid-shot in a crowd of people. This establishes him as any other guy. This follows the theme of the video, that everyone has their ‘demons’. Again, we are introduced to his flashback in the same way to the woman, a extreme close-up of his face. Next is a long shot that establishes his issue. We see him through the mirror and he is shrouded in shadows. This creates the idea that he is two people, the one who wants to not be like this, and the one who wants to be skinny. By having the one in the mirror as the dominant one it signals that the one in the mirror is in control.

MISE-EN-SCENE

(SETTING)

The setting of the video is at a concert and this is represented by the use of conventions that would be found here. Examples of this is the crowd, the lighting used, the band performance, the use of instruments etc...

The lighting in the video is reminiscent of lighting that would be seen at a concert as the crowd have very little light placed on them as opposed to the band who have a spotlight on them, the focus of this being on the lead singer. The lighting is also used to emphasise the sad emotion of each of the characters with them all being in darkness.

I believe the characters being in the middle of a crowd represents that anyone could be going through something, that everyone has their demons. Also this may represent that they want to hide from their problems. The teen with his hood up may be the best example of this as he appears to be hiding under his hood and is it feels like he is trying to not attention drawn to him

MISE-EN-SCENE

(COSTUMES)

The costumes throughout the video are used to represent the stereotypes of each of the people we flashback to as well as the tone of the scene at certain points. The woman who is at the funeral is wearing all black which is typical clothing for at a funeral. It also represents her grief over the loss. The guy who is skinny at first appears to be a stereotypical geek through the use of conventional features of that stereotype such as glasses. The teen boy originally appears like a stereotypical ‘thug’ while wearing his hood up. This could be seen as a negative stereotype of teenagers but it could also represents how he is closed off and doesn’t want to be noticed, like he is hiding underneath his hood. During his flashback he is wearing clothing that is more reminiscent of a jock character than the character he was playing before. The use of different stereotypes for the various flashback sequences again brings forward the ideology of the song, that everyone has their demons.

EDITING

The video opens with rather slow editing, with many of the shots lasting a few

seconds. This done to capture the emotion of the slow portions of the song.

The editing gradually grows faster in cohesion with the song beginning to

speed up. This is done to reflect the rock beat of the song. During the build-

up to the flashback sequence, the flashback scenes feature a build-up which

slows down the editing again. When transitioning from the present days scene

to the flashback scene the editing is a fade that fixates on their face. During

some of the scenes in the video, such as the opening few moments, the video

is in slow motion which is used to reflect the emotion of the song. The

editing is matched to this, also being relatively slow. During the flashback

sequences the editing is used rather quickly as to allow many different camera

angles to be featured to show off the location, action and emotion of the

characters.

Throughout the video the song switched between being played as diegetic

sound and non diegetic sound. It is diegetic when the band is shown

performing the song on stage. The band singing is also an example of

synchronous sound as the singer can be seen singing the song in time with the

track. It switches the non diegetic during the flashback sequences when the

song is played in the background but the band is not seen performing. The

video also features the sound of the audiences cheering as diegetic sound.

This helps to create the mise-en-scene of a concert performance that is

present throughout the video. In the flashback sequences the sounds cannot

be heard as to put the focus of the scenes on how the events on the screen

relate to the song. The instruments are also another example of diegetic sound

during the concert sequences as the band can be seen playing their

instruments.

SOUND