Analysis of ‘Bright Eyes’- ‘At the Bottom of Everything’, ‘A Perfect

Circle’ – ‘Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums’

and ‘Thrice’ – ‘Image of the Invisible’

‘Counting Bodies’ A politically themed song with an animated video strongly portraying an anti-war theme. This point is made straight away with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament symbol shattering slowing to the drum beat, cutting to an oil derrick pumping out blood as blood covers the screen. This image represents the war supposedly for oil in Iraq, this image is re-enforced later on by showing a scene of a desert, presumably Iraq, and A city presumably Washington D.C. with a sea of blood to represent the lives lost.Throughout the video the style and editing match strongly match the repetitive music by showing repetitive motion in shot and repeating a lot of the symbols used throughout such as TVs that literally eat your brain and turn you into sheep- a strong connotation of mindless followers. The video denotes George Bush in various trustworthy positions giving TVs to children interrupting their usual activities, destroying other information sources- this matches the lyrics “Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils see they don’t give a fuck about you like I do” Portraying Bush as a over caring parent brainwashing children into his mindset. This is re-enforced by more precise lyrics later on in the song. Bush then leads his sheep off a cliff into a fire, all those that try to rebel or escape are branded by a republican god, again re-enforcing the political anti war theme. Ending with an over a minute long shot of Bush hypnotising the audience with a direct mode of address re-enforcing the brainwashing idea as the music fades out.This video will appeal to the liberal target audience and anyone against the war or the president, it’s themes of not following the crowd (and all the connotations of sheep) will appeal to the rebellious younger target audience and is a convention of the alternative rock genre.

‘At the bottom of everything’ This Video tells a story, though the song’s lyrics are generally about life and death, only a few sung parts relate to what is on screen, with the narrative being shown mostly through the voice over of the lead singer at the start- this is done informally to represent the singer as human and also the narrator of the story though not a character.The Mise-en-scene throughout is realistic during the real shots, but much more surreal in the animated sequences, this is done to lighten the tone of the video that touches a depressing topic in a positive light. The video shows how the event changes characters- the old man unsociable man becomes a paternal figure to the girl, keeping her happy and holding her. A young boy kisses an older woman whom he doesn’t know, people pass around drinks and hug goodbye all smiling representing the event as a positive one, re-enforced by the lyrics “and death will give us back to god”. There are several references to voyeurism, an eye watching the kiss and a girl taking photos for example. Most the shots used are close ups allowing the audience to see the smiling faces and extreme close ups to emphasise some of the more meaningful final acts.Overall this appeals to it’s wide target audience by showing people personally putting an focus on real emotions, while portraying it in a optimistic light.

‘The Image of the Invisible’ This video differs from the other two videos, not contradicting Goodwin’s definition of a music video by featuring the band as important characters in the videos’ narrative. It portrays them in fitting with the genre as rebels against a corrupt authority, appealing to the angst nature of the teenage target audience, and has intertextual references to ‘Schindler’s List’ (1994) which appeals to an older audience who can appreciate the undertone.The video uses dystopian mood established by the dark colour pallet until the final scene where they win the fight. It also has strong representations of good and evil, the evil being all black with inhuman goggles referencing to the horror convention of “The Other” and “The Gaze” and to the idea of voyeurism by the masks appearing like cameras.