analysis of 2 other Muse videos

Invincible
This video is set on a childrens' rollercoaster in a themepark. I note 'childrens'' as it shows various cardboard cut-outs popping out from the scenery including animals, people and other pleasant images.

The band are on the rollercoaster and the performance is very relaxed as if they are just calmly enjoying the cruise through this small world. It seems to match the sound of the music; calm and pleasant.

However, as the song progresses we are more aware of the storyline and meaning of the song as the images around the band begin to change, the pleasant images turn into evil creatures and begin to destroy the 'world' around them. It is almost as if the most innocent of things can turn into something bad, however this doesn't at all appear shocking, it still has the childish element of it as even when the characters turn 'evil' they still have the cute look about them and everything still seems fairly pleasant. This however gives meaning to the song meaning they may want to bring across something quite deep. This again fits in with the political element, with people destroying the world. The childish figures however just give a more individual touch, even so it represents something much darker yet they may be trying to bring it across in a less shocking way, as Muse aren't the type of band to show disturbing images.

There is use of bright colours which fits in with it's childish, plesant theme however a low key lighting is used, this of which is commonly used on these sort of rollercoasters.




Knights of Cydonia
This video is set out like a typical style cowboy western film. It is almost film like with the credits rolling at the end, and the names of the 'actors' that are starring in the film that are shown at the begining.

The western style is shown throughtout with the use of fonts, and the quality of the video has been matched with other typcial western films. There seems to be alot of action throughout the video, with alot of fade in-fade out shots used in the fight scenes that add tension.

There appears to be a main character, which i would label an 'anti-hero' bascially doing bad things but for the right reason. The costumes are those that would be seen in a western, such as the boots and the hats etc. Throughout the video we follow this 'anti-hero' on his journey tracking down the 'bad guys'.

What appears to be holographic images are shown in random places throughout the video are snippets of muse performing, this completely goes against the western film and appears to be sci-fi or space like. This of which could have been done deliberatly to give its individual look. Again with the sci-fi element, in the fight scene it appears that when shooting at each other they are firing lazers, not bullets. This also goes against the western theme as this shows much more modern technology. It is mysterious as to why there appears to be elements of space in this video.




After analysing the previous Muse videos, it is clear that they like to clearly distinguish one video from another, as they all appear to have their distinctive story lines and images. It also seems as if they like to make their videos appear much more individual as they tend to do strange topics for their videos, I guess this would help the video be more memorable to the viewer and be more interesting to watch.