Research into existing products - Foo Fighters, The Pretender.

Context: "The Pretender" is a song by the alternative rock band from America, Foo Fighters. It was the first single from their 2007 album "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace." The single was released on 21st of August 2007 with their label RCA (part of Sony Music Entertainment). The music video itself was directed by Sam Brown, who is a director and cinematographer famous for his work with James Blunt and James Morrison. He was nominated for Best Director for Foo Fighters “The Pretender” at the MTV Awards and has won 2 MTV Awards for his work on James Blunts video "Beautiful".

Genre: The Foo Fighters are known for producing music of the hard rock / alternative rock genre, and this video is no exception. The instruments used here are typical instruments of the rock genre and the track is obviously rock due to the sound of it and the angry / soulful element of shouting the chorus. The way in which the band goes against the controlling Riot Officers in this video also symbolises the way in which rock music originally went against society and the way it acted.

Style - Textual Analysis: The video begins with a high angle long shot of an empty warehouse which is highly artificially lit, we see a few amps and guitars lying around along with a drum kit and a big red screen behind it all. As Dave Grohl walks across the warehouse to the microphone near the instruments, the warehouse gets brighter and we hear the introductory guitar to the song. There is then a low angle mid shot of Dave from behind as he puts his guitar over his shoulder. A jump cut leads us to a high angle close up of Dave putting on a hand wrap like boxers do, possibly meaning theres going to be a fight.

There is then a low angle close up on a black line painted on the floor, this becomes more prominent later on in the video. Next there is a mid profile shot of Dave as he sings into the microphone for the first time which zooms closer to him. From this we see his bandmates emerge and walk to their instruments at mid to long shots. The jumps between shots are quite fast, going from a close up of a guitar to a close up of Dave singing to a mid shot of Chris Shiflett putting on his guitar. Theres then a mid shot of the drum kit as we hear the drums begin in the track.

As the song speeds up there is a quick series of long shot pans and close ups of Dave as he performs. There is also quick jump cuts between close ups of the drums and the different guitars as they're played, adding to the performance. A low angle mid shot turns into a close up as Dave sings to the camera.

The main focus in the video is Dave and most of the close ups are of him singing into the microphone while the other band members only get long or mid shots. There is a big use of zooming during the video, as a long shot of the drum kit zooms in to create a mid shot, there is also a big use of pans, often the camera pans vertically from the floor to the ceiling or horizontally from one side of the warehouse to the other. As the camera zooms out from the band we see a high angle aerial shot looking down on the band which begins to pan to the right, it then blends into a pan of a close up of Dave.  There is also a big use in different angles in the video, one minute there will be a low angle shot of daves legs and guitar, then there'll be a high angle shot of the band which transforms back into a mid shot. The exchange between the shots is very fast and jumpy, giving a sense of action.

The juxtaposition in the video also changes, one minute we're looking at Dave from the front, then from behind. Then that changes into the band being on one side of the shot and not the other, so there isn't much consistency apart from Daves close ups singing at the camera.
As the song speeds up, so does the editing and there are suddenly many more shots and many more jump cuts between them. At one point there is a long shot of the band which takes more time than usual to zoom in before turning into another shot, suggesting that this part is building up to something.

Then we see a mid shot of a Riot Police officer from behind as he approaches the band, this point is where the chorus begins and can be heard and the shots of the band become more fast paced. We then see an aerial shot of the Riot Police officer walking towards the black line painted on the floor, then we see him still approaching the line in fast horizontal pan behind Daves legs. A low angle horizontal pan of the line shows the officer getting closer.

We then see a close up of the officers face, looking stern and focused as he faces the band. This turns into a close up of Dave shouting the lyrics, looking extremely angry into the microphone, the shot jumps back to the stern face of the officer who pulls the visor of his helmet down. There is a series of quick close ups of the band then a long shot where Dave sings at the single officer on the line. At a high angle shot we see the officer take out his baton as his face grows more furious. The officer then screams but we can't hear him. A shot of Dave singing the chorus again and lifting his arm at a mid shot turns into a long shot horizonal pan of the warehouse as many riot officers appear holding riot shields.

We then see a point of view shot from behind Dave so we can see the full extent of the amount of officers which pans to the left. There is then more close ups of the band, and more close ups of the officers face. There is then a horizontal pan down the line of officers, all their faces stern and angry. There is then a high angle shot where we see all the officers against the band, almost like there is a stand-off between them both.

As Dave sings a slow verse, there is an extreme close up on his eyes. It flicks to a close up of the police lowering their visors on their helmets, this shows that something big is going to happen. As Dave repeatidly screams "Who are you?", the officers scream back and lean down ready to run.
The sequence then turns into slow motion images of the officers run, such as close ups on their legs and faces as Dave sings a slow part of the song.

As the guitar and drums kick back in, there is a long shot of the warehouse in which the red screen at the back explodes into red liquid that covers the officers and the band as they continue to play. This could be a symbolism of their anger against the Riot Officers, which has finally exploded; which could relate to an anger at society and the way its controlled. The sequence then becomes low lit and there is a lot of liquid which causes poor visibility, but we see the officers in mid shots struggling against the liquid holding their sheilds, these shots are also in slow motion.

We then witness Dave covered in liquid singing into the microphone as the officers struggle. There are also close ups of the band getting soaked in the red liquid but still performing, these slow motion shots give an excellent view of how the liquid moves off the instruments and the sheilds. During the last 20 seconds of the song, the shots speed up and are very jumpy with flashes of bright purple lights inbetween them.
As the song ends, we see the red liquid stop and Dave falls to his knees on the warehouse floor.

Form: Due to most of the video focusing on the bands performance, the video is obviously in the performance form, but there could also be some narrative because there is a stand-off between the band and the Riot Officers, but the narrative isn't very clear other than theres anger between the two groups.

Audience: I believe the audience for this track is anyone from the age of around 15-35, this appeals to teenagers as the song itself was sold to the popular game, Guitar Hero which appeals to a teenage audience, showing that they want teenagers and young people to listen to the track and be involved in their music. I also believe that the audience could be adults as when asked in an interview about the video with XFM Dave Grohl said that it's mostly about being deceived, and that he feels a lot of people are being deceived right now (this could easily link to the idea of the population being lied to by politicians or people in power and this could be symbolized by the Riot Police). The video has got 39,078,054 hits on Youtube! Making it the most popular video that I have looked into.