Bastille – PompeiiVideo Analysis

To begin the music video, there is an establishing shot of the lead singer of Bastille standing on top of what looks like a modern building. This will start to make the audience question about what the song is about because the name “Pompeii” implies that the song is about the city of Pompeii during ancient Rome that got destroyed because of a volcano eruption. It is a low angle shot that slowly zooms towards him as he is looking down at the camera which connotes that he is an important part of the video and the song. After that, it cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the singer looking out over the city with the name of the band and the name of the song superimposed on top.

During the music video, the lead singer is relaxed with calm facial expressions and body movements. This is quite different to typical music videos because the directors usually want the actors and actresses to convey emotion with facial expressions and body language. Throughout the video, the singer wears dark clothes which could imply the fear of the unknown and the fear of what is happening in the visual narrative. The black skinny jeans that he is wearing adheres to the stereotype of indie rock players and makes him blend into his surroundings because of the time of day that the majority of this video is set. The narrative of the video is the lead singer running from a disease or illness which makes people’s eyes go completely black. The video follows the lead singer running through the city and meeting people who have already had their eyes changed. The audience knows that this is dangerous and a ‘bad thing’ because of the look of terror that the singer has on his face when he sees people with black eyes.Throughout the video it uses low key lighting which sets the tone and atmosphere of the narrative behind the song and visuals.