Although I don't know exactly what kind of music video I want to make, an example that I really like is "Just Another Girl" by The Killers, directed by Warren Fu.
The video features actress Dianna Agron lip-syncing the lyrics of the song, performing as if she were Brandon Flowers, the band's lead singer. She starts off wearing a blazer with feather shoulders like the one Flowers wore in the music video for their earlier single, "Human", and walks onto the set of this video, which fans of The Killers would recognise. She "sings" with the band as if she really were the singer, imitating his style and movements.
The rest of the video follows this same format. Dianna Agron walks around a studio, onto sets styled like the music videos for some of the band's previous songs.
Here are some examples of when this is done:
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| When You Were Young original video |
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| When You Were Young reference (see bride and groom in the background) |
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| Spaceman original video |
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| Spaceman reference |
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| All These Things That I've Done original video |
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| All These Things That I've Done reference |
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| Runaways original video |
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| Runaways reference |
The music video is a journey through The Killers' history as a band. The song was released as part of their compilation album "Direct Hits", celebrating ten years of the band's music, and this video serves that same purpose.
Tracking shots are used to follow Dianna Agron as Brandon Flowers as she goes from one set to the other, creating a seamless flow between them. This is possibly done to convey a sense of time passing - maybe the band are trying to show how the years of their career have gone by, or how they are constantly moving from one thing to the next.
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| Tracking shot: Human, to Read My Mind reference, to When You Were Young, to All These Things That I've Done set |
The archive footage illustrates from the start that The Killers' career over the years is a central theme in the video. By not revealing at first who this character is, there is also an element of surprise so the audience can assume, if they realise it isn't Brandon Flowers, that there is going to be something surprising or different about this video.
However, there is another less obvious theme to the video, or at least my interpretation of it. The actual song is about being so in love with a girl that he sees her as special and sets her apart from all the other girls he's been with. The lyrics suggest this has reached the level of a kind of obsession: "...this confusion's got me losing my grip" "Why can't I sleep and night? And why don't the moon look right?" And, subtly, this is maybe illustrated in the video. Dianna Agron could be acting not just as Brandon Flowers but as the girl he is singing about. The fact that she impersonates him, performs with the band without them seeming to notice it isn't their usual lead singer, and, significantly, the fact that she lip-syncs to his voice, suggests that she actually is Brandon Flowers - he is so obsessed with her that she has taken over his entire existence, so he can no longer separate himself from her. The journey through the different eras of the Killers could suggest that she has stayed in his mind throughout his career, emphasising that she isn't "just another girl".
Towards the end of the video, however, there is a shot in which he joins in with her lip-sync - she is no longer the focus:
This could show him getting over her, and being able to act on his own, without her feeling like such a significant part of him.
At the end of the video, she walks off set and the camera stays focused on the band, without her:
By zooming out from close-ups/MCUs of Dianna so that she becomes insignificant and walks off screen by herself, the audience get the sense that she isn't part of his life anymore, but since this seems to end on a happy note, it means that it's for the best.
The video ends after panning from the shot shown above to a mid close-up shot of the "K" from The Killers' logo, with its lights switching off:
This being the final shot could have a number of different meanings:
- If the light represents how he feels about the girl the lyrics focus on, it switching off could be indicating the end of those feelings, confirming that, despite what the lyrics suggest, he has moved on.
- Because this is from the band's logo, and the music video showed their journey as a band, and they had just celebrated 10 years together, the light turning off possibly represents that journey coming to an end. Maybe it marks the start of a new era of their career ahead of them, but an end to their first decade together.
This video could be influential when coming up with ideas for my own. I like their use of costume and props, and the continual references made throughout. What I especially like is the twist of a woman lip-syncing to Brandon Flowers' voice, because it is interesting and different, making the video more memorable than it otherwise would have been.
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