SF - Product analysis two

For my second product analysis I have chosen to analyse ‘The Kill’ by ‘30 Seconds to Mars’, a band within the same genre as ‘Three Days Grace’ which is the alternative rock genre. The video was produced by Virgin Records and Josh Abraham in 2006. The broad characteristics of the genre portrayed in the video are the costumes used, with dark clothing and also the shots of the instruments as a method of establishing exactly what genre the music is in.

Are the lyrics amplified and are they illustrated by the visuals?

As the song is about seeing yourself for who you really are, the lyrics are amplified to a great extent at certain stages of the music video and a key example of this idea is when the singer says ‘this is who I really am’ a face-off shot is shown, with the singer facing a duplicate of himself. This connotes the idea of an inner struggle because in this shot, he can be seen fighting with his doppelgänger, showing that he is refusing to come to terms with who he is. There is also a direct reference to these lyrics when one of the band members is seen reading a sheet of paper that says ‘this is who I really am’ over and over again, suggesting knowledge of who his is but also connoting his refusal to accept the truth. At one point in the video, the visuals do illustrate the lyrics, because the singer is shown shouting as part of the performance, connoting high emotion and also working with the lyrics because he is singing about breaking down, connoting that the emotion he is portraying is all a part of the emotional and psychological struggle that he is going through.

Does the video cut to the beat? Does the pace fo the visuals change with the tempo of the song?

There are various stages in the video where the visuals seem to cut along with the beat, as indicated early in the video where longer cuts are used as a method of establishing what is happening, with the music being slow paced. There is also a segment in the video where the drums and guitar speed up, causing the shots to accelerate with roughly ten frames flashing up within the space of two or three seconds, indicating an obvious change in the video as the music changes pace. However in some cases the music and visuals do differ in pace because at one point, when one of the band members is skateboarding down a corridor there is a relatively mid tempo beat and longer cuts are being used with the visuals.

How are the band represented? Are motifs used?

Throughout the video there are multiple meat shots of the singer and the rest of the band, an idea made obvious through one particular shot, when the singer is staring directly into camera and screaming with his performance, indicating Goodwin's notion of looking, The band is continually advertised as the video frequently cuts back to the band members in their specific roles, as well as the fact that they are all included within the narrative of the video. Another less obvious form of band advertisement is included in the film with the 'room 6277' which spells out 'Mars' on a telephone keypad, meaning a part of the band name is included within the video, as well as the band members themselves. This relates to other videos by the band such as 'From Yesterday' and 'A Beautiful Lie' two videos which are also heavily focussed on the idea of a performance. There is a specific motif used by the band with the idea of make-up, most noticeably eye-liner, worn by the singer, which he wears in other music videos, such as the two previously mentioned videos. The band are provided with the image of being rebellious rule breakers at the start of the narrative, the characters are given a note saying not to go into 'room 6277' which one character ends up doing later on.

Which dominant ideologies are shown here? Are they reinforced or challenged?

Throughout the video, the main character played by 'Jared Leto' is seen as breaking the myth of masculinity because at one point, such as during the face-off shot, he is seen showing some form of vulnerability as he ends up putting his head on his doppelgänger chest, connoting that he may be about to be reduced to tears. However there is a reinforcement of typical male characteristics as the singer is shouting in his performance and at one stage is shown throwing a ball at the wall, the first image connoting hostility and the second connoting stress, suggesting that men get stressed easier than women. At the very start of the video, in the little clip just before the music starts, 'Leto' says how they will be alone all weekend, suggesting that as men, they enjoy being masters of their domain. There is also a reinforcement of violence in the nature of men as during the face-off segment the apparition is held up to the wall by the main character, suggesting some form of inner struggle and also connoting the idea of self realisation, indicated by the phrase 'this is who I really am'. There an idea of Jhally's theory of the subordination of women as at one stage a woman steps out of the shower wrapped in a towel with a male character staring at her, also suggesting that she is being shown in a sexualised way. However, there is also a reference to the feminine touch as when she touches the male characters face, he appears to succumb to her will, connoting that she seems to act as a figure for reassurance of the male role.

Are there any references to other texts? music videos?

Intertextual references are evident in this music video especially with the film industry because the video is directly based on the 1980 film 'The Shining' as indicated by many factors and images in the video. Two key references to 'The Shining' are the fact that the video is set in an 'empty' hotel and also with the shot of the typewriter with a sheet of paper saying 'this is who I really am', directly relating to the character played by 'Jack Nicholson' descending into madness with the line ' all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. Another reference to the film industry is the use of credits at the start with the song name, but there is also an allusion to the silent movie genre with writing indicating locations and also time passing shown on dark screens and highlighted with white writing as a method of making the writing more noticeable.

Is more narrative, concept or performance based?

This music video is both narrative based and performance based with more performance aspects as more shots of the singer performing are used throughout the video, indicating that the video was being to advertise the band as great an extent as the artists could. It is more of a mainstream video because with the intertextual film reference, it means that the video is being advertised to more than one audience demographic.


Therefore, this video is a performance and narrative hybrid which is being used to advertise the band to a great extent with intertextual references. All in all it is a video that not only reinforce stereotypes but also challenges them.