9 Frame Analysis – Biffy Clyro - Mountains

The first Frame analysed is a long shot of a chess piece in shallow focus surrounded by other chess pieces that are deemed less important due to them also not being in focus and not center of the screen like the main piece. The only colours on the screen at this point are black and white, which gives the distinct feel of opposites, which goes along with the rest of the video. This frame is at 2:42.

The next frame is a medium close up of the black suited lead singer with shallow focus of a chessboard containing only black pieces and a woman dressed only in black clothes signalling that this side of the room may belong to the black side of this battle just like a chessboard. They are also focused quite clearly on what’s taking place before them signalling its of a lot of importance.

The next frame is a wide shot of the two warriors fighting in the center of the room. The background is dominantly black so this may be opposite on the other

side to again reinforce the feeling of the room to be set out like a chessboard.

The next frame shows a long shot of the Black king sat on his throne watching the fight with a shallow focus on the two warriors fighting in front of him with again the room being dominantly black maybe showing that this fight is in favour of the black side of this chess scenario.

The fifth frame is an over the shouder shot of the white king in deep focus over the white warrior as he fights the opposing black clothes warrior. This is the first scene so far that has focused on the white side of this chess like battle, also the floor is shown which is black and white tiled however it is mostly white which is in this scene suggesting both that the white side of this chess battle have a chance and also the white side of the room is dominantly white which give again that feeling of the room being like a chess board.

The next frame is a medium shot of the lead singer playing his guitar and but cutting out half of the face and focusing quite a bit on the guitar, also there is a shallow focus of the drummer and his drums in the background showing that the whole band is playing at this point and goes with the feel that in these types of music videos where it is quite guitar heavy you will see the lead playing quite frequently.

The next frame is of the fight again, and it is a long shot of the white side of the board/room however opposing the first few shots this frame is dominantly white with the white king and a queen figure stood beside him in the background in deep focus also the black warrior being blocked out of the shot by the white warrior leads to a new feel of the white side of this chess like battle becoming stronger and more influential.

There is then a medium long shot of the two warriors fighting in the center of the room with black furniture in the distance however in this shot its influence is lesser than in the past frames and we see the two warriors fighting quite equally towards the end of the video, which is strange as the advantage has gone from one to another since the beginning of the video.

In the ninth frame we go back to the lead singer of the band with a medium close up with a shallow focus of the drummer in the background signalling that in this part of the video the attention should be directed to the lead. He wears a shirt that reveals a tattoo across his chest however it is difficult to read also his hair is covering his face to which he does nothing about showing that this song is the most important thing now and this fight is about to conclude.