Bastille Pompeii

overviewBastille is a pop indie band from England. They are a mainstream band and follow the codes and conventions of pop with all their video's having a narrative and elements of performance. They are a generic band like what you typically get in that sort of scene.

Genre characteristicsIt follows the genre characteristics closely, its cut to the beat and follows he narrative to the end of the video. It mixes in elements of performance throughout you see the singer singing to the camera on a close up angel in the shadow of a light and cuts in constantly. The lead singer taking center stage in the narrative is another convention of pop the constant close up of him gives him the sole intention and doesn’t take away from the narrative.

Mise-en-sceneThere is nothing too special about the mise-e-scene. It seems quite normal except the desolation and isolation of the area. Also you see the black contacts in the eyes of everyone but the singer and this is quite obviously to isolate the singer more and show how they spreading this plague of sorts and he's running from it.

Videos and lyric linksThe video lies closely with the story of the eruption of Pompeii. People running from their inevitable fate. The lyrics tie closely in with this " the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love" however they didn’t want the video to directly link so they changed it to a plague to emphasize the story of Pompeii which is sometime you fate is inevitable.

NarrativeThe narrative is the lead singer running from the "infected" people. They constantly use close up to see the difference between his eyes and the black eyes almost showing how he is the only one with sanity left and no one else does. It shows the never ending battle to give into something you don’t want to.

Rep of artistHe seen as a normal person and I suppose this was do so that anyone can relate to the story, that can replace themselves and their demons with the ones in the narrative and this is something pop music does a lot it, it gives quite vague character to make it more relatable and easier for you to see yourself in that person shoes.