Saturday, 11 September 2010

Rise Against - Ready To Fall

The video begins with a long range shot of the Earth, above its atmosphere, The fact the video begins in space shows its not any ordinary video, Out of this world almost.
The next few shots we see is a medium close up of the lead singer and a montage of shots of animals and their treatment by human beings. Close up's of the lead singer show a waterfall thats undisturbed in the background, and he is hoodless, as if he is comfortable in those surroundings, whilst other close ups show a broken treeline in the background and his hood is covering his head and he has a look of worry on his face. Shots of the band are shown with them standing in a de-forested wood, with both the band and their equipment lying inbetween or on top of severed tree stumps, the background is covered in an orange glow and smoke, perhaps representing fire, and suggesting it caused the damage. Where the song gets more upbeat and the lyrics become louder and faster, as the lead singer is screaming the lyrics down the microphone, shots are shown of animals in distress. By this point in the film the audience realizes that the band is trying to get a message across about the environment and the way humans treat it. The shots focus on the lead singer whenever the band is shown however the other band members are not given a insignificant amount of footage. The band is then shown to be walking through a forest, and as trees are cut down, and dead fish are seen in the river, the members look visibly distressed, or annoyed. The most influential shot is one of the lead singer, with an annoyed look, viewing straight at the camera, connecting with the viewer, the shot then pans to face the opposite way where a log is shown to be shredded by a woodcutter. This image tries to connect to the viewer, showing visual connection via the lead singer and then trying to instill guilt in the viewer for the destruction of the planet. The next major change is where the shot goes back to the band, this time a long shot, the wood in which the band were shown earlier, the smoke has cleared, showing the extent of the destruction, the lead singer drops his microphone, as if to give up, perhaps sending the message that this is what humans are doing, this co-incides with a lull in the music where its almost silent, as the music begins again he bursts back into life. The video is un-conventional as in it has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song, however the nature of the video is clearly Political. Showing a clear statement of the band's resentment of the overuseage of the earths materials and abusing of life. The video constists of footage from around the world, and a recording of the band in a wood. The change in scenery and location shows the bands attempts to try and get everyone listening around the world.
The band itself is here trying to promote itself as a green-friendly band, a move which could add popularity to it, or take it away, depending on the audience. All the shots in the video try to connect the audience to their motive, showing both the good side of the world, and then its subsequent destruction by humans. The sound is both diagetic and non-diagetic, the band is performing on screen, with the music playing in sync. The shots then go away from the band and the music continues. The Video was made in 2006, in comparison to the last two video's shown. The global mainstream paranoia is shown to have influenced bands once again, with the video 'I Wanna Rock' shown as an Anti-Establishment which arose from the 1970-80's teenage rejection of the paranoia concerning the cold war, and their intentional igronance to try and stabilize the political situation, and here again the Global concern is with mankind's contribution towards damaging the Earth, and the Video reflects current affairs once again.

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