Re-Wired Evaluation

The song Re-Wired is by a mainly British indie rock band called Kasabian. The band consists of four members originating from Leicester and have independently produced 5 albums in total, including one this year.

The purpose of this music promo is to entertain and the storyline reflects this. The video houses a 4 minute car chase in which the members star as the leading roles and is a mix of both performance and action. The video begins by introducing the ‘getaway’ vehicle that is a Mercedes CLK and similarly to a movie-like car chase another car is waiting for the band to pass them on the road before the action commences. Interestingly the video is inspired by the car chase in ‘The Hitcher’ where a man and a woman are scene fleeing from a scene of a crime tailed by police cars and a helicopter. Although the video is no extreme close to this, the storyline can be seen to represent aspects of the film.

Mise-en-scene plays a vital role in the video to successfully portray the band members as criminals and also to the set the scene. In the opening shot the band can be seen standing on top of the getaway car with each member dressed in black jeans and jackets which clearly connotes criminality. Interestingly furthermore, the band’s main songwriter and guitarist Sergio Pizzorno is dressed equally to the others but in addition is wearing a black hat. This could be done to emphasise his leading role in the group and also perhaps imply he is the most dangerous or ‘rock and roll’ of the band members. This is further emphasised by him holding a cigarette, and holder, in his mouth continuously throughout the video. As mentioned previously the getaway vehicle in question is a Mercedes CLK, also in black; again related to a movie like scene, but this is not the only clue to the video’s storyline; in the background of the opening shot several stacks of tyres have been positioned which foreshadows the video will be a car chase.

Humour is also present in the video and is demonstrated by (as well as the Benny Hill like chase scenes) the band gradually switching from the Mercedes to a purple ‘boy-racer’ car, with the words “Mothman” and “Julie” plastered to the top of the windscreen, relative to the front seats. This then progresses to a 5-way bicycle (the band plus a vampire) before finally to what appears to be a very old red Renault or Citroen hatchback. This use of mise-en-scene here is to obviously keep the audience interested both in terms of action but also narrative and humour.

The director has used cinematography to push the video into looking much like a movie by using several long shots and close-ups to allow the audience to adapt to the continuously changing setting. The opening long shot initially does this, as talked about, because of the key components to a car chase being included; the getaway vehicle, the criminals (band) and the rubber car tyres as the background. A low angle shot and progressively a vertical tilt is also used in the same shot to denote the bands power throughout the video. Several mid and long shots of the road are used in this promo to again relate back to the storyline. Close up shots are used, in addition, to emphasise key sections in the chase, such as when Serge is hot-wiring the purple car. Finally, there is a frequent use of tracking shots to add to the fast paced motion of the video and keep the audience entertained.

There is a recurring use of interesting editing techniques for the duration of the promo also. One of these is the pace of the cuts in conjunction with the beat of the music, for example at the beginning of the song where a short musical introduction is heard there is only one shot/tilt shot. As the music picks up and the lyrics are increased so are the number of shots and cuts in the editing. Furthermore the pace of editing matches the action in the movie-like video and is sped up when tense operations are being carried out. Another use of editing is the slow-motion effect and this can be seen not only in the opening shot but when the band cascade through a series of road barriers and scarper from the Mercedes. The use of this technique here is to add to the ‘coolness’ or ‘rock and roll’-esque feel of the band. This is accentuated by close-up shots of the band members faces, which could also be to inform the audience of who they are.

Conclusively sound is the final area of production methods being inputted into Kasabian’s music promo. Both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are used in the video to help with narrative and entertainment purposes. The non-diegetic sound obviously included in the video is the single being promoted itself, which begins at the very start of the video. Non-diegetic sound is used however to add to the tension in the scene; when the band see the car following them Sergio accelerates hard and the sound of the engine can be heard to represent this. Also just prior to this in the car the audience can hear Serge say the words “Have a look back there Tommy”. The director has chosen to do this to add to the narrative of the video and relate to the storyline, but it could also be to help the viewer relate to the band better; recognising their accent. Finally, the band is shown to sing along in the second chorus of the song. This is inspiration taken from the film Wayne’s World where the characters mouth the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody in the car, but furthermore, aids the audience in remembering the lyrics to the chorus as it makes them stand out further.