Music Video Analysis of 'Out of the Black' by Royal Blood

The music video for Royal Blood's 'Out of the Black' is one of my favourite music videos and is effective as it has allowed the song to gain greater exposure due to the interesting nature of the video. The video opens with a shot of the 'Parental Advisory - Explicit Content' logo which immediately alerts the viewer and captivates their attention. Following this shot, there is a shot of an untuned TV channel with white noise, after this shot there is no actual footage until 0:33, instead the shots are animations of the TV show that the protagonist is watching. In the TV show there are aliens, police officers and violence; this foreshadows what is about to come in the rest of the music video.  During this animated period, fast paced editing is used alongside many vibrant colors in the animations - this sets the tempo for the rest of the video which is fitting as the song is fast paced.

There is a clear and strong narrative in this video that begins with the protagonist, a store clerk, watching the show about aliens. A woman then comes to the till and is shot in the head by an alien in a rabbit costume, the store clerk has a bar of chocolate in his hand which the rabbit takes away from him before leaving the shop without harming the store clerk. Outside the front of the shop, a massive confrontation between the police and the rabbit breaks out; more aliens come to support the rabbit and they all violently murder the policemen. After this is over, the angry store clerk comes out of the store, kills all of the aliens including the rabbit and retrieves his chocolate bar - a cyclical structure. Throughout the video, the shots are switched from real footage to animated footage - namely during the violent, alien scenes. The video sees editing in time with the music and the theme of violence in the video supports the song and the band as a whole as they are a rock band who play loud, aggressive music music which is heavily based around the drums and bass guitar. The video is an amplification of the lyrics to an extent, the song is called 'Out of the Black' and this can be linked to the whole alien theme and the fact that the video is set at nighttime. I believe that the music video is extremely effective as even though it doesn't conform to connotations of the genre in terms of mise-en-scene, the fast paced editing does conform to the genre and the video is very striking, comical and memorable which, as aforementioned will promote song and the band, leaving the viewer excited to hear and see the band's release of their next music video.

Neither of the two members of Royal Blood appear in the video but with the video being heavily narrative based without performance of the song itself, the use of an actor rather than the band seems effective. Camera shots are used to complement the hectic and wild song; we see the use of POV shots from the alien's perspective whilst running, close-up shots of the first alien's feet - shot by a handheld camera meaning that the shot is unstable. The editing is particularly effective as it is in time with the music - this is essential with a song such as Out of the Black due to the drums and bass guitar being central to the song - as a rock band, Royal Blood create music that is to be performed loud and is very instrument based - especially during the chorus in which the lead vocalist seems to almost be shouting. The editing accompanies the violent and aggressive themes of the song and the video itself. I believe that the video creates a band identity to an extent; it captivates the viewer and would leave them excited to watch more music videos from Royal Blood and so it is effective as a promotion, however it doesn't create an identity for the band itself as neither members appear within the video and the use of animation isn't something that is consistent across other videos/pieces of media associated with Royal Blood.