Transcript Evanescence – “Sweet Sacrifice” Analysis

EVANESCENCE – “SWEET
SACRIFICE”
Paige Roden
STYLE
• Concept video
• The lyrics of the song are quite dark and powerful
• The flashing images in the video reflect and emphasise the meaning of the
lyrics
• The timing is also key; the pictures flash with certain lyrics at
corresponding times
• The band are also present and perform on the screens/in the setting
INTEGRATION OF LYRICS & SONG
• A key element of this video is that the flashing images correspond with the
lyrics, which is done to emphasise the meaning of the lyrics
• For example, the flashing image of a spine is edited in when the lyrics say
“Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes” – the spine is the main
bone that keeps the entire skeletal structure and in fact the whole animal
together, so it can be interpreted as a “survival of the fittest” idea, they are
too weak to survive
• Also metaphorically being that they can’t survive from the mistakes they
made, so the physical element of the spine emphasises this meaning.
• It may be seen that weakness and mistakes are a fundamental element of
humans, such as spines are, but that people are arrogant because they
cannot “survive” which may be interpreted as they cannot learn from
mistakes because they are too arrogant
EDITING TECHNIQUE
• Scenes of Amy lip syncing, the band performing on the screen and the
images are all cross cut together, the cuts themselves are blended a lot of
the time, this seems to have been done on purpose to make it appear more
confusing and hypnotic
• Some scenes are blended are blurred, emphasise the lyrics, particularly
when Amy lip syncs in close ups, her face comes in and out of focus a lot
CAMERA WORK
•
Close ups or long shots are used quite often in this video
•
The close ups are used so that the audience can see Amy’s facial expressions, which
emphasise the lyrics because they can see emotions
•
The long shots show the surroundings, which seems to be a long path and old,
burned trees, and also Amy’s aesthetics (red dress, red lipstick, red eye
shadow/cheeks. The long shots also show the bands performing on screens, and
because of the colours used on them they blend in with the fire
•
The bird’s eye view shot also shows the floor, which has been made to look as if
there is fire
•
The camera has been purposely set at these angles and also shakes sometimes to
emphasise the surroundings and the costume, possibly in order to make it appear
as if it’s Hell, or at least somewhere dark and unpleasant
LINK TO GENRE
• Evanescence are a rock/metal band
• From a band of this genre it would be expected to have powerful
messages, meaningful lyrics, a dark atmosphere, have the band featured
• The video for “Sweet Sacrifice” portrays these links to the genre,
particularly through the setting and getting across the meanings of the
lyrics, plus the band features in it a lot (Amy lip syncs and walks around,
the band members are on the screen playing their instruments and then
they all bump into each other once Amy breaks through the screen)