LO1: Task 1: The Prodigy - Breathe

This video was directed by Walter Stern in 1996 and won Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1997. Stern has continued to work with The Prodigy, collaborating with them for five other videos. He has now gone on to make videos for artists including Madonna and David Bowie.

Purpose 

The purpose of this video is to disturb the audience and make them feel uncomfortable. The mise-en-scene of the derelict house, the actor’s costumes, the animals and the lighting all contribute to making the video appear surreal and disturbing, even nightmare-like. Another purpose is to establish Keith's new appearance and transform the image of the band in the eyes of their fans and the general public. The band probably knew the video was likely to be a big hit with fans and critics, so they took the opportunity to reinvent themselves with the hope of mass publicity. 

Form

The form is a music video.

Content & Meaning

The song plays as the video begins with the band's MC, Maxim, moving eerily towards the camera in a dark room. This effect is used frequently throughout the video and was probably achieved by using a trolley to pull his stationary figure towards the camera. The band's instrumentalist and composer, Liam, sits on a bed in another similar room, staring at the wall. Keith, the band's vocalist stands against a wall in another room. The drums in the song kick in with a close-up of Keith shaking his head with his tongue out. This shot demonstrates cohesion between the drum beat and the moving image. 

A wide shot of the band sat together in a room with parallel windows and a large lamp sweeps in after the cut. Keith and Maxim then alternately cut, playing to the camera and dancing in a mixture of mid shots and medium close ups. The scene cuts back to the wide shot, but this time the band's dancer, Leeroy, stands and walks towards the camera, crouching to carry out a closer inspection. In time to the sound effects in the music, Keith mimes using a whip. Liam walks around his room to the right clenching his fists. The scene frequently cuts to shots of animals; a black rat in a laboratory, connoting dirt, a alligator connoting fear and aggression and various insects that also connote fear and griminess. 

The scene cuts to Maxim, who is sat spinning on a chair in the top right hand corner of the room. A dead looking plant sits opposite him, in the other corner. There is a hole in the wall. The director has clearly thought out the rule of thirds in this sequence because each corner of the inner rectangle touches a focal point; Maxim, the plant and the hole in the wall. The scene changes to a low angle shot of Leeroy looking around under a glass ceiling as a cloud of dust falls from it. The shots then alternate between each member of the band. Images of an alligator on a bed, rats running around an abandoned lab, a centipede and cockroaches in a sink all play on common phobias. As the video concludes, an image of the whole band sitting in the room Keith was dancing around in is cut to, the actors staring into the camera. The final shot is of the same alligator falling off the bed as the song and video conclude. 

The scene often cuts between shots of Keith and Maxim. Most shots are mid-shots but there are also a lot of close-ups, especially of Keith to enforce his star persona. One shot in particular, the wide angle shot from both rooms with a wall straight down the middle is interesting because it shows both actors in the same shot. It could connote split personalities, as the wall splits them apart and both Keith and Maxim have  alter-egos when performing.

Keith wears a long leather jacket with his chest exposed and a tattoo on his stomach that reads 'inflicted'. He wears black trousers and burgundy trainers. His hair is styled in an iconic reverse mohican with one side green and one side purple. Keith has a tongue piercing, nose ring and various other ear piercings. Maxim wears white contact lenses that appear to shrink his pupils. His hair is styled in short dreadlocks. His chest is also exposed, and he is covered in black ‘tiger stripes’ that run across his face and body. His lips are black and his teeth are also coloured in. Maxim frequently sits on a wooden chair with an old walking stick on his lap.

Through the video the actors are dancing with distorted motions and use facial expressions and gestures. Keith dances around wildly and uses exaggerated facial expressions, grinning and grimacing, almost taunting the audience. Maxim on the other hand stares blankly at the camera when he is still, but gesticulates aggressively when he is provoked by Keith through the hole in the wall.

Most of the video is in slow motion. This makes the lights pulsate and linger eerily. Low key lighting is typical of the horror genre and casts dark shadows across the actor’s faces. However, high key lighting is also used to bleach Keith’s face, casting shadows over his eyes and cheekbones so that he looks almost skeletal.

Genre

The genre of the song is 'electronic punk' and this ties in perfectly with the horror/psychological genre of the video. The music video uses certain stylistic conventions of the horror genre; the use of phobias (the black rat, the alligator and the insects), the darkness/shadows and the claustrophobic rooms and walls which seem to close in due to clever camera angles. The actors, Keith and Maxim, have been dressed specifically to make them look scary; Maxim wears white contact lenses and Keith's make-up makes him look like a clown. Their movements are sharp and twisted - this choreography will have been carefully planned to make them appear reminiscent of antagonists in horror films. 

Audience

This music video was aimed at fans of The Prodigy and also people who enjoy the horror genre. It was limited to post watershed on music channels because of its 'fear-factor'.