As you may know, I am a Video Editor – and one of the things (probably the main thing) that inspired me to work in television post production was actually music videos.

Music videos are one of my favourite things in the world and I spent hours and I MEAN literally hours when I was growing up watching them Even now in the modern world, I can find myself getting lost on YouTube watching music videos for hours on end – they are an addiction.

This month we look at an artist that I solely made a decision to see him live by looking at his music videos. I tend to go to a lot of music gigs the nights that I work over night because they heighten your energy on shift. I saw that one of the evenings that I had a shift, Yungblud was performing a special album launch show. I had never listened to his music before but knew his name as it kept popping up everywhere. I knew that there was a lot of discussion and news around him at the time so I was intrigued to know what he was like. So I turned to his music videos and tried to make a decision as to whether to see him live.

I had recently watched Gotham and his whole persona instantly reminded me of Jerome. Also I could instantly see the Marilyn Manson, The Cure, Oasis and many more influences in his style and the way he was being portrayed in videos. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I liked him musically but the videos were definitely enough to convince me to go and check him out live. Seeing him live was a fantastic decision as he is a very talented and can put on an amazing show, read the full review here. This month however I thought it would be interesting to look at an artist who I totally judged first by his music videos. So, enjoy!

YUNGBLUD – Medication

Why did you choose this particular video?

Just like Parents when I first saw this video, it made an impact. It is a lot darker then the other videos I had seen and there is a lot of effective editing to it as well. This isn’t my favourite Yungblud song but this video is very effective and the editing is something I adore. Near the end of the video it starts to have a surrealist vibe to it which again is why I appreciate Yungblud videos – there is a lot of connotations that go into them.

So, what is the narrative?

I can’t find something that confirms it but basically the character in the video takes medication that allows him to see the world in a better way then he already does…with side effects.

Favourite parts of the video?

The opening shot of this video to me feels like it is meant to resemble the beginning of a film. Think of old fashioned films, cartoons etc they all open with this very simple black circle that expands into the world. I think this is to define the surrealist styles and themes that you are going to experience in this world.

The color grade plays a really important part in this video and I think it is one of my favourite things about it. The world that is meant to be ‘reality’ is coloured in faded out blues and darkness to define a washed out world this character is perceiving and as soon as they take a tablet there is this transition that leads the viewer into this really surrealist bright coloured environment that is full of really bold bright colours. I find the contrast and the connotations of this transition fascinating and will be described more in depth later on.

The editing in the bright side of the video is erratic and throughout the video you see this develop even more It is full of sped up movements, glitches that intertwine in and out of reality and that is why I find this a really fascinating music video. If you remember back in February with Alkaline Trio, I said that there ever so often is music videos I come across that I could write an essay on – this is one of them. I could sit here and literally write for hours about this video but I will try and keep it brief.

As I said I am going to promise to keep this brief as I can but we have to look at the transition of ‘reality’ vs ‘imagination’. There are so many clever and effective ways that this is depicted in the video but this is the first one really where you start to realise these shots and just how clever they are. As I said before, all the dark, blue, faded colour shots are meant to be the world that this character is living in without the pills and this clip here sets up what we can expect from the rest of the video. This character sees the world without their medication a dark place and seeing images such as a mum looking like a mourning person at a funeral are key functions in the mis-en-scene that really heighten the ideologies of this video. The fast and erratic editing allows it to intertwine between the two versions of this scenario seamlessly and really depicts to the audience the differences and just how alternate they are. This is depicted again through the world of editing transitions and Dominic putting a pill in his mouth to escape reality to fiction.

I think the most iconic scene in this video is the cereal scene, I know for me personally it is the one shot that kept in my mind when I first saw this video. In the world that medication has created Dominic believes that he is eating brightly coloured cereal (which in some ways wouldn’t be surprising as these are a common thing in the States) but then when the worlds start to meld with one another you notice that it is maggots in the  ‘reality’. I could write a whole essay on this scene I have so much I can say about it and that is why I love this video – there is just so much as an editor and motion graphics designer I can truly appreciate.

Near the end of the video it all gets a bit well, messy in a fantastically brilliant way – this is one of the shots that is on the screen for only a minute but I think it defines just how surreal this video starts to get. Throughout the video there is a clear transition between ‘the real world’and ‘the medication world’ well near the end the worlds start to collide and becomes a montage of surrealism. This really is a very clever video and if I could write a dissertation on it, I would.