The Prodigy- Breathe: video analysis

Analysis of The Prodigy’s “Breathe”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmHDhAohJlQ

We carried out initial research of the electronic genre by analysing three other music videos in our genre. We decided to pick a wide range of videos, being either narrative or concept, from various artists to gather a lot of ideas that we may be able to use for our final product.

The Prodigy’s Breathe of the album Fat of the Land is a Concept video with elements of performance intertwined. The concept of the video involves the band members interactions with a run-down house while various creatures are filmed exploring including, at various points, an alligator. The two main band members are interacting with each other through a hole in the wall while they perform alone in their separate rooms. This element appears to have nothing to do with the meaning of the song but adds to the maniacal and fractured personality of the song. The constant dimming to brightening of the lights reflects the lyrics “Breathe with me” as it makes it seem like the house itself is breathing via the lights.

Location:

A run down, decaying house. The band members all occupy a separate section of the dirty and debilitated house in which the video is set.  The filthiness of the video reflects the underground popularity the group had at the time as well as being a reference to the genre of “grime” which the group were often called

Mise-en-scene:

The video is in many places, very stripped. The location is mainly empty, especially when the artists are in the shot. The proxemics of the artists suggest that the audience should focus on them as they are the dominant (if not only) object on screen being centre of the shot and taking up a lot of room on screen. However, cut together with shots of the artists are shots of cluttered, filthy and decrepit rooms such as a science lab and kitchen. This contradiction again resembles the manic and unpredictable features of the artist’s style of electronic music.

Costume:

While the colour of the the artists clothing is very dark, the outlandish and casual clothes they wear are similar to the “raver” outfit. The Prodigy were huge on the rave scene in the 90s and the video references this as the artists were baggy clothes or even shirtless with vibrant body art and hairstyles on display.

Camera Angles:

Tilted shots are used frequently throughout the video when not focused on the band members to give the impression they bring sanity to the situation which contrasts with their manic and aggressive movements on camera. When the artists are on screen close-ups and fast zoom-ins are used to disorientate the audience.