Music Video Analysis: Paramore- Ignorance

Ignorance- Paramore

I chose this song because the band Paramore is an alternative rock band and this video has a lot of symbolism and reflection to the lyrics. it is very well crafted and there are notions of looking and visual references throughout it. the song was written by Hayley Williams the lead vocalist of the band as the band went through a period where they were going to split up and she used her song writing skills to show them how she felt and in this video we see both sides of the story from her view and the other band members views.

the video starts in our perspective like we are walking towards the door and opening it:

This is a notion of looking that we experience as the viewer getting us more involved in the video.

As soon as the guitar and drums kick in the light comes on in the room and we see a dark cramped room where the band are playing in with a hanging light bulb. we then see quick cuts of the band as a whole in the room together, then close ups of the guitarists and lead singer. it also has quick cuts of them performing on a larger stage to. this all happens within the introduction of the song which is 25 seconds long, the lead singer we see her looking confused and banging against the walls to. from the music you can tell this song is aggressive and angry which is shown within this 25 seconds. Throughout the introduction you can see the bands image in this video by what they are wearing which is all dark-black clothing which is aggressive and pessimistic like the song is.
As the introduction comes to an end we get a midshot of hayley williams grabbing the light bulb which we see extends out.

When the lead singer begins to sing she pulls on the bulb and we can see from her expressions she isnt happy with the band members. it cuts quickly between the cramped small room and the stage. Hayley gets into the other band members faces but they ignore her.

 This relates to the song title "ignorance" as they are ignoring her no matter how much she shines the lightbulb in their faces. the light bulb can be interpreted as interegation however it can also be interpreted as the media press because in the small cramped room the lead of the light bulb only stretches a little bit so the light is always in her face, the press and media always focuses on her and forgets the other band. no matter how much she tries to involve them it doesnt work because she is the face of the band. up to a minute within the music video, there are alot of rapid cuts to the cramped room and the band members ignoring hayley to them being on the larger staged room. there a variety of close ups of the band members and the instruments and hayley with the light bulb.

from this image above, you can see that the band is still ignoring her and singling her out and the light bulb wire has extended out which relates to the music video later on. these cuts become even more rapid and the music video gets more aggressive as hayley begins to get right into the camera with the lightbulb and no matter what she does the band isnt listening to her or paying any attention to her.

it then suddenly cuts to her in a room filled with mirrors wearing a white outfit and her hair is pulled back. her image has completely changed and i think it is filled with ironic images as the mirrors could be interpreted as because the band thinks the press constantly want to know about her and all attention is on her this is the interpretation of it and no matter where she turns in this small room filled with mirrors she cant get out and she looks like a mental patient by the way she is portrayed in a straight jacket. we see this in the rapid shots of cuts between the cramped room and this room of mirrors.

the video ends with the band on the stage performing and hayley is holding the light bulb in the face and the rest of the band members wrap the wire around her showing the spotlight is on her eventhough this is not what she wants as in the small cramped room, she is trying to shine the light in their eyes.

you can see the narrative structure throughout this music video it can be clearly pointed out as it follows the idea of ignorance and their concept. i think this video is a great music video to analyse its concept and hyper-reality involved.