'Demons' by Imagine Dragons Music Video

One of my favourite music videos of all time is 'Demons' by Imagine Dragons.

The story of the video is about love and loss; the main concept is based around 4 fans in the crowd at an Imagine Dragons gig (so a large chunk of the video is performance based), but the camera zooms in on individual fans and you are told their story of what their lives are like at home. The flashbacks to the stories of the fans are filmed with a dark filter, making it look dull, but as soon as the chorus starts, the room lights up with the colour red (implying love between the fans and the band), but also taking away the darkness of their personal lives and adding the light provided by the music.

The 4 stories are:

A woman who has just lost her husband and has become a widow

A man with anorexia

A teenage boy getting abused at home

And a soldier suffering from PTSD

The video was filmed at a real concert in Las Vegas, their home town, and the venue was filled with real fans of the band, which makes the video that bit more personal.

I love this video because a lot of people go to gigs and turn to artists as an escape from their private lives, and, as soon as they walk into the concert venue, everything they were worrying about beforehand just disappears.

What I also love about this video is the fact that the band actually realise how much of an escape their music is for people, and how much people can relate to their music, especially this song. Usually, artists don't tend to get involved with their fans' private lives or take into account the fact that their fans might be going through something difficult at home. This video is almost a 'thank you' and a tribute to their fans, because the band themselves have been through difficult times in the past and the fans have helped them get through this.

The stories of the fans in the video are actually the stories of real fans they've met and helped through their music, so this is a video for them.

Fans start screaming at the start of the video, but it goes silent as soon as the song starts - highlighting the respect between the fans and the band. Also, the lighting of the video is very interesting - everything is dark except for the band members, possibly suggesting that they're 'guardian angels' to the fans.

The video is in slow motion until the chorus kicks in, showing how intently the fans are listening to the music, but also implying that their lives slow down when they're listening to and concentrating on the lyrics. Everyone in the audience stands close to each other and they all sing together, showing that they're all the same because they're all there to enjoy the music.

The lyrics are also extremely important and relevant to the video; when the first woman in the audience appears on screen and her story is about to be told, the lead singer sings " I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you. But with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide" implying that the band want to protect their fans, and this song is almost a way of doing that without physically being there.

At the end of the song, the footage fades to black and the words 'In memory of Tyler Robinson (1995 - 2013) Who inspired us with his courage as he battled cancer". And then a video clip is shown of Tyler singing 'It's Time', another song by the band, with Dan Reynolds (the lead singer). Tyler was a huge fan of the band, and they became patrons of his charity 'The Tyler Robinson Foundation', and they provide links to its website on the video and in the description of the video.

Dan Reynolds told the media "There's more to people than what you see at face value, and often we judge people very quickly."

"When you get to know them (the fans), there's more behind the scenes."  - Reynolds on the stories that appear in the video.

"We tried to portray that throughout 'Demons'. It kind of shows that there's more going on than what you see when you just meet someone. Everyone has their own demons, their own problems."

It’s heartbreaking that Tyler died of cancer at 17, but the footage is also comforting and a true reminder of the power and ability of music to reach us in those broken places when nothing else can.


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After reading the comment:

This video will influence my final piece as I will try to bring in the emotional and moving side into my own music video, though I am yet to decide how I will do this. I do address the idea of death in the flatline I use for my band's logo, but I will try to bring in that side to it in my final video.

Damon Albarn Music Videos

I love Damon Albarn's music videos because they never really show his face for more than a second, just the things around him and beautiful scenery he passes when he's on tour around the world.

Both videos below are self-shot, and both have a very simple structure too them; they are filmed on a tablet but the quality of the footage is still very high.

Damon filmed the video for 'Lonely Press Play' in Tokyo, London, Dallas, Utah, Colchester, North Korea, Iceland, and Devon.

'Lonely Press Play' Video


In his video for 'Heavy Seas Of Love', the editing of the video makes the scenery from one city blur into the scenery of another, which is very effective.


He filmed large chunks of the second music video through the window of his tour bus and taxis when he was in different countries around the world.

I love how simple yet effective these videos are, and how well they fit with the songs and the lyrics. For example, when the music slows down, so does the speed of the clips.

I love how Matt Cronin has edited these videos, because he doesn't lose the simpleness of the footage or the point that the footage is all self-filmed by the artist.
Sometimes, with artists, they can lose the art of music videos in the race to make the most watched video or the most virally famous video.
However, Damon shows people that he doesn't travel by fancy jets or in expensive cars when he's on tour - he travels by bus, standard class on planes, and taxis.

I think self-shot music videos are definitely more effective than others, because they let the audience see life through the eyes of the artist, which is rare.

Self-Shot Music Video

Self-shot music videos have never really been 'the thing' to do, especially for more popular artists, as they seem to prefer a more 'clean cut' looking video.

However, I have found some videos which have been filmed either by the artist(s) them self(ves), or just appears to be:


The first video which came to mind was 'One Way Or Another' by One Direction. They took a video camera around London and then to Africa to film a video for their Red Nose Day single. The boys took it in turns to film parts of the video themselves, and got members of their security to film clips of the whole group together; they even helped edit it themselves.
The group said the self-filmed music video also helped to get them closer to the fans, and makes it more personal to them as they did their own thing rather than acting in a music video directed by someone else.
The band filmed this video whilst they were on tour - some was filmed in London, some in New York, some in Japan, some in airports, and some was filmed in Africa where they were doing charity work.


At the start of the video, the boys film themselves talking about what the music video is being filmed for and why they decided to do it themselves...

 "This year, we decided to make a single to raise money for Comic Relief. Comic Relief are a British charity that do amazing work; helping people all over Africa and in the UK, living with really tough lives. So, instead of spending a load of money on a music video, we decided to make it ourselves while we're on tour, and give the money we saved to Comic Relief."

Throughout the video, the boys mimed their song whilst at different locations, each holding the camera when they mimed their solos.

Harry stood on the top of an open-top bus as it went round London, and sung his solos into the hand-held camera.

Zayn sung his solo in the airport.

Niall filmed himself singing his solo whilst standing through the roof of a car in New York.

Filming around the world links to the fact that the charity they're releasing the single for is in a country on the other side of the world - they see other countries other than theirs and they want to give something back. The places that are shown in the video (airports, London, New York, Japan) are all places which have been a huge part of the group's success and so they wanted to film something for them.


Harry then shows himself on stage and turns the camera round to show the rest of the group stood with their backs to the audience.

 The audience dance the same dance seen in several of the group's music videos, the boys mime along to the song, and Harry captures it all on camera.


At the end of the video,  the group are filming themselves in Africa, surrounded by children from an orphanage.

Niall films the rest of the group playing football with the children, taking selfies with them, and teaching each other their languages.

The fact that it is the group filming the music video and not external cameramen, means that the video is that little bit more personal and touching, especially as it was to raise money for charity. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to film my music video part self-shot; because it makes it more personal and meaningful.