A Perfect Circle - Judith

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A Perfect Circle - Judith is an amazing music video to look at technically, the amount of different shot types and use of editing affects to create a quick and power video is very impressive. To show this let's look at the variety of shots used within the first 10 seconds of video in detail.


The first shot is a medium shot of the lead singer at a slightly low angle with a large spotlight coming from behind creating a almost dreamlike affect, this along with the grunge type overlay of the image creates an almost gothic atmosphere. This connates his importance by having him as the first band member you see while also following a rock genre stereotype of the huge contrast differences. The light is coming from behind him, and is not in front, which connotes that he brings the light, or in this case the music.


A quick succession of images follows, with one being of the technology used to create the music offering a unique look at what's used. This can bring in the audience because of it's aspiration values of wanting to be a musician or to create your own music even though it only briefly appears. The next 2 shots are of objects the more interesting of the 2 being the pool table, this is to add irrelevant images to add a layer of mystery to where they are.

The following 5 seconds mainly concentrated on the band in performance type shots, however within this small amount of time we have 4 perspectives used of the band and see all of them performing their part of the song. This is a great example of the norm of music videos. By showing a quick succession of band performance shots you can bring aspirational viewers as well as the interest of other viewers just by the sheer volume.

Another medium shot displaying the drum player quickly gives way to a side shot of another band member while also showing the entire band and the huge white light coming through in the background.

However it's the next 2 shots which are the best example of what makes a good music video. The first shot is of a close up of the lead singer performing while using depth of field it draws you to watch the singer. Once again by having the lead singer the centre of the shot it connotes his importance and dominance of the band, especially by having the other band member blurred out.

The final shot of the first 10seconds on the other hand is a key element to a performance based, and that is extreme close ups of the instruments themselves being played. This adds a layer of aspiration for the viewers, you want to be able to play that instrument and are instantly impressed by it.

So as you can see within a very brief time scale A Perfect Circle has numerous shots which draw the audience in with the skill and editing used to create them. On top of this the entire music video has a video effect of adding a old film type quality to it, a grunge style. This follows the stereotype of rock bands being quite earthy and almost dark.

The mise-en-scene used throughout this video is that of a dark and gloomy atmosphere. This follows the feeling and vibe of the song with lyrics such as "Not like you killed someone". The layered effect on top of the video with it's almost like it's been recorded on a filmstock and has been slightly damaged. Slightly ambiguous as to why it has been damaged making it slightly more mysterious.

A Perfect Circle is a good example of the strategy most music videos now follow. By containing both a narrative and performance shots it can bring in a wider audience while also keeping the interest levels high by having a wider amount of different shots. The suitability to the rock genre is spot on even though it is leaning more towards hard rock with it's gothic atmosphere. The amount of extreme close up of the instruments is spot on, just by having a quick look at other similar rock band video you can see the similarities.

All together this music video is very good and suits it's genre very well. It brings in the audience via it's aspirational goals with all the extreme close ups of the instruments being played as well as a large amount of interest by the ambiguity of the video.