Monday 1 August 2011

AN - Music Video Deconstruction 4: Colors

Name of Song: Colors
Artist: Flow
Year: 2006
Genre: Pop-punk
Director: Unknown

Flow is a Japanese Rock band which formed during the late 90's. The band is made up of two vocalists, a drummer, a bassist and a guitarist. Colors is the band's fourth single which was released on November 8th 2006.


  • The video starts off with an extreme close up of a keyhole which keeps on zooming in, until it changes into a long, mid shot of the room behind the key hole.
  • The room is completely white, with the name of the band in bold, black font on top of the wall. Then there is a quick flash transition to the same room, however the floor is now orange and one of the band members is lying on the floor with the word voice on the wall and microphone dangling from the ceiling.
  • Then there is another flash transition to the same room with a blue floor with another member of the band lying in the middle of the floor with the microphone dangling from the ceiling and the word, voice on the wall once again.
  • The previous shots signify that the two men are the two lead singers in the band because in the next shot after the third flash transition, you can see that the floor is now red and that the two men who were lying on the floor are now dancing and lip-syncing to the song.
  • There are three more shots which show the different members of the band, along with the different floor colours which signify this. As well as there role in the band being on the role with each member lying on the floor.
  • Fast-paced editing is used in the video to fit with the jazzy mood of the song and the flash transition is used quite often.
  • In the seperate shots of the two lead singers, they act like they're trapped in the room because they look like that they're trying to escape and at the same time, both singers are lip-syncing to the song.
  • Then during a shot of the performance, the floor seems to be moving with the band on it.
  • During 1:00, there is a long, mid shot of a group of decorators putting a sign with the band's name on it and one of them if using a vacuum cleaner to clean the floor. This is a hint at what the mystery of the room is, along with the ling, "The light shines into my room that was once empty."
  • "I'm looking for the answer that should exist." Another link with the mystery of the room maybe?
  • While the video is part performance, it seems that each member of the band is performing separately, in the same room because with each flash transition, a different member of the band is in the room by themselves, the colour of the floor and the writting on the wall signifies this. 
  • Then when the two lead singers are in the same room, a formulae appears on the wall, MC2 as well as a disco ball. The formulae means the mass of an object multiplied by the speed of light squared. Possible intertexual meaning. 
  • The band are wearing casual everyday clothes signifying that the setting is during the modern day.
  • The video ends with a long, mid shot of the room with no one inside it, signifying that the band have escaped from it and then the camera zooms out of the keyhole to signify the end of the video.
  • Overall, I believe that this video is a combination of the three main theories of Goodwin because the performance is one of the prime focuses of the video and as for concept and narrative, I believe that the actions of the band members in the room, signified that there was a narrative and that the colour changing floor is was part of the concept.
Here is the video:


This song was also used for the first opening to another anime favourite of mine, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. The song fits with the fast paced editing of the opening and the narrative of the show because the show tells the story of an individual who plans to rebel against the Britannia Empire, in order to create a utopia of his own liking and the lyric, "I feel the moment that changes the world, right here, right now and here" links in with that fact.

Here is the opening:

No comments:

Post a Comment

No inappropriate comments, abuse of any form, spam, trolling etc.