Worlds Collide- Benn Down
Worlds Collide is a song based on call of duty zombies by Youtube personality and member of Play The Game Central, Benn Down.
The song itself is rock/metal and is heavily influenced by Call of Duty Zombies. The speak of a grey room in the lyrics refers to a map which wasn't released at the time, as they get information early they were able to write a song about it. The lyrics, in most cases being cryptic clues, gives the song more audience appeal.
In the music video for Worlds Collide, when considering editing, there is the use of black and white throughout the video. This gives the video a very dark feeling which works with the style of music and once more kind of links in with the lyrics "grey, grey room" as it makes some thinks look grey as well as black and white. Also, the use of a freeze frame and non digetic material used to introduce the band gives more audience appeal as this is their first Zombies music video, and they can finally find out what the band looks like. Also from 1:36 to 1:38, when the lyrics say we'll die, the singer becomes a zombie. This is a rather interesting edit as it not only links in to the lyrics but it also ties in the digesis' with the live action zombies in a way as its making the performers look dead. This happens again at 2:56-3:00 with the synth player. Also, at 3:14- 3:42, the cuts become quicker with the music, as does the camera movement.
Also, another link between the game world and the live world can be seen towards the end of the video when a small switch is pulled and electricity covers the screen. This is seen in the game world also. This refers to one of the traps in the game which kills zombies, and with the zombies being behind the performers, this implies that its going to kill them.
The cinematography in this particular video is very interesting as we get shots from two worlds, the live action world and the Zombies in game world. The camera movement as previously mentioned before speeds up further in the song, but before this tends to still be quite quick. However with less cuts it seems slower. There is also an instance of internal framing from 3:44, which shows a TV with what looks like somebody changing into a zombie.
The connotations given throughout the video are highly violent. There's Nazi symbolism (as the zombies story started with Nazis), which gives connotations of evil, darkness, an unrelenting force. The swastikas in the video and the Nazi uniforms on the game zombies particularly give these connotations to audiences unfamiliar with the Zombies story. Theres connotations of violence and great power, especially when explosions or the futuristic looking lightning gun (or The Wunderwaffe DG 2/Wonder Weapon Die Glocke 2 to those who understand the story), is shown. This also fulfills audience expectations, as the viewer will recognize the Nazi settings and weapons if they are familiar with the zombies story.
The mise en scene consists of many things in this video. The grey-scale effect could relate to the lyrics "grey room", and could either have connotations of being old, or it could be done for artistic purposes. Also, showing the band performing fulfills audience expectations, as in a music video, some performance can generally be seen. Also, there is the previously mentioned nazi symbolism and the appearance of zombies.
In regards to theory, the song uses Levi Strauss' binary opposites theory- the opposites in this music video being the the living (first person shots where weapons are being used), and the dead. The dead however appear in both the digesises of the shots within the game world, and in their own live action world where they are acting like the ones from the game. This gives the audience somebody to sympathize with (the living) and somebody to dislike (the dead), creating a sense of structure in the video.
Also, Stewart Hall's reception theory could be applied to this video. Because it is filled with numerous cryptic references to the zombies universe, different people in an audience who views this particular video can receive different messages and form different opinions based on the hidden messages.
Concluding with this video, the main thing to note is not the style, but the highly cryptic ideology. The video holds messages about future Zombies content, but most of it is hard to see. The creator wanted to make this video to hold these messages, but does not outright detail what is getting released. Some points in the video that could be of importance when considering these messages are the shot with the TV, suggesting somebody is going to turn. The game over screen at the end and its numbers can be used to create dates. The Lyrics "grey, grey room" are especially important, as the song was written when the creator was told "one of the maps will start in a grey room". So the ideology behind this music video is difficult to pinpoint, but by making it cryptic it appeals to the target audience- the people who play Call of Duty Zombies (the majority being males in their teens), and fans of Play The Game central who generally attempt to decipher any cryptic messages in their videos.
It also appeals to the general audience who like rock/ metal, and/or zombies. There is plenty of zombie killing in the video that would satisfy the audiences desire of seeing zombies defeated, and the survivors survive, and as it ends like a game of zombies, it also appeals to the gamers.
Murder- Group 916
Murder is another song by Play The Game Central's Benn Down. It differs in many different ways from the previous music video by Benn; however as it is the song I have chosen to use for my video, I feel it may be of use to look at the creators vision.
The mise en scene for Murder is relatively similar to the previous video. There's guns which give connotations of violence and power, one of which is futuristic looking which also gives connotations of science fiction and makes it quite surreal. There's also a point at 3:04 in which there is a shot of smoke and a crater which has connotations of destruction and possibly the apocalypse. There's also Zombies which has connotations of death and the end of the world. In addition to this, the actual setting- brown, old wooden buildings- has a slightly western feel to it which is rather fitting for style of music in this particular song. The fact however that it is underground, gives a feeling of being trapped, buried.
The editing in this video is of particular note, especially where non-digetic material is concerned. The start of the music video has credits to the people who made the video and song, which is against normal music video conventions, as normally there wouldn't be any credits.
Also, as the video was released around the time of the Zombies map 'Buried', the some of the edits could link in to the story, creating some kind of narrative within the music video. The use of slow motion, cuts within the same shot at the start (also to the beat of the song), and the use of freeze frames to show the characters struggle could be showing that this map is their last stand, creating some intertextuality within the music video. Another edit to note is the way the band (which in this video is compromised of the singer playing different instruments in the background), is faded out. This also links into the map itself, and the mise en scene. Behind them is a house, which in the game is haunted, therefore in this music video he is the ghosts of that house.
Another edit, which also links into sound, at the end of this video also is of particular interest. The whole video is reversed as the sound of a clock ticks (indicating time travel). This is in fact another reference to the game, but is also interesting to see in the video. It's not often a video will reverse in such a way at the end of the song, which could be breaking conventions of narrative as it means there isn't a resolution, the video goes back to the start.
Furthermore, the fade in of the logo at the end acts as a "curtain closer" in a way. To elaborate, it signifies the end of the video and leaves the viewer with an image of who made it- the institution, Group 916.
The sound in this video differs greatly to Worlds Collide. Its style fits with the aforementioned map 'Buried', as the song contains a honky-tonk piano, (commonly associated with western/ cowboy era society) and is set in an underground western style town. Connotations of this could include being old, worn out, stuck in the past perhaps.
Furthermore with the sound, the lyrics also tell a narrative. The song seems to be about somebody becoming a zombie, and the zombie is telling the infected person that he can't run etc. The lyric's narrative is different to the music video's, but has ties to the Zombies mode narrative. The lyrics narrative appears to be from the point of the antagonist, telling the protagonist that he/she is just like them.This will be detailed further in a lyrical analysis.
Notes on Both Group 916 Texts and Some Further Information
Both of these are made by the same institution, Group 916/ Benn Down and the members of Play The Game Central. Play The Game Central is a YouTube channel which provides content on games, but mostly on Call of Duty's Zombies mode whenever new maps are released as downloadable content for the game. The band's music is heavily influenced by the mode, as mentioned in the video analyses above. The sound of the songs are especially influenced by the game, as Worlds Collide resembles an official Zombies song from Treyarch (creators of zombies and Call of Duty), and also as mentioned, Murder has a western feel. The songs are considered fan made, but hold many messages about future content for the game, and also tell a narrative.
The use of intertextuality in both of these videos not only makes the videos interesting to watch, but it also helps the video appeal to the audience. The fans of zombies want to know the secrets about the game, and also like to see whats familiar to them- the game play. So with the music videos having both, the video becomes more interesting to the viewer.
Also, as they both use in-game footage, they can be considered works of machinima, a style of video/film making which uses pre-rendered graphics from video games. Popular examples of machinima use games such as Halo (Red Vs Blue, Rise of the Spartans), or World of Warcraft (The Grind, Oxhorn Brand Movies). This appeals to audiences who like games and films, and has really become a popular form of entertainment on the internet. This, mixed with live action makes the videos interesting to watch, as shots can be in different diegeses differentiated by machinima and live action, and merged through CGI (glowing eyes, zombified face, ghost performers).
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