The music video for wake up is predominantly a performance video, although it does include narrative elements as well. The video begins with a few shots of places around a city, there is then a cut on action in time with the guitars and drums coming in for the intro, this demonstrates a relationship between music and visuals. From the beginning of the verse and throughout the song the lead singer is seen singing into a video camera with the footage from it visible on a series of tv sets positioned behind him, this can be seen as highly voyeuristic since he is giving direct address to the camera while there are two other sources viewing him as well. This is also exaggerated by the use of “White noise” on the screen at some points.
During the video there are frequent close ups of the lead singer. This as well as the shots of the band playing, that helps satisfy the record labels demand as well as defining them as their own “brand”. During the verse the band (excluding the singer) are not visible for most of the time, however as soon as the chorus starts the band are playing in most of the shots and are also shown in slow motion at some points, this emphasises the relationship between music and visuals since the overall sounds is heavier in the chorus.
The narrative in the video involves a group of people who appear to be planning some kind of event; they are seen with two-way handheld radios in a room with what looks like blueprints on the table as well as information on a black board which is rubbed off just before they begin to leave. They are frequently seen spray painting the “Black Swan” insignia on bits of paper as well as T-shirts. This same insignia is also seen in locations around the city at the end of the video. Since the “Black Swan” is the title of the album with the song on as well as the symbol being used as album art it seems that the narrative is part of the promotion of the album as well as the band. Although it could also be seen as a promotion of what the symbol stands for in relation to the song as a whole.
I have not been able to identify any inter-textual references , however it is still possible that there maybe references to texts that I am not familiar with.
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