Analysis of Music Video no. 3

This video is almost completely narrative - performance is limited to just the vocalist - telling the singular story of a bank robbery gone wrong by the band. They ignore music video conventions by having no relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, and shooting in a continuity rather than a montage style. Also, there are almost no cutaways from the main narrative to any other location or storyline, making the promo feel more like a film or TV drama than a music video.

Through the camera movement, editing pace and use of colour, the director manages to 'split' the video into sections linked to the sections of the song (ie verse/chorus/bridge). The first verse has slowed-down footage, with a sepia, heat-haze effect applied, with lethargic camerawork and editing pace. The chorus breaks into black and white CCTV footage, with chaotic and exciting fast editing across the action of the bank robbery, despite the limitation of static cameras. These two sections are repeated for the second verse/chorus, then in the bridge it changes into blue-ish footage of the safe, enforcing the diegesis of the setting and storyline. The video ends with a 'shootout' and the getaway. Despite not following the stylistic conventions of a music video, 'Fire' still uses plenty of close ups, especially of the lead singer - enforcing his star persona.

The key memorable concept of this video is the gimmick of using instruments instead of weapons during the bank robbery. This seems entirely original and is completely effective, yet is actually a sly intertextual link to the video for 'Breaking the Law' by heavy metal band Judas Priest (link).

It is also important to recognise where this song falls in Kasabian's release history. 'Fire' was released as a comeback single from their award-winning third album. In a shot towards the end of the video, it shows that the band were not stealing money, but sheet music, fitting the idea that they are "taking back the music". The video helps to not only reestablish the band, bust also create the new image to go with their new album.