Alt-J's music video for breezeblocks has a very significant message attached to it. It highlights issues on jealousy and murder as a way of self defence. The video would be classed as a narrative video, it is interesting as it doesn't include the artists in the video instead it consists of 3 actors, (2 females and a male). Not including the artists might have been used so they can focus on the issue in the storyline. It is quite a complex video and can have many interpretations depending on how the audience sees or views it.
The first shot is a mid shot of a woman in a bath tub submerged underneath the water with a breezeblock lying on top of her in reference to the title. The water has been turned a dark red colour from her blood suggesting she has been murdered. The next shot is of a close up of a man with his head in his hands, this action has connotations of feeling overwhelmed or stressed which would infer he has murdered her or at least played a part in this. From this we could assume things like he is an abusive person but as the video progresses we find out the truth. The next two close up shots are more important and they move the story along. The first of the two close up shots are of the male hands in which a wedding ring is seen suggesting this man is married however it appears the woman in the bath does not have a ring on her finger. This could suggest this is not a married couple and someone else is involved. The use of a close up purposefully draws the audiences attention to the hand hinting that this is an important part of the story and makes them wonder who the woman is. Therefore it could also be used as an enigma code as we don't know the relationship between the 2 actors yet.
The video is then edited in reverse and is also put in slow motion to fit the pace of the song. We see the story unfold, the facial expressions and acting in the video helps the audience what is taking place. There is a scene that takes place in the kitchen where the woman who was seen before dying in the bath is shown to have thrown a glass bottle at the man. The woman throws the bottle with force and has her teeth gritted which could be used to suggest she is angry and from the scenes at the beginning, finding they are not in a relationship we can imagine this might be an ex girlfriend who is extremely jealous and can't let go. Maybe if she can't have him then no one can have him, this is further reinforced later in the video when it's clear she has brought a knife with her and we see it in her hand, she may be wanting to harm him. This scene could be used to represent the issue of hurt and pain that occurs in a relationship and love.
If we look at this in the backward motion it is edited in then we see further difficulties of relationships. At the end we see a woman tied up and she has a wedding ring on suggesting she is the one in a relationship with this man, she is clearly distraught and the close ups on her face show the fear in her eyes over the situation , there is also mascara running down her face which we can infer that she's been crying. She is watching another woman attack her husband but it may be more than that. This scene could be one of the parts which could be read in two different ways and could have a binary opposition of being saved vs being left to help yourself. For example, she looks scared by him and it looks like he's left her at the end. However, in the forward motion he is saving her. Alt-J has definitely given the audience a lot to think about when it comes to love and how it can emotionally and physically crush you.
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