The music video to "Bittersweet Symphony" features Verve singer Richard Ashcroft lip-synching the song while walking down a busy London pavement; with him refusing to change his stride or direction throughout, apparently oblivious to what is going on around him. He repeatedly bumps into passers-by (causing one woman to lose balance and fall), narrowly avoids being hit by a car, and jumps on top of the bonnet of another vehicle stopped in his path (the driver gets out of her car and proceeds to pursue and shout at him, while he continues unbewildered). At the end of the video, the rest of The Verve join Ashcroft, and the final shot sees them walking down the street into the distance - which leads into the beginning of another of their music videos. ("The Drugs Don't Work")
Ashcroft starts walking from the southeast corner of the intersection of Hoxton and Falkirk Streets in Hoxton, north London, subsequently proceeding north along the east side of Hoxton Street. The "pavement journey" format was inspired by the music video for the Massive Attack song "Unfinished Sympathy", in which Shara Nelson sings while walking through a Los Angeles neighbourhood.
The video is effective in that it has barely any edits in it at all due to the fact that it uses a prominent tracking shot throughout, only taking brief cuts toward the end. This isn't often done in videos and consequently makes the video stand out from the number of typical performance videos that see the artist on stage with frequent cuts.
No comments:
Post a Comment