Music Video Analysis: White Lies - 'Bigger Than Us'

Music Video Analysis: White Lies - 'Bigger Than Us'

At the beginning of the video, we see a small boy on what looks to be a hospital bed. We see him sing to the camera quite aggressively, portraying to the audience that perhaps he’s in pain. Then we see the first band member walk in and pick up a bass guitar, so this shot enhances the appearance of the band members to the audience.

During the first chorus of the song, see the kid lying on the hospital table, with a band member playing a bass guitar next to him. The kid is singing the lyrics, suggesting that maybe this video is about past experiences of the band. However, this video is not ordinary at all, next to the boy on the hospital bed; we see a giant chocolate bar also lying on a hospital bed. This shows that something is not quite right in the video, showing the un-realistic situation of the plot.

The entire video has a slight reference of the film ‘E.T’ in the film, we see a small boy in a hospital bed in a testing facility with men wearing overalls wandering around with tools, testing on an alien beside the boy. The ‘White Lies’ video has a strong resemblance to this because the giant chocolate bar is being portrayed as different to everyone else. Later on in the video, we see a girl rise from inside the chocolate bar. This shows a portrayal that even though something may look different to us, it’s still is normal inside.

The band members are dressed in smart casual way, showing that their older and more sophisticated than just wearing hooded tops and hats. Their dress code also fits in with the plot of the music video, the lead singer is the person in the video who saves the little girl, portraying that the band are confident, and shown as heroic in the video.

Throughout the whole video, the band has an emotionless look on their faces. They don’t smile or look like they’re angry. This emotionless cover on their faces could express what the song is about, or the situation in the music video. The song title ‘Bigger than Us’ also gives the listener an idea that something is too hard to handle, giving disbelief to the audience. This is clearly shown on the faces of the band throughout the music video.