Twenty One Pilots - Guns For Hands (Music Video Analysis)

TWENTY ONE PILOTS - GUNS FOR HANDS

Guns for Hands by Twenty One Pilots is shown to present elements of all three types of music videos: Performance, Narrative and Conceptual. Both members of the band: Tyler Joseph (the main vocalist) and Josh Dun (the drummer), are shown to be playing instruments, the keyboard of the drums, or lip syncing through the entirety of the video once the song starts at 1:03. Conceptual elements are also featured through this video by both band members applying different coloured tape over both of their heads when the bridge starts at 3:48, with the theme of wanting to hide away being a central theme throughout the song; this also links to a narrative in which the first minute of the music video features Tyler giving Josh a mask and saying "They won't know it's you.", linking to them want to disguise themselves so they aren't or can't be seen by others. Many aspects of Andrew Goodwin's 6 key features of a music video and 5 ways to analyse a music video can be applied throughout this video in a variety of ways.

From the very start of the video, both Josh and Tyler are shown to be standing on opposite sides of the frame in the foreground, looking away from each other in a long shot, stood in front of an instrument in the background. This immediately indicates to the audience that there will be performance elements shown in the video, as well as the possibility of conceptual elements through the location of the video being a studio with a minimalist white backdrop. Moreover, the use of colour is prominent as very bright colours are used to attract the audience's attention to keep them interested at the video progresses. This opening shot also shows Josh and Tyler to be wearing red and blue shirts respectively along with black shorts/trousers, which are colours associated with the Twenty One Pilots logo at the time. This reinforces Goodwin's fourth aspect of music videos, in which the record labels, Atlantic Records and Fueled By Ramen in this case, promote an image of the band to help the audience associate with them more easily. 

Narrative elements are explored through the next part of the video, in which Tyler goes over to talk to Josh, handing him a blue mask, whilst wearing a white white mask himself. He says "They won't know it's you." and "You can take it off when you're ready.", suggesting there's a theme of secrecy or fear and hiding throughout the video. The focus pull on Tyler's face with the mask in the background subtly reinforces these themes, with Josh's face in the foreground of the frame being blurred. The colours of the masks worn are also significant to the branding of the band, and subconsciously allows the audience to associate them with Josh and Tyler. 

From 1:03 when the introduction to the song starts, Tyler 

stamps his foot to the rhythm of the music, immediately showing a relationship between the music and the visuals; this reinforces Goodwin's third feature of a music video. This is also shown at 1:17 where the editing pace picks up with quick cuts used to match the specific drum beats of the song, where Tyler and Josh are both shown to start playing the piano and drums respectively. Furthermore, this video can be seen to present typical genre characteristics for alternative music through the conceptual elements of the video, as they don't fit the mainstream of typical pop songs of recent years, bringing something fresh and intriguing to the music industry.

From 1:19, many close ups, mid shots and high angle shots are shown of Josh and Tyler playing the drums and piano as well as Tyler singing, which are more examples of a heavily performance based music video. The high angle shots may portray how the band members are more vulnerable and weaker when they're saying how 'you never put the safety on' the guns, which are extremely dangerous weapons. Moreover, the shots are seen to be used to make the set seem claustrophobic, maybe showing how Tyler is trapped in his own thoughts. These shots could be used to subtly present Goodwin's second feature of a music video, in which there's a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

Typically in performance based music videos, the artist or artists are seen to look into the camera while performing or lip syncing, but up until 2:49, both Josh and Tyler do not look directly into the camera. This idea could link to the meaning of the lyrics which talk about depression, maybe suggesting how they haven't been able to accept it and speak up about it to anyone yet. When Tyler first looks at the camera at 2:49, the mode of address changes, as if now he's singing directly to the audience and personally telling them his story, instead of it being presented more as a show to no one in particular. Furthermore, Tyler's voice is very distinctive, adding to his 'star image' - one of Goodwin's 5 ways to analyse a music video, and makes the personal connection between him and the audience members more intimate as he's able to tell his story in his own way. The notion of looking by Goodwin can be applied to this shot, in which the audience are now able to connect to Tyler on a more personal level as he's singing directly to them. This could reference how he's trying to personally make every member of the audience more aware about depression and suicide whilst potentially expressing how he wants the song to be seen as a way to come together and take action to fight the widespread issue.

In the first of Goodwin's 5 ways to analyse a music video,  'thought beats' are referenced, where the audience can 'see' the sound in the video. The structure of Guns For Hands goes: verse, pre-chorus, chorus x2, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, rap verse, chorus x2. The structure of the song contains the chorus being sung 5 times, showing coherent repeat-ability for the audience; linking this with the visuals, it means that the audience won't get bored of the song as they will continue to be interested in the video. It follows a progression from the beginning of the song until the rap verse/the bridge of a heavily performance based video, with elements of narrative being shown at the beginning before the beat of the song kicked in. 

Before the bridge of the song starts, there's a shift in the beat which is reinforced through the quick cuts between Josh and Tyler on the piano and the drums as they start to put tape over their faces that match the colour of their shirts, adding to the branding of the band once more, before Tyler starts rapping. This adds more conceptual elements into the video as the audience may not understand what's going on; the tape can be seen to be used as what depression may feel like to some people as they become trapped in their own thoughts and isolated from others. At the end of the bridge, there is an 18 second build up before the last chorus starts where the band members were shown in a long shot and long take. There is then a cut to black in time with the clap, that then cuts to Josh and Tyler back playing their instruments and singing, as if them putting the tape around their heads was a dream. In my opinion, the mode of address shown by Twenty One Pilots is very visual, in which they disguise themselves with masks and tape to symbolise what depression and suicidal thoughts can be like for people.

In contrast to other features, one of Goodwin's features of a music video that isn't shown through Guns For Hands is inter-textual references, which can be seen as quote common for songs in the Indie/Alternative genre as they are breaking away from mainstream music, putting an original spin on their music and making it unique. 

Lastly, Goodwin said there are three ways that music videos work to promote a song: illustrate, amplify and disjuncture. Overall, I feel that some of these ways can be applied in Guns for Hands in various ways - for example, the use of Josh and Tyler taping their heads and wearing masks can 'illustrate' meanings to the audience to an extent, as the lyrics are deep and require a lot of thinking to fully process the message behind the song. Nevertheless, I feel that 'amplify' is more prominent through this music video, with the repetition of the chorus 5 times and the pre-chorus twice which keeps the audience engaged with the song. Even though there is a juxtaposition between the lyrics and the meaning behind them and the beat of the song, it's whole meaning isn't completely ignores, so the idea of disjuncture is irrelevant to this music video.