Video Research 2 | Evanescence - Bring Me To Life

With genres ranging from rap rock to alternative metal, Evanescence's 'Bring Me To Life' is clearly unique.

The CG Helicopter shot

The video starts with a helicopter shot through a futuristic city. We then work our way into a woman's room, who appears to be dreaming about falling. (In one shot she seems to be singing the song in her sleep.). 

The Band's Room

Singing through the window

After this verse finishes, we go silent and back to the wind sounds that accompanied the intro, moving up the building and into another room, on the corner, where the rest of the band are located. This ends the silence and the band start singing (with shots of them that are typical of the rock/metal genre). The woman now wakes up, and is at the window calling out, but also still getting out of bed and approaching the window. The shots being placed out of order could be seen as a move to confuse the watcher or as a move to indicate what she is going to do and provide a small bit of suspense. The woman now climbs out of the window and is stood looking down on the street below her, the shots looking down are not parallel with the wall, this seems to be a dutch angle, and indicates a feeling of vertigo. The track goes silent again, just for a split second and the woman jumps.

Suspenseful jumping

Wandering along

A family plays musical chair statues

Spooky clown party

But only onto a ledge below her window. As she sings the second verse, she makes her way onto the corner of the building, the shots at this point are very short in length and some are dutch angles, this is to continue the feeling of vertigo and make the watcher feel tense and like she might jump. she passes various windows, one with a boring looking family in it, they are all sat down not moving, seeming to be like statues or robots. She then passes a party, where there are lot of people having fun. The people at thew party are all wearing clown masks, and there is one clown mask also outside the window who is looking out towards the camera, this presents a slightly creepy/disturbing image, this clown's face is immoving, there isn't signs of life, much like the people in thew other room, but, with the people in the background lit by warm colours, while this clown is lit with blues and cold colours, it seems to suggest a feeling of mallice and evil from this clown.

Sad clown party

The second chorus starts and the clown raises it's mask, revealing a crying face underneath, the colour of the light seems to change at this point, albeit for a split second, to much slightly warmer colours. The woman then starts to climb the building. passing another window, where there is a man and a fish tank, again this man is not moving and seemingly a statue. Behind him you can see the woman walk in the window, she looks like some sort of ghostly apparition.

Ghostly window apparition

singing with the band

Spotting the woman

As this chorus finishes and the bridge begins, the woman reaches the same level as the rest of the band. she leans over the building and looks down again. she starts to sing at the window, in a melodramatic way. she seems to look at the band inside with want and hope. The lead singer inside is seen approaching in the reflection on the window and opens the window, which causes the woman to lose balance and fall.

To me, to you, to me, to you

As we move into the main section of the bridge, the woman manages to grab the ledge, and the man climbs out and attempts to pull her up. The shots in this section are very much shot-reverse shot, with each shot staying on screen for less than a second, highlighting the urgency of saving her.

Falling

As we enter the next chorus, they are still struggling and the shots are still cutting quick. As the chorus reaches the end, he lets go and the Woman starts to fall.  and the man seems upset to have let her go. We see similar shots of her falling, but also shots of her in bed, just like the beginning. The song finishes and the band turn from the camera, looking dejected, while the camera pulls back from a window with curtains flowing out (just like the womans room in the opening), the starting sequence in reverse. the viewer is left with the impression that the story was a dream.

More falling

Last shot, first shot but reversed,
leaving dream world?