Analysis of "This Is Gospel" by Panic! At The Disco

1. Panic! At The Disco: This Is
Gospel:
Music video analysis

2. vThe music video starts with a long panning
shot of the singer, up his body towards his
head, when the camera reaches his head he
starts singing. This is a medium close up shot
which is used to show that he is the main
person in the video as he’s the performer. The
pan up his body gives the audience the
impress that he is unconscious (until he starts
singing) as there is a heartbeat in the
background so he can not be dead. He is
wearing a white top and black jeans which can
be seen as “basic clothing”. The setting is a
black room with a white hospital bed, this
focus the attention on the singer as it is non-interesting,
it also makes it look like a hospital.
Lyrics: In this shot he is about to
sing “This is Gospel for the fallen
ones” (Which is the first line of
the song) – As he is on a hospital
bed I think the aesthetics of the
scene match the lyrics, as “fallen”
can be linked with an injury.
0.06s

3. The singer's face is half covered
by shadows suggesting that he is
been kept in a dark area. The
shadows in the video could have
many different meanings as there
is no anchorage, however it could
be suggesting that he has a two
sided personality. However as it is
quite ambiguous, there is no set
meaning, so is left up to the
audience to decide.
0:11s
So far in the video the only two
colours shown are black and
white. These are seen as basic
colours, so do not grab the
audience's attention, however
the medium shot, aerial camera
view focuses the attention onto
the singer who is staring at the
camera. This builds a connection
with the audience as it breaks
the fourth wall, with the eye
contact.

4. 0:18s
A bright surgical style light turns on, highlighting the singer's body
completely and pulls him out of the shadows. The lighting
foreshadows the ending of the video as it ends with a fade to white,
this is all a symbol of death, which links in with the hospital bed as
hospital's can connote death for some people. At this point he has
stopped singing and his eyes and mouth are closed which makes he
look quite lifeless, this could be foreshadowing the end or the
reinforcing the underling message of death that runs through the
video.

5. The camera continues
panning outwards until
three characters appear
in surgical gowns, the
audience can make the
deduction that they are
doctors as their props
are such things as:
stethoscopes and
scalpel. The aerial view
also continues as it is
useful to show the whole
view of the singer, and it
provides the audience
with the view someone
looking over would have,
like a doctor, which helps
submerse the audience.
10 seconds later quite a bit of camera
movement occurs, this is done as a crane
shot. The different acts of the operating staff
in the video are representative of the
concept of an operation and the idea that
despite every efforts, like the effort of
doctors, there is no escaping the inevitability
of death, which is the underling theme in the
video and lyrics.
0:21s

6. vThe camera moves as we see the
singer spring up from the medical
table as he sings “let me go”. The
actions in this sequence match
what he is singing which provides
coherence This also represents
the rock genre, as it is seen as a
generic convention for rock songs
to sing about freedom and
breaking away, which is shown
through both lyrics and video.
0:43s
● The camera then switches to an Aerial shot,
which is used to show the singers struggle to get
away. All the time this is happening the light is
focused on the singer, this signifies his
importance to the audience. The Aerial shot is
also good because the video is very performance
based, this shot incorporates both his actions, as
there is enough room in shot to see his actions,
yet still focuses on his face.

7. Even as the singer moves around frantically
the camera stays in deep focus on him. Deep
focus is used to keep the music video centred
around the singer, so all the extras don't grab
the attention away from the singer. This is a
generic convention for a music video with a
performance aspect as the singer is in deep
focus, while singing to the camera, whereas
the background is in shallow focus.
This is a concept music
video, which at this
point in the video is
shown through the
doctors. The
choreography in the
video makes all the
doctor's movements
look precise, but also
like they are robots,
which could be a
reference to society
being controlling, as
this type of view is
linked with the rock
genre, so would be
sticking to the brand
identity.
1:03s

8. 01:20s
The mise-en-scene in this
scene changes when there
is a transitions in location.
The transition is done so it
looks like the shot was
taken in the same place
which the editing helps do.
The lighting in the two
transitions helps crate this
look as in the “hospital
room” the light centres on
the singers face and
darkens around him, so
only white can be seen
which leads to the second
part of the transition where
he is standing.
This fools the audience into thinking
that the shot is continuous, which it is
not. This shows that despite constantly
changing, the camera looks as though
it is in the same place (close up).

9. 1:32s
● In this part of the music video the camera looks as if it falls back and
into another place, this transition, because of the editing, looks
somewhat seamless.
The mise-en-scene in this scene
includes the singing wearing a suit. This
is because he is being buried as he is
having a funeral because he is
supposedly dead. This shows the
concept side of the video as it has a
liner story starting from the hospital that
leads on to the coffin. The black in the
suit connotes death but also power,
which is ironic as the singer lacks this
throughout the whole video.
● The lyrics “Led away by imperfect impostors” means being tricked by people
who pretend they are saints or prefect. This could be a deeper message
about religion and how it can misguide people in some cases, even until the
day they die.

10. ● The Camera
in this section
backs out
slowly from
an extreme
close up.
This shows
the lack of
space in the
coffin for
movement as
it is confined
or trapped,
which is a
generic
convention of
rock songs.
01.49s
● In this part of the sequence
the actions in the video
reflect the lyrics: “Don’t try
to sleep through the end of
the world, Bury me alive,
'Cause I won’t give up
without a fight” first of all he
is buried alive and then he
fights to get out of the
coffin.
● There is an intertextual
reference of the singer
being like Dracula the
vampire at this point in
the video. This is from
his body language and
the fact he comes back
to life, so hard to “kill
off” which happens
quite a bit in the video.

11. 3:06s
● There is a
Juxtaposition at the
end as the singer
gives up fighting
which is a big
constant to the rest
of the video as that
is all that he has
been doing
throughout the
course of the video.
As the video comes to the End, the heartbeat from the beginning make
a reprise, and slowly fades like a life support machine as the heartbeats
stop beating. This shows that he's now dead (and his eyes are closed),
the scene then transitions by fading to white, which is associated which
death, and is a symbol of death as he is “going into the light”, which
was referenced near the start of of the video with the surgical lighting.