Nine Inch Nails Music Videos

(By Rebecca)

We have decided to look more closely at the music videos of the band 'Nine Inch Nails', as both their music and imagery is of a similar 'genre' to that of William Control. Their music is cinematic and atmospheric, meaning they have some quite incredible music videos that we can take inspiration from. Trent Reznor (the only member of NIN, excluding live members) has gone on to collaborate with Atticus Ross to create some of the most well received film scores / soundtracks of the past decade (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [2012], The Social Network [2010]).

'We're In This Together (1999)'



This video uses a monochrome colour scheme, unusual camera angles and fast cuts to create a disorientating, dream-like effect. I really like the use of shadows, particularly the crosses of the wire on Trent's face and the shadows of the group of men running down the road. The flickering lights and fast moving groups of people, teamed up with the accelerating music in the chorus create a sense of complete chaos. However the fact that the crowds are in rows allow for a different interpretation; are they under orders or a form of mind control? The effect created by the strong backlighting in the tunnel looks stunning, especially as the shadows of runnign people cut through it. The extreme close-ups of people's faces towards the end helps the audience to empathise with the characters more, gradually they are gaining an identity rather than just being a part of a faceless crowd. The still shot at the end brings the video to an interesting conclusion. Overall, I think this is one of my favourite music videos because the imagery really enhances the mood of the song. This is something I definitely want to bring to our music video.

'Closer (1989)'


The video for 'Closer' is perhaps Nine Inch Nails best known music video. It uses a warm, rusty brown colouring and flickering aged effect, which help to stylise the video and fit all of the shots together. Unlike the previous video, there is no clear connection between the images shown and the lyrics of the song. However, the look of the video works well with the pulsing beat of the music, creating a result that both makes my skin crawl and intrigues me!


 'Into The Void (2000)'


This video is different from the previous two in that it uses very light and bright, realistic colours. I looked at this video particularly because it included very close-up body shots and this was something we were going to include in our video. The shots of his eyes are effective because eyes are subtly expressive, and I really like the idea of having close-up shots of the mouth miming to the lyrics.

How can we take inspiration from these videos?

The video for 'We're In This Together' achieves a lot of the effects that we are striving to achieve in our own music video. It's use of high contract and crowded imagery enhances the sense of paranoia, mass panic and claustrophobia. The black and white crowds brings a closeness that could easily be lost with the scale of some of the shots - as the audience, I feel a sense of empathy with the main character and I experience the video with him. It follows the convention of focus / lots of close-ups on the singer and lip syncing shots, without making them look contrived or typical.