The Kills have recently introduced their upcoming album with the early release of the music video “Doing it to Death”, bringing much excitement to the fans for this new release. The song clearly shows very strong emotion on the ideas of life and death lyrically and also visually. It is simple to listen to the lyrics and understand a song’s meaning, however it is also important to view the visual effects and motifs within the video to truly understand it. For example, the setting, the dark color scheme, and the camera angle are major visual motifs in the music video such. These visual motifs together throughout this music video truly show the audience that the artist recognizes that our lives are defined by our actions within them because in the end we all die the same death, and that it is important to live it to the fullest and not go through the motion. The artists view on death makes them feel as if everything we do in life is simply nothing because we only do it to death hence the name and theme of the song. It is the elements and motifs like the funeral march, the black colors, and the gloomy setting throughout the video that bring the audience to the same point as the artists.

The first of the major visual motifs is the deathly setting, mainly because this is really the first thing the viewer notices in the video. The first portion of the video is an aerial view of the gloomy and dark graveyard, which gives the attitude through the introduction of the setting and the colors as well. It is clear to the audience that the music video takes place in a graveyard, which gives the viewer understanding about what is going to happen. A graveyard is a gloomy and depressing setting, just like the song is, so by using the graveyard setting as a visual motif the viewer is drawn in to the mind of the artist. There are lines of people dressed in dark, bland colors walking for the majority of the video and doing identical dances and steps, which along with the lyrics, suggests they are just “doing it to death”. This march through the graveyard is very symbolic of a funeral march, which is a way of displaying how people only march and live blandly until death, but it can also symbolize our actions throughout life. If this funeral service is drawn about in correlation with our lives then the walk is our everyday actions, and by using the assembly line of matching, straight-faced people to the grave as a motif, the artist can make a statement to their audience. This statement being that life is meant to be more than a funeral march. It is meant to be more than following the leader because it is what you are assumed to do. This is a very harsh but true statement about life that is made by the artist by using motifs such as this one.

Another major visual motif is the colors shown throughout this video. Black and gray are prevalent all throughout this video to again give the gloomy, dead attitude described by the song. The characters are fully clothed in black and grey as they ride into the graveyard. We see the similar style all black cars and in the background nothing but gray tombstones. This black and gray color scheme displayed throughout the video reiterates the tone and style that is also shown in the songs lyrics. By listening to the lyrics like “we’re double sixing it night after night after night, Doing it to death” and “heads up we’re in a dead club” we know the song is about death, but even if we disregard the lyrics the colors and other visual motifs point us in the same direction of death. Because the main theme is death and it takes place in a graveyard, the color black is easy to bring about in every way possible. It gives the reader the gloomy and deadly feel that the song also provides, which is what makes it such a successful major visual motif.

The third visual motif used in this video is camera angles and shots. Certain camera angles like the aerial shots in the beginning and the first person shots and angles in the end of the vide play an important part because they are major ways the artist can show perspective, setting, and even attitude. In this instance the aerial camera angle in the beginning of the video establishes the setting and mood by showing the elevated angle of the people marching in with masses of gray tombstones behind them. The use of this angle as a motif is both successful and problematic. It can be successful in part because it gives one big look at the setting as a motif and establishes the deadly and depressed feeling within the audience, which is crucial to the effectiveness of the music video. However this same angle can prove problematic because it can make the audience feel a little bit more apart from the content and ideas projected throughout. There is a reason that this style of angle is also called the birds-eye view, because it doesn’t give you a view of the characters and elements in the video but it gives you a view without making you feel a part of it, which is something that we as humans are far comfortable and used to. The artist’s method of making the video more personal is shown through another angle shown in the end.

This other major camera angle in the video is in the end when the camera is in a first person view. The main character and several others are standing above the camera in a way that clearly shows the first person view of the inside of a grave. Throughout the video the lyrics say we only “do it until death” which is easy to see especially when the final shot is a first person view of the grave. This view is successful because it is able to put the audience in the perspective and thus the attitude and thoughts of what the artist feels and hopes to make them feel. The goal of creating music and also music videos is to represent ideas and culture to the world around you, and the idea within this piece is that going through life just “going through the motions of life” with out actually living it. This is shown throughout the video with the use of many other elements and views, but the last and final camera angle is the first person view of the inside of the grave. That is why the artist used camera angles to play in their favor. It puts the viewer into perspective, by showing all of the motions beforehand to implement the ideas within the viewer’s head and then the final shot gives the viewer the feeling that is targeted more towards themselves. By showing the audience this first person perspective the artist brings everything full circle and is able to state their points and ideas on life and then give the viewer what is needed to make them understand and be influenced by it. Perhaps that is also what makes this song and the killers such a success, because they use proper elements and styles that connect strongly with their audience. This allows the viewer to truly understand the meaning of the song and bring it all full circle, and it is this full circle of knowledge and attitude that makes it is successful as a visual motif.

In the music video the artist’s main goal is to show the audience in a gloomy and dark way, that all we are doing in life is “doing it to death”.  Throughout the music video, the audience is urged to understand that stumbling through life like the actors in the video is pointless if we are only walking on to death, with the artists use of several visual effects and motifs like the graveyard, the colors, and different camera angles. Every artist has ideas and opinions and their goal in creating music and music videos is to portray these. In this case what the Killers are aiming to say is that mumbling and stumbling through our everyday life’s just so we can one day die the same death as everyone else is a sad, gloomy thought and therefore a terrible and pointless way of going through life. That is what explains much of the elements used and why the killers chose to use them, because every single element within a piece can be used to alter the mind of the audience.

     