Analysis of Warped

Analysis:

From the beginning of this video, we can clearly tell that it is more about performance rather than narrative; it aims to show the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a different light as appose to their usual 'funky conduct'. And whilst it mainly focuses on performance, a subtle narrative tone can be sought out as we see the ways the band portray their issues regarding addiction.

The video opens using an establishing shot which features very harshly contrasting colours: in the background we see a tranquil blue sky which sits behind a large black stage and wooden building with numbers painted onto it. This contrast between the two focal points in the shot could be trying to expose the band's façade that they used to the public around this time as the album, One Hot Minute, was created during many personal problems that were happening to the band: for example, Kiedis' relapse. Within seconds, the shot transitions to a blurred view of Kiedis as he dances out from behind the building. As unimportant as it seems (due to the fact that the shot lasts one second) this shot could be very important for his way of presenting his discomfort with being in the public eye which we see in the song when he says "please don't look too close at me, you may not like what you see". Once again, the shot quickly transitions back to the establishing shot that we see at the beginning after a very quick shot of Kiedis that would later become one of the main focuses of the video.

Our next shot features Flea spinning around on a large arrow inside of the building that we've seen earlier that quickly switches to him walking outside of it however, as he walks he holds his arms in a way that presents a struggle – it's almost as if he's trying to escape from the plastic cape that he is wearing in the video which once again links to his personal struggles at the time: it's like he's trying to leave this heroic image that the fans see behind him, he just wants to be normal.

The next shot is an overhead shot of Kiedis who is notably wearing a large pair of headphones. With this being an overhead shot, we can see that the director, Gavin Bowden, was showing that whatever is looking at Kiedis has power over him. From this, we can infer it in a number of ways but I think the two main ways would be

The audience intimidate Kiedis: one of the ideas presented within Warped is the discomfort regarding fame and having so many people look up to him therefore it makes sense for Bowden to frame the camera in this way as the audience would be the people looking at the video and with the way that Kiedis maintains eye contact it seems that he is looking back at somebody.

Kiedis is controlled by his addictions. As this song mainly focuses on his struggles with heroin, it would make sense for the video to display these ideas.

A spotlight surrounds Kiedis which means that the shot is poorly lit in the areas that we do not need to focus on: it forces us to focus on him which further adds to the issues discussed within the song. However, if we look under him into the lit areas on the floor, we can see the other bandmates, Flea, Navarro and Smith crawling around in circles. This crawling movement creates a sense of desperation as it makes it seem as though they are begging which links to the lyric "sends me crawling, oh, beg for mercy". In contrast, Kiedis's movements are almost graceful as he moves very slow and calmly which could mimic his experimentation with Buddhism that he did during the 1990s it could also show how unattached he is from the rest of the band at this point which he had mentioned throughout the song when he questions whether his relapse "[shows]" as he hadn't told the rest of the band about it.

As the song continues with its slow, quiet introduction, we see repeats of the previous shots and the introduction of some new ones. The two main shots that feature in the next two seconds are the close-ups of Navarro and Kiedis. The shot of Navarro once again draws back to this idea of desperation and weakness as we see him pulling on his hair and the shot of Kiedis focuses on him saying the lyrics "it's warping me" which was a very important lyric for the song as it summarises the entire message which is he is uncomfortable with the person he is becoming as a result of his issues: this message is reinforced with the face he pulls upon saying the line as it would be an unnatural, uncomfortable face to make.

Once the introduction ends, a heavy, crunching, guitar riff suddenly kicks in and we are taken to a master shot of the band. With a large jump and flashing lights, we are immediately immersed into the main body of the song as it becomes instantly heavy. In the background, we can see the walls of the building from the previous shots however, as the riff begins, the panels switch around from numbers painted onto wood to a large red painting of what looks like waves. Based off of the context of the song (the issues surrounding heroin) we could infer that what we were shown before the panels switch were measurements on a needle and after the switch (the large red waves) we can see the users' blood as they inject themselves.

Throughout the next few minutes we are presented with shots of the members as they throw themselves around violently to divide up the video and make it more interesting. Within these clips, there's ferity and barbarity which suggests to us that the band are almost fed up with things and they're lashing out however, it could link back to the drug problems that they faced at the time as their movements are not what a normal, sober person would do. Furthermore, in these shots, there is a few features that make it seem more violent to the rest of the video; the thick chains, the flashing lights, the relentless spinning and the jagged dance moves all create this sense of feeling trapped: it's almost as if they're wild animals who've been caged in a zoo and with every flash of light, there's another person taking a photo antagonising them, forcing them to lash out.

After the first chorus, there's a new guitar riff which uses a delay which adds to the song's unsettled nature. During this riff, we are presented with a number of different shots. The first returns to outside the building (as we seen at the beginning of the song) and we see Navarro jump away which is significant to the idea of wanting to escape the fame and the addictions as he is literally jumping out of the shot. We then get a close up of Flea who is throwing his body around in a weird dance and then the camera focuses on Smith who is playing the drums in dreary blue and red lights. It then returns to Flea as he stretches his arms out whilst riding what looks like a piece of the wave painting that can be seen in the background. This indicates that drugs are an escape from the fame for them as we return to the idea of it being the blood which would have meant that he had already injected whatever drug it was into himself which, could suggest that the reason why they were so addicted could be because they were so obsessed with leaving the public eye and would do anything to flee. We then see more shots of the band as they do strange dances that seem to place them in the darkness rather than the spotlights.

A lot of the actions and shot types are repeated to reinforce their burning desire to leave everything behind them and their struggles with everything. It could also link to Anthony Kiedis' relapse as it's a repeat of what happened earlier.

The last major shot that stands out to me before the song's mellow, melodic outro is the return to this overhead shot of Kiedis. In this shot, he says the words "hold me please I'm feeling cold" whilst being sprawled out on this giant circle. He has his arms and legs stretched out to give this sense of he's trying to invite somebody to "hold" him which is an idea maintained by his lack of breaking eye contact with the audience as it shows us that he wants to build a personal connection with somebody. This interpretation can be reinforced by some lyrics that are featured during the album One Hot Minute as they discuss the loneliness that they all felt as a result of their disconnection to each other due to their personal issues. For example, in the song My Friends he sings "so hard and lonely too, when you don't know yourself" or in the song One Hot Minute we can see Kiedis' loneliness as the chorus is just "am I all alone".

After this, we return to a multitude of violent shots before the outro begins and we see everyone calm down: the movements get a lot less forceful and everything slows down. With each change in focus, there is a heavy gaussian blur over it which once again draws back to the idea of escaping fame as it makes it hard to see who's on the camera. However, it quickly focuses to reveal the members (in this example, Kiedis) which could suggest that they will get used to the fame as the when a camera focuses it's like it gets used to whatever is in the frame. We later then see another close up of Navarro as he wipes away his eyeliner indicating that he's sick of the appearance he has for the public.

The final shot shows Navarro, Kiedis and Flea outside of the building. Navarro takes Kiedis and kisses him which I actually think contrasts with the ideas presented in the video about avoiding fame. This kiss caused a lot of mixed feelings amongst the fans: some seen it as nearly cathartic as the video is very wild and it breaks the cumbersome monotony seen throughout however, some seen it as an outrage. No matter the viewer's reaction, the kiss provided a way to relieve the video which enabled them to end it calmly.