‘Darling’ is a performance and narrative based music video within the
rock genre. It is similar to the music video for Avenged Sevenfold ‘Nightmare’
with the use of an operation, being clinical and the dark themes that surround
it. The music video uses iconography such as guitars and drums to give a
suggestion to the genre of the music. Black hair and piercings are indicative
of the rock genre as they provide a dark and typical ‘grunge’ look, as you would
expect form a music video of this genre. Close ups of the band members allow us
to see the iconography as this makes up part of the band’s signature,
especially on close ups of the female band members because they are the most
iconic members of the band as well as one of them being the lead vocalist. 
The fast pace of edit, short shot durations and rhythmic cutting
matches the speed of the music and so by doing this is makes the music video
quite jumpy, it also distorts the vision on some of the shots because the
viewers aren’t able to keep up with all of the individual shots that flash onto
the screen. The black and white effect is also seen a lot in rock based music
videos as it makes it appear quite dark and sinister and so it matches the
screaming and dark atmosphere of the music video. Also along with harsh
lighting and prominent shadows the black and white effect helps to distort some
of the facial feature and so this conceals their identity and continues the
theme of darkness and also the sinister atmosphere. There is also a close up of
the girl gripping tightly onto the chair. This suggests that the girl is in
pain and so this is typical of the rock genre because it links with the theme
of death and torture which are dark subjects. 
The scratched lines edited onto the music video implies aggressive
behaviour and adds to the dark atmosphere because the vocalist is screaming the
lyrics and so this suggests pain and anger which the vocalist may be feeling.
The same effect has been used to create crosses over the female vocalist’s
eyes, which is an act of violence because in some thrillers the victims eyes
are scratched or crossed out in a way to suggest that someone wants to inflict
pain on them. The person with the mask on is wearing all white and so this
suggests that the connotations of being clinical and also angelic. This
suggests part of the narrative because the lyrics are “Darling, don’t lie” and
this suggests that he is doing good by sealing her mouth and so isn’t able to
tell lies and so this avoids people getting hurt. The use of a mask and a pair
of glasses conceals the man’s identity and so it is unknown to the audience as
well as the female character. 
Concealing his identity causes a sense of unease because the audience
doesn’t know who he is, his identity is also is also obscured through the use
of a blur effect, it creates a mystery because enigma codes are created because
the audience are left wondering who he is and what he is doing. The blur effect
also creates a sense of unconsciousness and also visual impairment and so this
creates a sense of unease and mystery. A close up of the equipment and tools is
suggestive of the genre because it creates a sinister atmosphere and relates to
the violence and operation which are often seen in the rock genre. Short shot
durations have been used to match the speed of the song and so this makes it
more visually exciting and creates a relationship between the music and the
visuals because they are both matched at the same speed.
The bright white flashes during the music video add to the sinister
atmosphere because it disorientates the viewer. This also makes them try to
keep up with speed and change different shot changes. Voyeuristic elements have
been added through the use of a movie projector, this makes the audience feel
as if they are looking secretly onto the scene. The reel could signify the
operation or the concealed identity of the male character as his identity is
hidden the whole way through the music video and then when the reel stops so
does the operation as well as him hiding his face. An over the shoulder shot
allows the audience to see that her lips have been sewn together and that the
word on her lips spells ‘liar’. This gives the audience the idea that she is
now unable to communicate and that she has been silenced.
At this point the audience finds out that the music video is based on a
typical boy and girl story, which is typical of music videos but less so for
rock genre music videos. This is also evident as we see a medium close up of
the man without his mask on and this reveals the word ‘lover’ sewn on his lips.
The final shot is of the two characters standing face to face, which suggest
that they are closer than what they think. This is backed up by a heart
appearing between the two and so it implies that love can hurt us but it also
still brings two people together, as it uses the scratched effect that we saw
earlier in the music video.
The music video is effective because it displays codes and conventions
within the rock genre and gives the audience an engaging performance and
narrative based music video as it also contains thriller codes and conventions
which are used a lot within music videos of the rock genre.
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