Linkin Park- Castle of Glass

Released in 2012, and is based of true stories of how families are affected by war, making it a narrative music video. Also the song was created for an EA game called Medal of Honor: Warfighter.



In the very beginning of the video, slow paced tracking is used when the boy is heading to the door. It shows that the film was slowed down slightly as it takes the boy a little longer then normal to reach the door and open. This effect suggest that the boy needs to stay a little longer clueless to what is waiting for him: finding out about his fathers death. Making it slow keeps the audience calm yet more focused on the situation, as they are waiting for what is on the other side of the door.

When the boy meets the soldier, the camera focuses only on those two, with the surrounding background and people blurred out. This suggests how the audience is meant to only concentrate on only them, and that to the boy and the soldier, they are focused on only each other: the soldier needs to tell the boy important news and can not be distracted by anything else, and also the boy is just focusing on the news. It also represents how a child stereotypically needs to listen to the adult, and also how children are main concerns for when it comes to situations like this. I'm quite inspired by this technique, as I find it effective to let the audience focus on a person or object.

When the boy is in his bedroom, the atmosphere and lighting/colour in very blue and grey based, which reflects the young boy's depressed mood. The soldiers fighting in the raid scene are in the same atmosphere, which suggests the relation between the two scenes - boy thinking about dad who died in war, men fighting in war. These two scenes however, also contrast against each other, because of how calm the boy scene is compared to the chaotic scene of the soldiers running about with weapons. This helps the audience
understand the link even better, as we are never told that the boy's dad is dead, we just assume from the obvious clues.

The editing technique of swapping between the boy putting the hat on to the man (assuming that he is the dad) putting the hat on, suggested 'father like son'. This refers to the possible strong relationship between the characters, and how the child is now reliant on memories.  I've also noticed in this scene that the characters are situated on the right of the screen with nothing on the left. This suggests that something is missing (the dad). Remembering that the narrative is based on true stories, it tells the audience how real life people are effected by loss. This is also shown when the boy is walking through the corridor after finding out about the news: his reflection is shown on the many frames on the wall, suggesting that he is feeling broken and lost, and also it shows how he only has memories (photos of the past = memories flowing back). It also shows Goodwin's of how the lyrics can link to the visuals as a line says "show me how to be whole again".

Another one of Goodwin's theory is used in the video as there is a band performance. The band is used with green screen, which first shows the house falling apart - linking to how the family is feeling from their loss - and turning into glass fragments (referring to the title 'Castle of Glass'). The performance scene contrasts against the other scenes as it is more emotionally based, whereas the other scenes are based on possible reality. The house falling apart and turning into glass reflects on how fragile the mind can be - the house portraying the mind as it represents a safe place.

At the very beginning of the video, there is a fuzzy unsettling noise alongside a piano which is played quietly. This makes the audience take in the distressed atmosphere of how the boy finds out about the death. The quietness of it all helps it make it more spine chilling, as the audience has to imagine the screaming and crying of the mum.

I'm not too sure, but the man we see put on the hat and who we expect to be the dead dad, is again seen at the end of the video telling bad news to a little girl.This suggests that the dad knows what it is like for families to lose loved ones, as he has experienced the pain his family is in through seeing other families in similar situations.

A video of the band with green screen

In this video, some of the band members discuss in an interview on what it was like to film with green screen.