Goodwin's Theory for Foo Fighters-Best of You

Foo Fighters are one of my favourite rock bands and this video to me is really interesting.


I feel that the location for this video doesn't necessarily match the genre all the time. When we can see the whole band playing out in the open on what appears to be a rooftop it isn't necessarily genre specific. However later in the video we see Dave Grohl (the front man) in a corridor or underpass of some kind with graffiti all over the walls. This is a more generic place for a rock music video to be placed.

Some of the graffiti in my interpretation matches the meaning of the song. Phrases like "Help me through" link to the angry or even sad nature of the lyrics in the song. It is about weakness and strength shown through cars crashing, dying flowers, innocent children, animals attacking their prey and to me this links to the lyrics however to some people this would be considered random and not linked in with the song meaning.

The images cut quite fast and the song has quite a fast beat to it. The edits aren't always on the beat of the song but it keeps up with the pace. For example when the song slows at the beginning and in the middle it shows Grohl singing and there aren't as many, if any at all, flashing images.

There are lots of close-ups of Grohl singing throughout the song. He walks towards the camera directly addressing us. There is also an extreme close-up of him singing later. There are mid shots of the drummer and the guitarist too when they are playing to show their skill. Since Grohl is also playing a guitar there are mid-shots to show his talent too.

This music video contains performance elements especially at the very start. However, there is a concept to the flashing images that do not appear to follow a specific story but we do see inter-cutting of the same characters in he same situation. For example you see a flower grow but you also see it die. You see a girl playing and you see her again when she leans back from the camera. This to me is more concept than narrative.

The performance and singing in the corridor is very much directed at us and we feel it is a performance but clips where we can see people having sex for example that are slightly blurred we feel like we are spying on their private affairs.