Unfinished sympathy music video textual analysis

 Massive Attack are a hip hop/electronic group from Bristol, England which emerged from the unique music and graffiti scene in the late 80's/ early 90's. "Unfinished sympathy" was their first ever single on a major record label.

Founding members:

• Robert "3D" Del Naja
• Grant "Daddy G" Marshall
• Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles

Graffiti artist Banksy, whose identity is unknown, has been theorised to be a part of massive attack as a blogger had mapped appearances of Banksy's artwork around the world and noticed a link with Massive Attack's tour dates. 3D denied all the claims and said it was just a coincidence but they were good friends.

Trip Hop and its significance:

Originating in the 1970's, Bristol became a hotbed for English pop culture. Rock, Reggae and Punk were the dominant sounds, and the city had a huge skateboarding and graffiti subculture which carry's on today. This is all surrounded by Bristol's economic and racial history as it was a key port in the transatlantic slave trade. Racial tensions continued into the 20th century, with the St. Paul riots breaking out in 1980.

Unfinished sympathy

The song is from the album "Blue Lines" and it reached the top 20 in the UK. It was an influential trip hop song at the time and was one of the first to reach major success.

The song itself is about a heartbreak/breakup and how it can be life changing and difficult to move on.

The Video

The unfinished sympathy music video was directed by Bailie Walsh, is an example of part performance and part docu-fiction.

This is clearly demonstrated in the video because the focal part of the video is directed towards Shara Nelson (the lead singer). She is walking down a LA sidewalk. The band members do appear behind her as exras but not in detail.

The video is all shot in one take, which makes it seem like a concept video. There is no editing through

It was shot on Steadicam by Dan Kneece.

Summary:
The video begins with a close up shot of metal spheres being clanged together, later panning out to reveal members of a gang.

The continuous shot then tracks down to focus briefly on a child with a toy gun