Shot at the Night Music Video Analysis

The Narrative

The Killers offer a brief modern-day Cinderella story in their new video for "Shot at the Night," one of two new songs on their upcoming best-of collection, Direct Hits.

Actress Bella Heathcote stars as a housekeeper inside the palace-like Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, mindlessly going through the motions of what appears to be a daily (and unglamorous) routine. She goes home alone where she rests before returning to work the following day, and nearly hits actor Max Minghella with her car at a crosswalk while daydreaming.

She goes about her housekeeping duties, when fate once again brings them together and Minghella and his friends convince the dutiful Heathcote to blow off work for a night on the town. The two enjoy Vegas, riding a motorcycle down the Strip, watching a poker game, holding hands and kissing against the wall of a building, while Brandon Flowers oversees the activity as he sings the dreamy song.

The video ends after the enamored couple watches others get married at a typical Vegas wedding chapel. It's well after midnight, and he kisses her tenderly as the sun rises before she rushes back to work.

Through interpretation to the point of view of Brandon Flowers, the main singer of the band, he seems to have lost the ability to get any enjoyment from his life and now feels that he has a once in a lifetime moment to drastically change his circumstances and experience the joy and excitement that he seems to have lost.  He appears desperate to take advantage of this sudden change so that his past does not mirror his future.  Something happens to this man when he realizes that he has an opportunity to change all this. This reflects the story of this girl in the video who is working all her life but soon decides to not go to work and to just enjoy life.

 The video begins with an establishing shot of Las Vegas, this automatically gives the audience a clue of the theme of the video due to the party and gambling associations that Las vegas has. A large white, thin font saying 'the killers' also spreads itself across the setting identifying the artist of the song. Not many music videos tend to put their name in the actually music video this makes the killers more unique and representing  pride in their music. The video speeds up the timing as loads of cars drive through the strip in las Vegas, this suggests a busy and hectic lifestyle choice that many artists and 'famous' people have to deal with. This begins linking to the lyrics of the song ' give me a shot of the night' which could mean that they want to stop this busy lifestyle and have a night of enjoyment rather than and overwhelming busy schedule.

Another shot at the beginning is a mid-shot of Brandon Flowers, the main singer of the band, on a balcony which overlooks Las Vegas as he is the performance element of the video. The dark key lighting over him contrasting from the brightly lit up background suggests he wants a hidden identity. The setting establishes a link between him and the narrative despite the fact that he isn't playing a role in it. He shows how he is the one telling the story as he overlooks the setting. 

The first shot of the main actress for the narrative straight away helps the audience to know something about the character. The mid-shot of her shows her maids uniform as she walks through a casino in a hotel which tells the audience her occupation and from her facial expressions we can see she does not seem to be enjoying her job. This begins the narrative and helps the fans to understand the song in terms of what is is about as the lyrics may be difficult to understand the meanings. Her natural make-up reflects an ordinary girl who perhaps has never had a fancy expensive lifestyle. This contrasts to the life of the member in 'the killers' as presumably they are wealthy whereas this girl clearly may not be. Despite their differences in terms of their jobs, due to the interpretation of the lyrics, they both seem to be fed up with their way of work. More shots of her cleaning are used again to re-emphasise her job role and responsibilities. The faint natural lighting from the window shadows the unhappy emotions of the character who is in a busy 'party' city and yet is working which in turn leads to the purpose of the song.  

 The shots also manage to cut on time with the beat of the music as its cuts between the many jobs the girl has such as hoovering, making the beds and as she is tracked through the hotel with the same consistent unhappy facial expression. The people around her are happy and talking to each other whereas she keeps to herself representing her as lonely. The video also cuts to the performance part of the video as he sings the lyrics 'once in a lifetime, the suffering of fools, to find our way home to break in these bones'. This highlights the 'suffering' of the girl and the unhappiness she is feeling as she goes day to day doing the same routine of work then going home only to go and do the exact same thing the next day. The reflection of him as he performs the song suggests he is mirroring his own story in the narrative.

 As the girl is out driving in the night the lyrics 'Once in a lifetime, we're breaking all the rules

To find that our home, has long been out grown' are used. This could mean that she is bored with her working life and it has 'out grown' her. The facts that she is not working and is in the busy crowd suggests that she is breaking her rules. It gives the audience the impression that she isn't allowed to enjoy herself or be happy however the narrative soon shows that she can be. As she is day dreaming she almost hits another man. The reverse shot used between the two characters instantly shows a potential love interest and you see the girl smile for the first time. The song at this point is at the chorus 'shot of the night' this begins to show a change of her typical working day. 

The two character first appear as polar opposites as she dresses with her hair back in a plain baggy grey jumper whereas he wears a bright blue, whats looks like, an expensive suit. And yet those differences don't stop him from asking her to come out with him and his friends the next day. This long shot again portrays two completely different characters as the girl is walking past with a cleaning trolley and the man is ready to go out for the night again. This perhaps could represent her getting a 'shot' or a chance to enjoy herself for once, which links with the lyrics. The quick cuts of the  couple doing different things establishes a developing relationship showing the two characters getting to know each other. The quick cuts suggests a fast pace moving relationship that may only be for one night as well see further on she returns to work then next day.