Slipknot- Duality. Video analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fVE8kSM43I&ob=av3e

The first image shown in the video for Slipknot's song Duality starts with a slow motion picture of a young man breathing heavily topless, at first due to the slow nature of it it doesn't seem conventional for a rock video, the audience expects fast heavy movements to go with the rock nature of the music. However, after this it breaks into normal speed with a mass of males charging as one with the majority of the group being topless. This scene represents how music can offer people a source of identity and create social solidarity from all different types of ethnicities and religions. On the other hand, later in the video scenes of violence and anger are produced, one such image being a man smashing a window with a chair. This particular male is topless and reinforces the brutality of the video as it produces a sense of animalistic behaviour, almost caveman like where men act purely on insticts and irrationally. This idea is carried on through the video as the masses are seen breaking things, climbing on buildings and pushing one another.
Additionally, its almost as if these characters are acting like an infection. Entering all area's of the house and destroying everything with a single touch acting with great speed and with no remorse.
The band Slipknot are famous for always wearing masks, its rumoured that not even there families know what they look like anymore because they always wear masks. This video doesn't break Slipknot conventions as they are seen with there masks on. This mysterious nature of the band creates a sense of individuality. By covering there faces and wearing different masks makes them unique to every person in the room. It also helps to identify them, if someone see's these group of people they immediately know who it is. Creating good publicity.
Two minutes into the video the lead singer breaks down the violence and controls the huge group of people in an almost religious format. He acts as the key speaker and holds his palm out to the audience where they stop and look as if there in a trance hanging on every word he says. This could represent how easily influenced some people in wider society are, showing that with the right people and the right words people can be manipulated to do all sorts of things because after the lyrics which slows them and puts them motionless are then made too act aggresively once more in a destructive way. The build up is done by extreme close ups on the faces of the audience very quickly swapping between the shots and eventually ends of a birds eye view of the entire crowd where they burst into motion acting physically against each other in a fighting manor.
Throughout the video the camera angles show how close the proximity is between the band and the audience with no barrier between them showing that the band, Slipknot are the same as the rest of them. It doesn't make them seem superior like most other video's. Where the band are shot from a low angle so its looking up at them making it look like there the more dominant figures but in this video everyone is shot at as a mid shot or close up showing the equality between people. The only difference is that the majority of the close ups are on Slipknot which enforces the importance of them and is easily seen through the imagery.