Music Video Deconstruction: Panic! At The Disco- 'That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)'

Artist: Panic! At The Disco
Song: That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)
Album: Pretty. Odd.
Genre: Indie Rock/Folk Rock
Director: Alan Ferguson
Year: 2007
Audience: 16+
Country of Origin: USA

 

The opening shot of the music video introduces to the viewer a variety of objects, the central one being a Russian matryoshka doll. Some of the other objects include an elephant, a sea shell, a teddy bear and a bugle, all of which can be classified as 'odd' the name of the album and the first line of the song. The colours are quite subdued and dark, making the bright reds and greens of the doll stand out. Slowly the camera zooms into the doll. A young boy plays with them, taking them apart while the
doll's mouth the lyrics. The final doll is taken apart, revealing the band members who quickly climb out of the doll and run away. All the members wear equally dark clothing to fit with the rather depressing atmosphere, which is contrasted by                                                                                                                         the  upbeat nature of the song.

After running off the edge of the table, the musicians fall into this green world, a huge contrast to the previous setting. Strewn across the floor are various 'odd' instruments- an accordion, guitar to be played with a bow etc. A wide shot is used to establish the new setting and to show its 'goodness'. The line sung while falling is 'I never said I missed her when everybody kissed her. ' How this relates to the video I am unsure.
In this next shot, the band members fall apart to reveal themselves as children: who they were when they were small. Again, a wide shot is used to show the naturalistic setting, (corresponding to the new musical direction the band was taking) as well as entire band plus the children. This transformation is supported in the lyric sung at this time: "Things have changed for me, and that's okay…"

Here, the children version of the band have the fun they used to have, running around, jumping rope. Wide shots are continuously used to show the extent of the greenery. The lyrics surrounding this segment of film being 'I wanna go where everyone goes, I wanna know what everyone knows, I wanna go where everyone feels the same…' reflecting a child's typical attitude/look on life.

This shot shows the band when they are old, the final stage of life, once again 'changing'. All of them wear the clothes they wore in their first music video, 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies', signifying a different type  change, namely clinging to the past. No lyrics are sung at this point, purely instrumental, making the audience focus on the characters instead.



PANIC! AT THE DISCO- THAT GREEN GENTLEMAN (THINGS HAVE CHANGED) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO