Analysis: "Waiting for the End" video, Linkin Park pt 2

The transition period of this piece begins when the rapidly morphing images and flickering camera cuts begin to include shots of the band members. In other words, it introduces an element of humanity. However, this humanity is still distorted as the band members are unnaturally still while the camera turns around them.

The turning point occurs approximately 2:45 minutes into the song. For the first time, the video includes an intimate look into faces, sans skulls, with slow camera movement that allows a closer look at the quiet and somber emotion on those faces. Viewers also see the instruments in natural, organic motion rather than the band members strangely frozen in time as they play.

One of the most striking images from the video is that of the small fanged mammal – perhaps a weasel or ferret; at any rate, it is the third image included on the previous page. This animal is pictured once again in the video, but so briefly that it is difficult to capture. In contrast to the quickly deforming images featured previously in the video, the animal transitions rapidly into what might be a flower or sunburst. This simple image is a powerful example of how the video oscillates into a more positive character.

Having established this more noble character, viewers can take a new appreciation of the lighting. Throughout the video, there is an unsettling blue cast, but we muts take into account its structural resemblance to star charts. Stars are points that guide, illuminate, and beautify an otherwise dark and potentially threatening sky.

As the audio progresses, “Waiting for the End” builds in power, using that energy for positive ends: to develop clarity and purpose. Steady, solid drumbeats neither disguise nor distort the other elements of the song. Instead, they ground the sound in firm dependability. The guitar riffs, which at first sounded more like an angry saw, become more organic – almost wooden, in fact. In the latter portion of the song, harmonies become more consonant. The slurred lyrics transition to one of the most clearly-spoken rap sequences I have ever heard, which includes the ideas of “starting again.” The lyrics may say that there is something wrong with the world, but in combination with the music, the actual message of the song is that the world can be changed for the better.