Panic! At The Disco - 'But It's Better if you Do' Video Analysis

This video has a very strong and clear narrative, plus it mixes in cleverly with the performance from the band. It relates to the lyrics of the song which is about attending a strip club to forget about a loved one. Here are the lyrics to the first verse:

"Now I'm of consenting age to be forgetting you in a cabaret.

Somewhere downtown where a burlesque queen may even ask my name
As she sheds her skin on stage
I'm seated and sweating to a dance song on the club's P.A.
The strip joint veteran sits two away
Smirking between dignified sips of his dignified peach and lime daiquiri"

The video starts off like an old film: black and white, with a title saying "But it's better if you do!" showing that it's meant to look like a very old film. A couple having an argument, which then leads in to the man leaving the house and starts singing to the song. The camera tracks the singer from the front, with a close up shot of his face and shoulders. This is directly influenced with the songs lyrics ("to be forgetting you in a cabaret,").

The man then walks into a stripper bar. This is where the videos imagery is at its best, showing a bar full of masked people in old upper class clothes and the girls in lingerie. There is an establishing shot when the singer enters the strip club, tracking him but zooming out so the watcher can see the different costumes and setting going on. There are then a few mid-close ups of the masked men and women getting close with each other, or dancing on tables.

The band performing the song are also in the video, dressed in very 30's-50's style suits, all playing old style instruments. The microphone is the most noticeable on this topic as it is very old-looking as seen in the picture below.

Camera shot-wise, the song isn't particularly 'heavy' but it is fast paced in places and there is a lot going on. The chorus has the fastest pace in the whole song so there are some fast cuts during the performance, and a very nice tracking shot at: 1:00 - 1:03 which shows the whole band performing and puts the singer in a clear frontman-light. It then cuts to two more close ups of the singer performing.

The end scene is my favourite scene as it shows a black and white ending to the video which looks much like an old black and white film; with old style cars and policemen. It shows an exceptional diversity in the style of music video compared to generic performance-type ones that are usually seen.