Ladies and gentleman, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…QUEEN. Queen has been a household name for many years and will continue to dominate the music world with their timeless classics such as “We are the Champions”, We Will Rock You” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Queen is a British rock band formed in the 1970s. They rose to fame quickly with fast-paced, melodic anthems. Their frontman Freddie Mercury was the standout artist in the group with his huge vocal range and showmanship on stage.
This video I believe showcases some Queen’s finest musical work including arrangement, operatic voices and eccentric lyrics. The video is very simple but also showcases how strange queen is. As all music videos in the past they feature playing in a love setting with each musician on their individual instrument. The stage is set up as one of their live concerts and they even a fog machine for more a live effect. This is where it gets interesting.
The video features 65 nude women. Super models hired for the day to ride around Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium. The music video puts in random clips of these nude women riding around and racing around the track at the stadium. Special effects were used to cover the full nudity of the women but the video is still age restricted by many websites.
The director rented several dozen bikes for the video shoot and once the bicycle company they were renting from caught wind of what the bikes were used for, they charged the director to pay for all the seats.
This video was very influential and possibly controversial as no one had really featured nude women on any music video before. Queen really pushed the limits when it came to music and video. They say if it wasn’t for Queen there would be no MTV. True or not I do not know but what I do know is that Queen will always be king.
Sigur Ros is a band that deserves a music video for every song they have released. For those of you who have not heard Sigur Ros, please stop reading and watch the music video above. Done watching? Perfect.
This video is the most amazing piece of film I have ever seen. It’s beauty, just pure beauty. The scenery and landscape is so luscious and the haziness of the film takes this music video to a whole new level of dreaminess. I imagine this is what heaven looks like.
The actors in this video are those of special needs. The fact that they are special needs makes this video even more beautiful as they give off such a pure and loving feeling. The actors are dressed up as angels; all in white, flowing garments with wings attached to their backs.
They frolic and dance in slow motion through a green and grassy field. They perform very flowing and elegant strokes while their garments flutter and fall with wind and movements. Such beautiful innocence is conveyed through the actors and the dreamy/hazy look of the film.
The antagonist in the video is shown wearing a blue garments. To me, his look and movements seem to symbolize the night. The night blows air from his mouth and one of the angels falls to ground in pain and falls unconscious. The other angels run to her side and begin what looks like healing her. The night blows again but even harder this time and hurts all of them.
The craziest thing about this video/music as well as all of Sigur Ros’ music is that the lyrics are entirely made up. Lead singer Jónsi uses a made up language that consists of their native tongue Icelandic and a sort of gibberish. The mix of the two is a language only specific to Sigur Ros Jonsi calls “Hopelandic”.
Ironically, this hopelandic language mixed in with Sigur Ros mesmerizing music gives you such a familiar feeling. You are able to relate even though you have no idea what he is even saying. Putting these sounds to a music video allows the view/listener to come up with their own interpretation of the video and song.
Anyways, back to the video. After all the angels have fallen the scene cuts to a man wearing a yellow costume. The costume looks similar the sun and it’s rays. The sun is laying on the ground sleeping while the camera spins above him. He awakes and rises and chases of the night with his shining rays. All the angels also stand up and surround the sun and praise it. The circle around him in excitement and praise as he chased the night away.
The video ends with a slow motion kiss between two angels. It is such a simple video but the mix of the actors, video idea and the greatest music on earth makes it an emotional and beauty driven piece of art.
This music video is cute. This music video is a double feature with two songs by Broncho. Both videos are a story of an older man. I want to mostly focus on the second portion of the double feature.
This video starts out with the band dressed all in white stopping the old man in his car. No words are spoken but the only thing that is exchanged is a maraschino cherry from the lead singer’s hand to the old man’s mouth.
The old man ingests the cherry and he looks forward to see what looks like a young version of himself. The young man has a similar face shape, clothes but with a very young, adventurous and devilish demeanor to him.
The two set sail on a whole slew of adventures such as Riding bikes, dropping mentos into diet coke bottles and buying matching outfits. The look on the old man’s face is one of tranquility and redemption. His face expresses feelings of long lost happiness. It feels like the young man is his inner child coming forth and comforting him. Almost reminding him of what life used to be and possibly reminding to let go every once and awhile.
My favorite part of this whole video is when the two walk out of a store with matching tucked in shirts, cowboy hats and glasses. They way they strut in front of camera shows a whole new confidence come over the old man. With s new look they walk on top of the world.
At the end of the video the young man and the old man sit and stare out into the countryside during the sunset. It looks like they’re reflecting on the day’s activities and contemplating what is to come. The young man stands up and turns and walks away. The old man keeps his eyes towards the sunset and smiles. He knows the young man wasn’t actually there but just his imagination or maybe just a feeling inside him. He looks as if he is about to tear up. All day he felt like himself or maybe what he used to be. It may have been a feeling of carelessness or boyish where anything goes and we can do whatever we want. His face gives a sort of sad emotion to the viewer like this may be the last time he ever feels this.
Overall this is a very emotional video with using a very simple idea. The actor for the old man is a perfect fit for this role as he looks seasoned, rusted and like he has been through hell. I think the video reminds us to be a kid or to remember how life used to be. Reckless and carefree at times. Beautiful message and beautiful music coming from the band Broncho. Watch the full double feature video at the top of this post. Thanks for reading!
This music video is one I hold dear to my heart. Why do I cherish it so much you ask? I love this video simply because it is my music video! Yes, you read correctly. This is my song and music video and that it is me walking around with a microphone that is not plugged into any sort of PA or recording system. I am very proud of this even though it seems like a very simple video.
One of the hardest types of filming in the industry, in my opinion, is the one take shot. For those of who do not know what a one take shot is it is pretty self-explanatory. You film the entire video or scene in one continuous shot; there is no stopping, cutting or splicing. These types of shots can be extremely difficult to shoot because every element, whether it be dancing, scene change or costume change or camera placement, everything has to be rehearsed and executed perfectly to get the perfect take. Talk about difficult am I right?
Above is a behind the scenes look at just what goes on during a one take shot.
Anyways back to the music video. Since I wrote the song and directed the video I can tell you all about the symbolism that is going on here.
First, the song is about one of my favorite super heroes and his arch nemesis; The Flash and the Reverse Flash. The song takes the point of view of the Reverse Flash and how he has been watching him and taunting him. The Reverse Flash needs to harvest the Flash’s energy to be able to keep moving fast and fighting.
Second, the story of the Flash dips heavily into time travel. He can run so fast that he can actually transcend time and travel either forward or backward along the spectrum. Well long story short he travels back in time, makes some minor changes and he travels back to the present to find his whole world has changed. THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT AT ITS FINEST. We’ll save that for another day.
In this music video, We show the main character walk out and get into two different cars and ultimately crashes. Time reverses bringing him back to his original starting point only to move in a different direction, step into another car with his mates and swerve all over the road. The simple “Going back in time” allusion to praise the Flash and his time travel.
We had a blast filming this video but it turned to be very difficult at the beginning. We started with high expectations and were hit with a slew of unexpected perks and challenges. We didn’t expect it to rain that day but it made for great lighting or lighting we could work with. We also did not expect a full bathroom set to be in that small garage but it was cool, so we used it. We definitely underestimated how long it would take to get the perfect one take shot. TALK ABOUT HARD! We filmed the microphone catch around 25 times before we got it right.
In short, music videos are a blast to film and they can have a huge impact on the viewer. Some videos can change your views or perception of the world around you or they can simply wow you. I hope this video gave you a little impression.
Fleet Foxes is just one of those bands that will never die. As they headed a generation of folk Americana music, they shaped a sound unique to them but so familiar to the listener. After a few years of silence, Fleet Foxes has come out with a stellar line up of songs and music videos. This one in particular caught my eye.
Directed by Sean Pecknold, brother to lead sing Robin Pecknold, This beautifully eerie video is completely left up to interpretation. My conception for the video may differ from what the director or even fleet foxes envisioned but either way this video does make you sit back and ponder it’s meaning and how it applies to your life.
It starts out with man who looks to be troubled and deep in thought or maybe not thinking at all. The man turns his head and looks as if he is dead inside. Only adding to the troublesome feeling of the man lead singer Robin Pecknold delivers a shivering low register vocal with warbling guitars. As the camera slowly zooms in on the man you begin to notice the coloring, texture and overall vibe of the video. Vintage, retro and rundown are just a few words that pop into my head as I watch.
The scene cuts to a fluorescent floating red cube in the hallway of the home the man is in. It isn’t said or written but it almost seems clear the relationship between the troubled man and the red cube. The man seems mindless and and as if he is being controlled by the red cube.
The music picks up and the main character jumps out the door and runs towards the mountains. Sean Pecknold uses one of my favorite cinematography tricks in this scene. The Dolly Zoom! The Dolly Zoom was first made famous by the Alfred Hitchcock movie “Vertigo”. The Dolly Zoom is done by zooming onto the a subject while simultaneously moving the camera towards or away from the subject.
It really demonstrates in this video how far he has to run or symbolic of getting away seems like far away and daunting task. It seems the main character is trying to get away from the cube; He is trying to get away from the mind control.
via GIPHY
Or possibly he is being controlled by the cube and being forced to run towards the mountains. The latter seems to be the case as the main character’s body movements and mannerisms look uncomfortable and forced. The irregular movements of his body attest to a wrestle of the mind between the man and his enemy the red cube.
Some symbolism of the red cube could be anything that distracts or consumes us for the worst. For many of us those distractions can be things like phones and social media or a career. For others it could be drugs, medication or even depression. We can sometimes feel the mental and physical pain of fighting against our addictions. I think the actor in this video accurately depicts that struggle and fight.
This is a beautiful music video with great music by the wonderful Fleet Foxes. Give the song a listen and watch the music video with intent of searching out the symbolism and what it means to you. Comments and interpretations are welcome!
It would be a crime not to put Childish Gambino’s “This is America” on this site. “This is America” has been undoubtedly one of the most interesting, influential and controversial music videos to come out in recent years. The music video gathered a whopping 85.3 million views within it’s first week, and now currently with 385 MILLION views it sits at the number 1 spot of the YouTube song charts. With a plethora of hidden meanings and symbols, “This is America” is the talk of the town and will continue to be for years to come.
“This is America” was released May 5th, 2018 on YouTube and the music video quickly rose to fame due to it’s unsettling imagery and symbolism. This video definitely carries the element of surprise as Gambino is seen dancing but then out of nowhere draws a gun and shoots the man. This video seems to pull attention to the image and morals of the United States. Some hidden symbolism suggests that we place more value on guns then we do on human life. This is depicted after Gambino shoots the man and places his into a red cloth. The gun then is carefully wrapped and taken away.
Gambino then continues to dance without showing any remorse for what he just did.
The background of the video is also very interesting. As the main cast of the video dances about what appears to be an abandoned warehouse, chaos of all sorts begins to brew behind them. Mobs of people are running, fighting with each other and Police and essentially bringing the place to ground.
This riot continues to grow throughout the video but all the while the main cast continues to dance with smiles on their faces. This could be considered symbolism of how the media distracts us from what is really going on in our country. The video keeps us focused on the dancing rather than the growing riot and everything else happening in the background.
Did you notice the white horse? Again, more symbolism lost in the background. A “Pale Horse” is an apocalyptic symbol of death. In which the director and Gambino are both trying to tell us where exactly where our country is headed. Turmoil is on the horizon but we are still distracted by the moves of the main cast.
The music moves into a milder B section as well as a change in scenery. Still within the broken down and abandoned warehouse, Gambino begins climbing on top of an old American car. The camera zooms out to a plethora of old, abandoned American model vehicles.
This may be symbolism of the progression of the U.S. suggesting that we have not progressed technologically and may also dip into our progression in general. Maybe its suggesting we are still living in our old ways and if we don’t change now, we will heading towards some dark days or should I say darker days.
This video has been a controversial topic among media since its release in May of this year. Still sitting at the number 1 spot for most views on youtube it leaves a lot open to be interpreted and debated. There is probably still hidden symbols laying within the video that maybe we haven’t noticed yet. Either way, this video is eye opening to the way we view media in our day in age and how we perceive the United States.
MUSIC Factory 