Greatest Videos

Queen are one of the most iconic British bands ever.  They've had numerous No. 1 hits, including 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (twice), 'We Will Rock You', and their collaboration with David Bowie 'Under Pressure'.  The lead singer and front man of the band Freddie Mercury has become one of the most iconic music figure throughout time, and the band have a musical written using their songs in London's Dominican Theatre.

This music video is probably the most iconic music video ever made.  This is the music video that was the first major success, and people often hail it was the first music video (even though this is incorrect) because before this video, it was not a regular thing for music videos to be produced by record companies to accompany the latest single releases from their artists.  This video is THE video that put music videos on the map, and has become so iconic that many other videos do make reference to this particular video in their own.  This is video is a showcase video. 

The song starts in silhouette, with the members of the band only being shown in shadow.  There is smoke all around them, and the sing in the dark.  On the lyrics "open your eyes" the lights come on and light the faces of the 4 band members.  The clever thing about this video is that we have shots of the top of shots, so we see the 4 band members, and then lead singer Freddie Mercury's face - a CU shot - over the top.  This happens several times throughout the song. 

As we going into the first real verse, and the piano part, the shot fades into Mercury playing the piano, and we focus to begin with on his hands.  Throughout the video, most of the shots of are the band members' faces, thus making this video very intimate with the viewer, making them feel closer to the band.  Throughout this sequence of shots, we have 2-shots, MS shots and CUs of the band members; this tends to unify the band, making sure the viewer sees them as a unit and as individuals as well.



As the song changes into the next section, the style of the video changes again.  It goes back into the silhouette form at the beginning of the video, working a lot with shadows and the faces of the band, rather than having them performing the song.  We then have some really interesting editing, with faces being replicated via computer and then spread across the screen.  We also have the same shot replicated several times on the screen, which fits with the more bizarre section of the song.

As we go into the guitar solo and the "so you think you can stop me" section, we go back to the band performing the song.  This again signifies visually to the viewer that the song has changed into a new section.  We stay in this section until the very end of the song, where we have on last shot of the silhouettes, which ends with the beating of a gong.


So, what makes this music video so great?

- at the time, it was the most revolutionary video, and its iconicity has remained throughout the years
- it clearly fits with the song, with each section being visually separated
- in its day, it used the height of technology in editing
- it's very angular in the silhouette sequences, which is interesting for the viewer
- it's a showcase and therefore promotes both band and song