Music Video Analysis

Song: Hard Rock Halleluiah

Music Video Link: Here
Song Lyrics Link: Here
Artist: Lordi (1992-Present)
Director: Pete Riski
Writer: Mr. Lordi
Producer: Jyrki Tuovien
Composer: Mr. Lordi
Genre: Hard Rock
Length: 4:07 (album version)
3:01 (Eurovision radio edit)
3:07 (Music video)
Country: Finland
Release: 19 May 2006 (Finland)
5 June 2006 (UK)
Labels: AFM Records, Sony Music, GUN, The End, BMG, Drakkar
Records

Narrative:
The narrative of the video begins with a shy female hard rock fan
walking through the corridors of a school, singing softly along to the
song playing on her headset. She reaches an entrance to the gym,
where she stands watching the cheerleaders practice.
Suddenly, the lights flicker and go out, and a wind starts to blow. As
the chorus starts to play, the doors to the gym are blown off of their
hinges by Mr. Lordi, who appears with his band looking very
demonic, who enters and crushes the now-screaming cheerleaders
with a wave of his hands killing them. There is a fiery flash, and the
entire band appears in the center of the gym, playing the song. The
fan is terrified, but approaches Mr. Lordi as he points to her, singing
"... you will see the jokers soon will be the new kings". He
raises the dead cheerleaders as zombies, and they stand around the
fan pumping their fists in the air along with the music.

Music Video Analysis

The end of the video shows the fan, now confident and unafraid,
leading the zombies through the school halls as students run away.
She stops and punches the air with her fist as the zombies rush
around her towards a group of students who are trapped by the
closed main doors. Leaving the rest to the imagination.

This video may be showing how music can give people confidence,
as you see her change from a shy girl into one with confidence due
to the music.

The Star Image:

Lordi's music is mainly hard rock combined with strong elements of
heavy metal music. The band's horror-related albums, the monster
costumes worn by all band members, and the horror elements of
their performances are hallmarks of shock rock.
The monster costumes are such an integral part of Lordi's publicity
image that they refuse to be photographed or even interviewed
without them, even if in some cases it leads to their own discomfort
as exemplified below.

Music Video Analysis

Relation of visuals to song & Thought beats and technical

aspects of the music video:
The video starts with the shy girl is a close up shot of her waist as
she clicks the play button with an asynchronous click where muffled
diegetic major key music kicks in over the somewhat muffed sound
perspective of the diegetic ambient sounds of the high schools
corridor.
It cuts to the shy girl I with evidence of rule of thirds with her
tacking up the center of the shot with a shallow focus with the other
students somewhat blurred out of the shot, showing how she wants
to be in her own world but she has to keep it to herself which is why
she is wearing headphones, she is dresses in a hard rock fashion,
pressing play on her Walkman and adjusting her headphones over
her head as she begins to walk down the corridor in a tracking shot.
The muffled music becomes clear and loudens suggesting that it as
also become non-diegetic and out of the world of the music video,
once she begins to sing with it synchronously. She looks up from the
floor to her surroundings, singing along with the lyrics Hard
Rock Halleluiah , which can be interpreted as her also thanking
God for the fact that there is hard rock. The thought beats also
kick in at this point with the shy girl singing with when music and
begins with the drop of the drums.
She continues through the hall in a medium long shot as people
avoid looking at her, it cutaways to a close up shot of her art book
with a drawing of the band who sings the song Lordi, showing off
in addition more of her costume (The hard rocker). However in a
restring close up it still shows she is scared of begin an outcast in
her school.
The scenes cuts to a low angle long shot of a group of cheerleaders
dresses in morbid black outfits practicing the routine. The rock girl
shyly walks up to the door watching them from afar. Clearly longing

Music Video Analysis

to belong somewhere. Before getting pushed back some
cheerleaders and the cheer captain looks at her (you can tell she is
the captain by the crown on her head) who looks at her mockingly.
In a shot reverse shot before the rock girl looks away.
In a medium shot the cheerleaders are still practicing their routine
when the lights go out abruptly. It cuts back to the rock girl who is
also alarmed by this occurrence. In a dolly shot low angle shot the
shot goes past the faces of the confused but the wind and flickering
lights. In a medium close up the cheer captain turns behind with
the camera in a shallow zoom on her and an over the shoulder eye
line match there is a door with flashing white lights emitting from it.
The camera returns to the rock girl as she watches from afar.
Suddenly a claw like hand smacks against the glass of the door.
Keeping with the 180 rule, we the head captain now in a close up
still staring hopelessly at the door.
Then with sparks flaring Mr. Lordi throws both doors to he ground. It
zooms in on the rock chick who is now also horrified. From the
shadows of the fog we see the silhouette of Mr. Lordi raise his hand
in the rock hand gesture.
In a medium deep focus we see the collective of the cheerleaders
screaming in horror at Mr. Lordi, whilst zooming in on the cheer
captain. Then it cuts to Mr. Lordi creeping from the darkness and
with the flashing lights lighting up his monstrous demon costume it
cuts back to the rock chick in a close up still nervously watching.
And then back to all of the screaming cheerleaders. Lordi, then in a
medium close up raises his hands and drops them as he does that
the cheerleaders also fall to the ground presumably dead, the rock
chick look on pained.
When the shot next cuts to Lordi, there is the rest of his band (also
dressed up as monsters) and with a blazing fire behind them. Lordi
sings to her pointing towards her beckoning her to join him. (There
are shots of the band playing with asynchronous diegetic music
playing).
With a medium close up we see the rock chick almost hypnotized by
them. And in a low angles hot wit rule of thirds with Lordi taking up
two thirds and the girls legs in the other third. She keeps walking
towards him as is the are having a convocation, with cutaways to
the band.
In a high angle shot he see the rock chock step into a sort of circle
made up of the bodies of the cheerleaders. Pyrotechnics go of as
she stands before him, fear replaced by intrigue and confidence.

Music Video Analysis

Lordi then raises his arm and the cheerleader start to get up,
moving their bodies twist on the floor around her. Though she
stands strong in a low angle shot showing her dominance. They
suddenly spring up and in a quick cut they reveal in a close up they
are now zombies. The zombies then throw rock hand gestures in the
circle around her as Lordi and the band continue to play. He nods
and her and she gives him a devilish smile understanding her
mission.
It then cuts to a slow motion medium long shot of the students who
laughed at her earlier running in horror. It then cuts to the rack chick
walking in front of her zombie horde. Clambering through the
corridor. At which point it is reveled that the other students are
trapped and the sends then to theirs deaths whiled doing rock
gestures, while occasionally cutting away to Lordi singing.