Stefanie Walker Unit 2: Communication Skills for Creative Media Production Task 2 Written Analysis

The music video industry requires a lot of creativity; you need to understand different audiences and what ropes them in. Whether its hip hop or rock there are specific themes most genres play by, theyll be (most likely) relevant to the interests of the audience. Abiding to conventions is a sure way to keep the audience; they are used to music videos being similar within the genre. Music videos are visual and an excellent form of advertising, whether its for the album, the song or the band itself. In some cases, music videos are shown as being short films, and a lot of the time they wont relate much to the lyrics. They are simply a way to captivate the audience or portray meaning and trigger certain emotions which could potentially change your view and overall opinion of the song you are listening to. The three music videos I have chosen to analyze are Links 2 3 4 by the German band Rammstein. Keelhauled by the pirate-metal band Alestorm and Land of confusion by Disturbed. Ive chosen these because each one is very different from the other; theyre good examples of how the music videos vary within the genre.

Link 2 3 4 by Rammstein:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwnV7FIUsSs&feature=related
First off, I started to look into Links 2 3 4 by Rammstein. The title itself has its own meaning, the phrase Links zwei drei vier was an old military chant the German military used while marching (translated it reads: Left two, three, four). The title, of course, related to the lyrics that follow. The song seems to be about war, but it all depends on your own personal opinion. (The lyrics are in German so any translations may not be completely accurate). After listening to the lyrics and reading different translations the song seems to be about resisting government control/being prisoned by society. The lyrics Can hearts speak? could suggest the desires to get revenge, to act out what the heart wants, since it cant physically tell someone what to do it makes emotions that then persuade a person to want revenge. Can you torture hearts? Again, this suggests that in war, when people and loved ones are lost it hurts the heart. Theyre hidden meanings, not literal meanings. The lyrics dont really match the video, theres nothing really hinting towards hearts. Ants dont really put the lyric meaning across. Can you ask hearts? Can you question them on the matter of how they can make someone feel what they do, how strong they are and what they can withhold. Links 2 3 4 is brought up once again in the lyrics but with a slightly different meaning, translated it says: They want my heart beating in the right place but I look below and it beats left from there Could have a variety of meanings, it could show his defiance and rebellious nature or the fact his hearts in the wrong place. Its not where society wants it to be, he has different ideals, a different way of thinking. He isnt influenced by them despite their constant desires to change him and control him. Despite some accusations, Rammstein stated in an interview that its about the political spectrum and how they swing to the left rather than the right. They wrote it to clarify that, unlike all of the accusations, they are not Nazi sympathizers. This is, unfortunately, what a lot of people think of them.

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Moving on to the music video itself, they use stop motion and live footage to show ants in a colony. The ants arent going about the typical routine their species is associated with. They are, in fact, acting like humans. Taking food from a fridge, playing football, raving and going to the cinema. This relates them to the human race, giving us a way to relate I suppose, to show what were like. Grouping in numbers, all living together in the same place more-or-less.

Its an unconventional music video, the use of animals like that isnt commonly seen. But its very well done. They even advertise the album cover; on the DJ desk when theyre shown dancing is the album itself, picture on full view to the audience as they rock to it. So already, theyve advertised the song and the album the song belongs to.

Moving on, theyre in the cinema watching the band play. The Rammstein band members are shown on the screen, the picture is sepia and grainy, giving it an old movie type look. So here, the band is being advertised, theyve managed to advertise all three things mentioned earlier. This is the equilibrium but from this point the dis-equilibrium starts (This is Todorovs theory). A beetle crashes its head through the screen and the ants scatter. This is an attack of three large beetles that have now started tearing the colony apart, even killing some of the ants with their huge jaws. Theyre the opposition, the bad guys.

Later, one of the ants is seen to be addressing the rest of the colony, they do an aggressive gesture thats probably something ant species do when threatened. They begin to pour out of the nest, the moment theyre outside they get into organized, lines and sections. Much like the military and how they organize their troops when on a march. When moving into formation they get into the shape of the Rammstein logo too, so more advertising is used.

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The three beetles are shown, and the three divided sections swarm over each one. Actual footage is used here of ants actually taking down something of such a large size, their jaws biting into it and it finally dying without much of a fight. Gain with the military, it shows the strength in numbers and how the opposition can be taken down when an army comes together. In the final seconds of the video it pans out, a hand and arm coming into view which is also covered in ants like the beetle corpses. That leaves it open, theres no closure and it leaves the audience wondering why this person was taken down and whether or not it was the ants who did so.

Keelhauled by Alestorm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-Z_psXODw
The second music video I looked at was Keelhauled by Alestorm. Alestorm is a pirate metal band which focuses on, well, pirates. Their songs are all related to the theme of pirates and the music videos are more than often set on a pirate ship. Like this one.

Pirate metal is a pseudo genre of heavy metal. (Pseudo means A poseur; false, fake; being other than what is apparent). The term pirate metal was originally coined by German Speed/Power metal band Running Wild. Its basically anything with guitars and pirates. Looking at the title of the song, Keelhauling was a form of punishment. Usually practiced by sailors and of course pirates out at sea. Looking at the title of the song, Keelhauling was a form of punishment. Usually practiced by sailors and of course pirates out at sea. The person being punished was tied to a rope that looped beneath the vessel. They were then thrown overboard on one side of the ship and dragged under the keel (could also be done from bow to stern). The hull was usual covered in barnacles and other marine life that would attach itself to the ship. So when pulled quickly, these barnacles would most of the time end up cutting them, cutting limbs off and occasional decapitation. The salt in the water would make these injuries sting even more. If dragged slowly, cuts were less likely but it usually resulted in drowning.

Stefanie Walker
The music video itself reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean and already, watching the first second its recognizable as a pirate scene. The band is shown upon the ship (Band advertising) in full pirate costume and playing music that you would typically associate with pirates. They are shown gambling below deck, spending time with women and generally acting how pirates would on an average day, when they arent pillaging villages or merchant ships of course. The man worthy of punishment has stolen something from the captain; the moment they find out they tie him up on deck and prepare to throw him over the edge. For stealing treasure he is sentenced to this punishment and chucked over the edge, pulled under as the skin on his back is ripped to shred by barnacles. They show all this in the music video, probably to make the audience feel different emotions to the inhumane torture method. Once back on deck, they pull him up and the process starts again.

The difference this time is the tattered end, the rope has cut and hes no longer attached. It suggests hes either dead from drowning or blood loss or just still in the water. This kind of ending could be considered as open since you dont know what actually happened to him. No dead body is shown. I thought this was very unique, pirates arent often used but the theme of pain and torture is quite common in Heavy metal music videos. This sense of emotional and physical pain that the audience apparently like to see in the music videos. Sandmann by Oomph!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k4Xgm9dDMg

The final music video I decided to look at was Sandmann by Oomph! Theyre another German metal band, the difference here being they sang this song in both German and English. The English version doesnt sing the exact translation of the German but it comes pretty close and the same message is put across. By what you can see after only a few seconds of playing the video, its clear that its set in the early 1900s. Around the time of World War II. Judging by the clothes and environment there are many things hinting to the time era. Even the band is dressed up in the specific attire. Looking at the characters in this music video, there are a few that stand out. A young boy from a poor family, a young girl from a rich family and a man in a black hooded cloak, holding onto a hourglass, which has connotations of time and it running out. A count-down. Lets focus on the hooded man first... He

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appears a lot throughout, magically disappearing then reappearing. As if he is a ghost. All we can say is that hes a supernatural entity, what he actually is remains unknown. (Perhaps the sandmann?).

The sandman has always been part of an old tale, hes the man that visits children and helps them sleep. Gives them good dreams and sprinkles sand into their eyes. Of course, the original story of the sandman was meant to frighten children, but the story has been changed over the years into something much more pleasant. The significance of the sandman isnt too obvious but the lyrics help put across an understanding. Can you understand their fear when they go to sleep? and Shut off the lights, the truth is horrible so send me a dream. Link to the Sandmann. Hes asking for the sandman to put him to sleep, to let him stay sleeping forever because he doesnt like seeing all the bad things when hes awake. The word sung La le lu are from a German lullaby, the lullaby may have some link to the sandman. Looking deeper into it, the song appears to be about poverty. It has a young girl with a rich family, the girl pities the poorer family and its clear her family despises them as the father is seen treating them quite badly, shooing one away as if they werent even human. The young boy from the poorer family is seen with next to nothing, his family growing excited when two loaves of bread are brought in while the rich family greedily scoff down cake. (The girl simply watches).

Going back to the Sandman he later kidnaps children. Both children go together in search of them and end up getting lost themselves. What happens here is a bit unclear; its a little confusing and gives the video a sense of mystery. During this scene a black screen is shown with the words In 2009 there were 1.5 million children in Germany living in poverty. (In German of course.) The video comes to an end when the parents of the children finally find them huddled underneath a tree.

Stefanie Walker
In conclusion, the metal genre is very much about pain and suffering. Physical and emotional trauma, they seem to enjoy this theme just to keep away from the usually happy pop genre. Its a way of differentiating them, so they wont be mistaken for anything else but what they are.