Aero Smith & Queen

Aero Smith – I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing (1998)
Queen – Somebody to Love (1976)

I have chosen to analyse 2 videos from within the genre or rock but also chose them to be love ballads as I wanted to see how they differ. I firstly chose Aero Smith’s ‘I don’t wanna miss a thing’ as this is a well known rock ballad written for the film, ‘Armageddon’. I am comparing this to Queen’s ‘Somebody to love’ as this is another well known classic which could be considered a love song. These tracks also differ in age as ‘I don’t wanna miss a thing’ was released in 1998 while ‘Somebody to love’ was released in 1976, so does this make the videos different?

Throughout Aero Smith’s video the lyrics are well matched to the visuals. The video is a mixture of Aero Smith himself singing at the recording studio and clips of the film, ‘Armageddon’, that the track was written for. The clip shown of the astronaut saying good bye to his partner and leaving is matched with the lyric, ‘I miss you babe, and I don’t wanna miss a thing’. And later the astronaut kisses the girl as the lyrics say ‘and then I kiss your eyes’. This shows how the track was made for the film but also makes the words of the song seem more emotional. Aero smith’s actions such as touching his heart in certain shots and closing his eyes reflect the lyrics as he looks as though he is really feeling the words.

On the other hand, there are not particularly any visuals which reflect the lyrics of ‘Somebody to love’ as the band appear to be in a recording studio for the majority of the video, and no story is shown to match the words which there could have been. The only slight match from visual to lyrics is how Freddie closes his eyes as he sings ‘Can anybody find me somebody to love?’ as if he is really wishing for it. Even when the video switches to the performance on stage the band are only singing with emotion there is no other visual to go with the lyrics.

Although similarly, both video’s show a change of speed in camera shots when the pace either quickens or slows. Aero Smith’s video stays slow through most of the first verse only moving from medium close ups to close ups of Aerosmith. Yet with the heavier beat and faster pace comes shot reverse shots from Aero Smith to the clips from ‘Armageddon’. As the tempo increases so does the pace of the shots which creates more emotion as the video flicks faster between shots. There are also shot reverse shots in the Queen video as the repetition of ‘Somebody’ comes with shots of Freddie Mercury to the background singers in a fast pace to reflect the increased pace of the music.

In both video’s the band/artist and musicians are shown in individual close up or medium close up shots so that we can establish the track better. Aero Smoth is shown about half as much as the film clips as if to remind us that it is his song and it was created for the film. The musicians and instrumental parts are also shown in medium close ups and zooms on the band in the Queen video but there are many more of Freddie Mercury showing that he is the lead of the band and also the music. There are also shots briefly of the other band members like the guitarists so we can identify them. At the end of the Queen video there is an extreme wide shot showing the band on stage performing to a large crowd, this shows that they are massively popular and the vastness of it shows how well they must be doing and how big they are in the music world.

Both artists have a similar taste in clothes/costume as do many others in the rock side of the music industry. The stereotypical tight fitting clothes, long hair, heavy makeup and extravagant and weird coats are used here by Aero Smith. While Freddie Mercury wears something that looks like a leotard along with the long hair and makeup on the stage, he is wearing a casual shirt in the recording studio. Perhaps showing that he is more normal and his stage look and performance is all an act?

The setting of Aero Smith’s video is in a recording studio as he records the track for the film but clips from ‘Armageddon’ are also used. This helps the music sell the film in the same way the film will sell the music as well as creating a more emotion filled video by using scenes of the astronaut and the woman. Although the video switches between shots the 2 sets are brought together when a rocket sets off in the film and smoke is everywhere and similarly it bursts into the studio. Also the girl from the film is shown at the end watching the video in the studio looking distraught. Perhaps foreshadowing events an unhappy ending in the film? These things make the video a mixture of both performance and narrative yet Queens video is entirely performance based. Aero Smiths video definitely shows more emotion by including a narrative side with the film clips and maybe Queen thought they were known enough and good enough without needing extra ideas in there video? Or maybe it was just because the video was made a while before Aero Smith’s and technology wasn’t as good.



Queen - Somebody to Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxbFLYa0_bw