Task 2 - Queen Bohemian Rhapsody analysis

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody-The video begins immediately with the song itself,  unlike the other two videos there is no narrative.
The track opens with the a cappella line “Is this the real life?” accompanied by the band silhouetted against a wall, this creates a sense of anticipation and mystery as we want to see the band.
-As the acappella stops and the instruments begin to play the lights come on to reveal their faces. We can see that they are standing in the darkness with the light only lighting up their faces as they look up towards it.  They are dress all in black with smoke swirling around them. During this shot we see Freddie Mercury’s face superimposed onto the band whilst they all sing.
- The image fades to the band who is now wearing white – they wear flared clothing that’s quite flamboyant to make them stand out suggesting that they are more about their overall image whereas the other two bands are not.
-They are performing with instruments which are a typical convention of a rock music video.
- Throughout much of the video superimpositions are used extensively showing close ups of Freddie Mercury singing. There are also close ups of instruments which was also evident in the other two videos.
- Lyrics link with visual image,  when we hear ‘I see a little silhouette…’ we see a silhouette of Freddie mercury.
- We see an edit that looks like a row of Freddie Mercurys are singing. There is a series of quick cuts between Mercury singing on his own, the four band members singing together with the same effect used on the other band members too.
- The heavy metal segment plays, with the band members performing on stage again. Smoke takes over the stage which is often used on stage performances. This sudden change creates a contrast between the slow scenes before to a striking stage scene with faster pace music.

By Emily Driscoll