Week 2 Video Reviews
Radio Ga Ga
Artist's Name:
Queen Queen is a British rock band formed in 1970
Song Title:
The song is titled "Radio Ga Ga"
CD/Album Title
The Works
Year
1984
Record Company
EMI
Director
David Mallet
Narrative of Video:
The video opens with blurred images of what appear to be machines starting up. The scene changes to show lines of workers who are walking almost like zombies.
The images change once again to show soldiers in WWI uniforms, and what appears to be bombs going off in the night sky. The camera moves to a window of a home where a family is sitting around the table. They are wearing gas masks. A young boy walks over to a large radio and turns it up. The scene then changes to Queen. They are riding in a car. The video alternates between images of planes and cities to Queen riding along n the car. The scene changes to the large radio again and then moves to the back of a man walking. There is smoke or fog all around him. A set of doors open and the man is Freddie Mercury. He is moving the hands of this large dial. The other band members appear out of thin air. They are in front of an audience and in the background appears to be a building that has gears on the front. The audience is dressed in all white uniforms. Their faces aren’t visible. After Mercury sings “radio gag a” the audience claps in unison. The
camera moves in close on Mercury as he sings, then the scene moves back to the family at the table with their gas masks on. The father of the family gets up and
gets a photo album title Favorite Years. He opens the book, and it shows Mercury with his hair long and the single picture turns into a long row of his photo. The video changes to a montage of Queen performing at various places and in different years. It moves back to the car again, but this time, everything is in black and
white. The video goes to alternating scenes once again of the band in the car, and different images. One is of the airplanes flying over the city, another is the audience all in white. Queen changes from black and white to color. The video changes again to what appears to be an old horror film where a mad scientist is working in his laboratory. A woman is seated in chair and rings are going around her. Her face changes to Mercury’s face. The scene changes to the band in a room and Mercury is turning this large dial. A montage begins where different buildings are falling apart. Inside one of the buildings is Mercury. He is pushing it apart, and the building is cracking down the center. From here, the video goes into a rewind of images. It moves back to the family around the table. They don’t have on gas masks anymore. The large radio is vibrating and sending white light into the house. The house becomes completely filled with light and the words Thanks to Metropolis are on the screen as the video ends.
The images change once again to show soldiers in WWI uniforms, and what appears to be bombs going off in the night sky. The camera moves to a window of a home where a family is sitting around the table. They are wearing gas masks. A young boy walks over to a large radio and turns it up. The scene then changes to Queen. They are riding in a car. The video alternates between images of planes and cities to Queen riding along n the car. The scene changes to the large radio again and then moves to the back of a man walking. There is smoke or fog all around him. A set of doors open and the man is Freddie Mercury. He is moving the hands of this large dial. The other band members appear out of thin air. They are in front of an audience and in the background appears to be a building that has gears on the front. The audience is dressed in all white uniforms. Their faces aren’t visible. After Mercury sings “radio gag a” the audience claps in unison. The
camera moves in close on Mercury as he sings, then the scene moves back to the family at the table with their gas masks on. The father of the family gets up and
gets a photo album title Favorite Years. He opens the book, and it shows Mercury with his hair long and the single picture turns into a long row of his photo. The video changes to a montage of Queen performing at various places and in different years. It moves back to the car again, but this time, everything is in black and
white. The video goes to alternating scenes once again of the band in the car, and different images. One is of the airplanes flying over the city, another is the audience all in white. Queen changes from black and white to color. The video changes again to what appears to be an old horror film where a mad scientist is working in his laboratory. A woman is seated in chair and rings are going around her. Her face changes to Mercury’s face. The scene changes to the band in a room and Mercury is turning this large dial. A montage begins where different buildings are falling apart. Inside one of the buildings is Mercury. He is pushing it apart, and the building is cracking down the center. From here, the video goes into a rewind of images. It moves back to the family around the table. They don’t have on gas masks anymore. The large radio is vibrating and sending white light into the house. The house becomes completely filled with light and the words Thanks to Metropolis are on the screen as the video ends.
How the Music and Video Relate:
The song and the video go well together. The video helps to show the how changes have occurred over time and what has happened as a result of that.
Review:
The song is a criticism of how commercialized radio stations had become. The video helps to put this message across by moving from past to present, from present to future, and back again. The way it moves from color to black and white and back to color also helps to strengthen the message in the song’s lyrics.