Name of Track: Sonne
Artist: Rammstein
Year of Release: 2001
Genre: Industrial Metal
Audience: 15-24/34
Director: Jörn Heitmann
The video has the band members acting as dwarves; working for a gold dust-addicted Snow White, driven by their sexual obsession towards her. It cross cuts between two locations, the first is the band members/dwarfs are mining in the gold mine covered in soot and dirt, whilst cross cutting to them sitting around a large table fixated by Snow White at the head of the table. The footage in the mine is almost black and white because very little colour or light is shown, however when it cuts to the other scene in it changes to very vibrant colours to show off Snow White's dress; signifying a different location and time has passed. It also shows that it is cross cut. The final location is towards the end of the video when Snow White dies and she is in a coffin at the top of a hill, it still cross cuts between the mine and that footage. Effects have been added in to the hill scene in the background to make the scene look larger. When the band is in the mine there are effects used to make the sparks from the picaxes much larger and brighter to make it look more effective and interesting.
The video does contain lip syncing by the frontman Till Lindemann. This fits to the codes and conventions even though the band is from a different country and speak a different language they take the same techniques as bands from the US or UK etc.
The editing is very fast pace in the video which keeps to the codes and conventions of a typical music video as the main audience (teens) get bored after long shots therefore shorter takes and more clips attracts them to it.
This music video's target audience is 15-24/34 and male mainly because of the male gaze aspect within the video. The costume Snow White wears in the video, with the very tight top, the red (signifies romance) lipstick and the low angled shots to signify her power over the dwarves but also the audience. They made Snow White powerful and superior to the dwarves for the male audience however it has multiple views and can be seen to attract the female audience due to the dominance and power. The long take of the suspenders is key to the target audience.
Here is the Sonne music video
There is also a live version of Sonne released on a Live DVD
Good work Rob. Be precise on genre though: they're an industrial(-metal) band? This is signified in the sparks from the pick-axe?!
ReplyDeleteThe feel is very sci-fi ... perhaps some intertextuality with the Alien films?
You also need to think about/note the audience: teen/young (15-24/34?) males, reflected in the sexualised Snow White, with her heavy bright red lipstick, tight top and the low angles she's initially shot in. She is portrayed as agressive and violent - perhaps not just a sexual slant for the male aud, but also powerful female char for fem aud too?
The cross-cutting of the spanking and an eager-looking next-in-line makes clear the sexual connotations of this. The long, lingering take of her suspenders reinforces this.
Use of colour v interesting, from the almost sepia of the mines to the bright red apple (=temptation) linked to her lips through editing ...
I've just posted more on this, it really did catch my interest!