Music Video Analysis Song: “Hard Rock Halleluiah” Music Video Link: Here Song Lyrics Link: Here Artist: Lordi (1992- Present) Director: Pete Riski Writer: Mr. Lordi Producer: Jyrki Tuovien Composer: Mr. Lordi Genre: Hard Rock Length: 4:07 (album version) 3:01 (Eurovision radio edit) 3:07 (Music video) Country: Finland Release: 19 May 2006 (Finland) 5 June 2006 (UK) Labels: AFM Records, Sony Music, GUN, The End, BMG, Drakkar Records Narrative: The narrative of the video begins with a shy female hard rock fan walking through the corridors of a school, singing softly along to the song playing on her headset. She reaches an entrance to the gym, where she stands watching the cheerleaders practice.
Labels: AFM Records, Sony Music, GUN, The End, BMG, Drakkar Records
Narrative:
The narrative of the video begins with a shy female hard rock fan walking through the corridors of a school, singing softly along to the song playing on her headset. She reaches an entrance to the gym, where she stands watching the cheerleaders practice.
Suddenly, the lights flicker and go out, and a wind starts to blow. As the chorus starts to play, the doors to the gym are blown off of their hinges by Mr. Lordi, who appears with his band looking very demonic, who enters and crushes the now-screaming cheerleaders with a wave of his hands killing them. There is a fiery flash, and the entire band appears in the center of the gym, playing the song. The fan is terrified, but approaches Mr. Lordi as he points to her, singing "... you will see the jokers soon will be the new kings". He raises the dead cheerleaders as zombies, and they stand around the fan pumping their fists in the air along with the music.
The end of the video shows the fan, now confident and unafraid, leading the zombies through the school halls as students run away. She stops and punches the air with her fist as the zombies rush around her towards a group of students who are trapped by the closed main doors. Leaving the rest to the imagination.
This video may be showing how music can give people confidence, as you see her change from a shy girl into one with confidence due to the music.
The Star Image:
Lordi's music is mainly hard rock combined with strong elements of heavy metal music. The band's horror-related albums, the monster costumes worn by all band members, and the horror elements of their performances are hallmarks of shock rock.
The monster costumes are such an integral part of Lordi's publicity image that they refuse to be photographed or even interviewed without them, even if in some cases it leads to their own discomfort as exemplified below.
Music Video Analysis
Relation of visuals to song & Thought beats and technical aspects of the music video:
The video starts with the shy girl is a close up shot of her waist as she clicks the play button with an asynchronous click where muffled diegetic major key music kicks in over the somewhat muffed sound perspective of the diegetic ambient sounds of the high schools corridor.
It cuts to the shy girl I with evidence of rule of thirds with her tacking up the center of the shot with a shallow focus with the other students somewhat blurred out of the shot, showing how she wants to be in her own world but she has to keep it to herself which is why she is wearing headphones, she is dresses in a hard rock fashion, pressing play on her Walkman and adjusting her headphones over her head as she begins to walk down the corridor in a tracking shot.
The muffled music becomes clear and loudens suggesting that it as also become non-diegetic and out of the world of the music video, once she begins to sing with it synchronously. She looks up from the floor to her surroundings, singing along with the lyrics “Hard…Rock… Halleluiah” , which can be interpreted as her also thanking God for the fact that there is “hard rock”. The thought beats also kick in at this point with the shy girl singing with when music and begins with the drop of the drums.
She continues through the hall in a medium long shot as people avoid looking at her, it cutaways to a close up shot of her art book with a drawing of the band who sings the song “Lordi”, showing off in addition more of her costume (The hard rocker). However in a restring close up it still shows she is scared of begin an outcast in her school.
The scenes cuts to a low angle long shot of a group of cheerleader’s dresses in morbid black outfits practicing the routine. The rock girl shyly walks up to the door watching them from afar. Clearly longing to belong somewhere. Before getting pushed back some cheerleaders and the cheer captain looks at her (you can tell she is the captain by the “crown” on her head) who looks at her mockingly. In a shot reverse shot before the rock girl looks away.
In a medium shot the cheerleaders are still practicing their routine when the lights go out abruptly. It cuts back to the rock girl who is also alarmed by this occurrence. In a dolly shot low angle shot the shot goes past the faces of the confused but the wind and flickering lights. In a medium close up the cheer captain turns behind with the camera in a shallow zoom on her and an over the shoulder eye line match there is a door with flashing white lights emitting from it. The camera returns to the rock girl as she watches from afar.
Music Video Analysis
Suddenly a claw like hand smacks against the glass of the door. Keeping with the 180’ rule, we the head captain now in a close up still staring hopelessly at the door.
Then with sparks flaring Mr. Lordi throws both doors to he ground. It zooms in on the rock chick who is now also horrified. From the shadows of the fog we see the silhouette of Mr. Lordi raise his hand in the rock hand gesture.
In a medium deep focus we see the collective of the cheerleaders screaming in horror at Mr. Lordi, whilst zooming in on the cheer captain. Then it cuts to Mr. Lordi creeping from the darkness and with the flashing lights lighting up his monstrous demon costume it cuts back to the rock chick in a close up still nervously watching. And then back to all of the screaming cheerleaders. Lordi, then in a medium close up raises his hands and drops them as he does that the cheerleaders also fall to the ground presumably dead, the rock chick look on pained.
When the shot next cuts to Lordi, there is the rest of his band (also dressed up as monsters) and with a blazing fire behind them. Lordi sings to her pointing towards her beckoning her to join him. (There are shots of the band playing with asynchronous diegetic music playing).
With a medium close up we see the rock chick almost hypnotized by them. And in a low angles hot wit rule of thirds with Lordi taking up two thirds and the girls legs in the other third. She keeps walking towards him as is the are having a convocation, with cutaways to the band.
In a high angle shot he see the rock chock step into a sort of circle made up of the bodies of the cheerleaders. Pyrotechnics go of as she stands before him, fear replaced by intrigue and confidence.
Lordi then raises his arm and the cheerleader start to get up, moving their bodies twist on the floor around her. Though she stands strong in a low angle shot showing her dominance. They suddenly spring up and in a quick cut they reveal in a close up they are now zombies. The zombies then throw rock hand gestures in the circle around her as Lordi and the band continue to play. He nods and her and she gives him a devilish smile understanding her mission.
It then cuts to a slow motion medium long shot of the students who laughed at her earlier running in horror. It then cuts to the rack chick walking in front of her zombie horde. Clambering through the corridor. At which point it is reveled that the other students are trapped and the sends then to theirs deaths whiled doing rock gestures, while occasionally cutting away to Lordi singing.
