Krank - KMFDM

Goodwin

One of the points in Goodwin's theory states music videos present genre characteristics. This video does this by showing the band members playing their instruments, representing the stage performances shown in a lot of other metal and industrial metal videos. Another way that this video fits Goodwin's theory is the fact that the lyrics are directly related to the video; for example after the lyrics say "With another motherfucking Dirty Bomb" an explosion graphic appears as a woman falls into frame. It also relates to the notion of looking a lot showing loads of screens. Finally, this video fits Goodwin's theory as there are frequent close-ups of the band members.

Mise en Scene

The video is mainly quite dark with high contrast, this has been done to show the dark side of Industrial metal however the video uses quite a lot of electric greens, I believe this has been done to make it really obvious that they are more electronic than regular metal music. There has been lots of fire and explosions used to show the destruction and anarchy that their music reflects. The video has a sort of digital feel to it; heavy use of screens, static, glitch art and pixelated images have been used to exaggerate the digital feel to make it obvious that they have a much more electronic sound than most metal artists. The outfits used in this video are like Skinhead style if it were crossbred with Cybergoth, I really like their style but it is not for me and would not suit my song by any means.

Camera

Fast, jolty camera movements reflect the high-speed, crazy, alternative music lifestyle that KMFDM presumably lead. Lots of weird camera movemnts (including a spinning zoom out) make the video feel disjointed and thus more exciting. Low angles of the artist performing make them seem more important. The direct address to the camera makes the video feel aimed at you when you watch it, it isn’t just a video, it’s like a video for you which makes the audience more attached to the artist..

Editing

This video is so heavily edited I don’t know where to start. Quick takes and short cuts and cutaways make the video faster and more extreme and thus more interesting to watch. CGI oh people riding on falling A-Bombs make the video even more violent and extreme. Flashes of the band name help the viewer remember the name and help the band get their name out more. Every sing shot or scene in this video is edited to a ridiculous extent, all to make the video cooler to their target audience.

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This video is sort of exempt from Archer's music video analysis as it shows no narrative whatsoever. I really like this video as it includes fast placed flashes between images and text like a lot of industrial videos do. I plan to use this technique in my video as my song is industrial sounding too, however my track (track 4) is far from industrial metal and is much more industrial rock/goth/darkwave.

In the lyrics they say “Krank it to 11!” this is a intersexual reference to the American Rock-Mockumentary ‘This is Spinal Tap’.