Sabotage!!!

I accidentally did this week's assignment last week so this is last week's assignment this week . . .weekitty week week . . . there.

If I could be a part of any music video in the history of music videos, I would definitely dance with the little bee girl in Blind Melon's "No Rain".



Failing that, I would be one of the hip cops in the Beastie Boys "Sabotage". From the first time I saw this, I thought it was awesome. The music, the fake mustaches, the sweet car-everything about it. The premise, or so I surmise, is a spoof on the old 70's and 80's cop shows. The music is hard, catchy and driving-full of barely contained energy. subsequently the video is edited to convey a sort of tongue-in-cheek schizophrenic mania.




The scene opens with the ubiquitous single red cherry flashing on top of a police car. This editing technique has been used in at least one series and I think the "Naked Gun" movies adopted it as well. It serves to place the subsequent events within a genre.




And then boom! The music drops and a car is blasting through some boxes.



The next shot is of one of the Beasties running as fast as he can down the hall straight toward the camera. He is getting closer and closer and the camera stays in the same place. The editing from this point on is focused on making half-blurry jerky shots, like the viewer is traveling along in the pursuit because we now know that it's . . .





Sabotage!



The Beasties dress up like hotel staff and begin chasing a "bad guy". The editing is jerky and follows the guys around like a home movie. The footage bumps around a lot and gives the impression of actually running along with the characters. It has a "raw" or unedited feel, like it is purposefully unpolished.





The music slows and so does the action accordingly. The bouncing from one shot to the next slows a little as the cops enjoy their coffee and donuts.




Of course, the music starts up again and this time the director wants to convey a sense of suspense and fear by zooming into the image of a man gagged with his eyes pleading to the camera for help.



The camera then zooms out to focus on the foreground where we now can see the source of his worry-a bomb!





The last scene shows the boys walking down the street together in slow motion. Real slow and real cool.



The ultimate goal of the video is to show how the Beasties can make some great music without taking themselves too seriously. It certainly looks like Spike Jones (the director) enjoyed himself as well. Overall, the editing was very jerky and appears sloppy. Of course this was probably done with the utmost attention to detail, but the end product is a video that succeeds in drawing the viewer into the chase . . . as campy as it may be.


But you don't have to take my word for it: