"Hurricane" Video Runs 20 Minutes Long - But Should It?

30 Seconds to Mars informed MTV News yesterday that the "Hurricane" video runs about 20 minutes long.

And I don't like it.

The video will "explore sexuality and violence" for 20 minutes? I know that 30STM projects a certain amount of darkness in their music, particularly on their latest album. I can handle that. But I have a problem when you make a music video explicitly ABOUT sexuality and violence -- particularly when the lyrics have little to nothing to do with sex. Unless it's twisted, macabre sex. Then I REALLY have a problem with it.

If it were your typical music video, say 4-6 minutes long, it might not be such a big deal. "Oh look," I'd say. "One more thing about sex and violence in an already saturated industry. I wish 30 Seconds to Mars wasn't in on that trend like everyone else."

But no. This video is an effort at an art form. This is indie film with funding. Echelon already know that 30STM is capable of really beautiful work, especially in their videos. ("Kings and Queens" comes to mind.) How could it possibly be okay for them to use that talent as proponents for violence and sexuality?

Art criticism has two components: whether or not it meets its goal, and whether or not that goal was worth meeting. 30STM is CERTAINLY able to accomplish their creative goals. I don't doubt that for a second. I am, however, questioning the value of the goals for which they reach.

The buzz about the album as been it's got this epic, optimistic feel, and that's what I love about it. I just hope that "Hurricane" is somehow in keeping with that, though I'm not sure how it will be. How do you make the combination of sex and violence into an uplifting, valuable 20 minute message?

You make me nervous, 30 Seconds to Mars. And I wish you wouldn't.

Analysis: "Waiting for the End" video, Linkin Park pt. 3

The most surprising move, especially from Linkin Park, is that the moments of intense, aggressive vocals actually have distinguishable notes and melodic value. This is not the typical fare from Linkin Park that fans have heard in the past. That development itself automatically gives more credibility to this work as a piece turning to virtue.

A final word: the last seconds of the video comprise of the lead vocalist, Chester, belting one last note into the darkness. It is, as previously mentioned, a recognizable note instead of a jarring, painful one. This makes the expression on his face one of determination rather than torture. Red triangles also fly off of Chester in the ending moments of the song, easily symbolizing a release from pain and sharpness. He sings, “I’m holdling on to what I haven’t got,” but the triumphant tonality leaves the viewer/listener sure that dreams and renewed faith can be obtained.

Combining all of these elements into a meaningful development of theme and message could have been no small task for the team in charge of creating Linkin Park’s “Waiting for the End” video. It is clearly of good report and praiseworthy. In addition, because the aforementioned theme and message is one of recovery, hope, and “fighting a good fight”, it is also a work that is virtuous and lovely.

Yes, I really did write a paper on this video. It's a healthy obsession. Promise.

Analysis: "Waiting for the End" video, Linkin Park pt 2

The transition period of this piece begins when the rapidly morphing images and flickering camera cuts begin to include shots of the band members. In other words, it introduces an element of humanity. However, this humanity is still distorted as the band members are unnaturally still while the camera turns around them.

The turning point occurs approximately 2:45 minutes into the song. For the first time, the video includes an intimate look into faces, sans skulls, with slow camera movement that allows a closer look at the quiet and somber emotion on those faces. Viewers also see the instruments in natural, organic motion rather than the band members strangely frozen in time as they play.

One of the most striking images from the video is that of the small fanged mammal – perhaps a weasel or ferret; at any rate, it is the third image included on the previous page. This animal is pictured once again in the video, but so briefly that it is difficult to capture. In contrast to the quickly deforming images featured previously in the video, the animal transitions rapidly into what might be a flower or sunburst. This simple image is a powerful example of how the video oscillates into a more positive character.

Having established this more noble character, viewers can take a new appreciation of the lighting. Throughout the video, there is an unsettling blue cast, but we muts take into account its structural resemblance to star charts. Stars are points that guide, illuminate, and beautify an otherwise dark and potentially threatening sky.

As the audio progresses, “Waiting for the End” builds in power, using that energy for positive ends: to develop clarity and purpose. Steady, solid drumbeats neither disguise nor distort the other elements of the song. Instead, they ground the sound in firm dependability. The guitar riffs, which at first sounded more like an angry saw, become more organic – almost wooden, in fact. In the latter portion of the song, harmonies become more consonant. The slurred lyrics transition to one of the most clearly-spoken rap sequences I have ever heard, which includes the ideas of “starting again.” The lyrics may say that there is something wrong with the world, but in combination with the music, the actual message of the song is that the world can be changed for the better.

Analysis: "Waiting for the End" video, Linkin Park pt. 1

Linkin Park’s video for “Waiting for the End” is high quality because it accomplishes its goals; it is worthy and appropriate because its goal is to uplift. In order to accomplish the goal of uplifting the audience, this video moves from meaninglessness-through-distortion to meaningfulness-in-humanity.

The first portion of the video – particularly the first few seconds – cycles through a series of morphing, distorted images: skulls, fangs, screaming faces, and a dark angel, particularly. Not only are these images disturbing on their own, but they cycle through so quickly that viewers only get a vague, perhaps ominous sense of what the images actually are. More generally, the video includes very little light. The only light source illuminates the band members and featured objects with a cold, empty blue. In fact, it’s reminiscent of space.

As for the sound, the video opens with metallic, buzzing guitar chords -- evidence of further distortion and meaninglessness. The lyrics, taken at face value, not encouraging; the most telling examples are included here:

“Though the words sound steady, something's empty within them.”

“We're living at the mercy of the pain and the fear.”

“I thought it felt right, but that right was wrong.”

“This is not what I had planned. It's out of my control.”

These lines are even sung in a lazy, slurring way that distorts them into a meaningless puddle. Furthermore, the background vocals, while not jarring, harmonize in a minor chord.

Together, the audio and video elements set a tone of unnatural, inexorable darkness for the video. If this tone had carried through the entire video, I would not argue for the virtue and loveliness of this work, let alone watch it with as much interest as I do. However, the video has an essential turn in it that brings an essential message to the viewer: darkness, while an unfortunate reality, is not the default setting for life, and by facing it honestly, we can fight it and return to brighter days. This makes the video not only a success in editing and dark reality, but success in the human spirit and the ability to find meaning in struggles.

Linkin Park's "Waiting for the End": Making of

Linkin Park just put up a Making Of video for "Waiting for the End," and I am stoked.

"I thought 'Breaking the Habit' was the bar, but this one is a lot easier," Mike said. Considering that "Breaking the Habit" is animated, I find this a little hard to believe. But I imagine it's close. For WFTE, the guys stood on slowly rotating platforms in poses reminiscent of tai chi. (...I could do that. Can I be a rockstar too?)

The real achievement of WFTE is the editing. Holy cow. This is not just your run of the mill editing, piecing together filmed moments aesthetically. No no. Every figure in the video is overlayed with this ghostly blue tint and covered in what I can describe best as a 3D constellation map.

From the video: "The whole premise is the fleeting aspect of time. Things are evolving. You can see time's progression. It feels very liquid."

True. Do you notice it shows electronic equipment, but then also turning cogs? Future and past. How about the skulls, and then the animals? I'm amazed that the skulls don't contribute any morbidity. Instead, in conjunction with the band members, they give it a mystery and rawness that your brain doesn't bother trying to understand -- it does instinctively.

The video has this brilliant futuristic feel, without the burden of determining what that future is going to be like. With the spacey overtones, it's more about exploration than cynicism, or renewed hope. It says "wait and see".

This fits with the lyrics, of course ("it's out of my control" "picking up the pieces, now where to begin?" "this is not the end, this is not the beginning" etc). But I confess, it's not what I had pictured. There's just so much more positivity in the sound than in a lot of LP's other work, so I was looking for something that reflected that rather than the lyrics.

At the same time, I can understand. LP has undergone some surprising and wonderful evolutions on this album, but it wouldn't be the band we know and love if they'd gone too far with it.

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Linkin Park - new video premiers Friday

The official music video for "Waiting for the End", Linkin Park's second single off of A Thousand Suns, will premier October 8th. As A Thousand Suns is a concept album on nuclear warfare, I'm interested to see how this plays out in the video.

WFTE has a chill, organic sound that I adore, but I can't imagine warfare fitting very well until at least three minutes into the song, if then.

This song sits in the center of the album, making it not an introduction of the themes, but perhaps the core message in them. The lyrics express exhaustion and disillusionment, but given the tone of the song, lines like "All I want to do / Is trade this life for something new / Holding on to what I haven't got" take a more hopeful slant.

Hope renews LP in an incredible change from the band's previous work, particularly Hybrid Theory. On WFTE, they've given up on being angry and simply look to begin again. We'll just have to see how they tie it into the concept of the album, I guess.

Speaking of contrast though, Waiting for the End is the polar opposite of The Catalyst, LP's previously released video from the new album. I mean, The Catalyst video -- which is so moving, by the way -- opens with green fog and a silent scream, not to mention the slow drowning and fragmented explosions later on.

I'm not sure how LP will reconcile WFTE to that, but it's guaranteed to be epic. Check back on Friday for my assessment of the video, play by play. And if we're lucky, LP will post more behind-the-scenes videos on their website.

(By the way, did you see the one where Chester and Mike are working on the final harmonized notes in WFTE? Art in progress, my friends. Beautiful.)

You can listen to Waiting for the End here, but I warn you: listen to it once and you'll be clamoring to purchase it.