Yay! A good ABBA song, with a good music video to go with it! I forgot these existed after the last few that I did.

The music video starts off and immediately introduces us to one of the running things in this video. That’s the use of different techniques to obfuscate or generally distance things from each other. In this case, it’s that funhouse mirror effect that distorts what you are seeing without necessarily destroying it beyond recognition.

We then cut to Agnetha for a long take where she even reaches out to us like the song says. I love this shot not only because of its apparent isolation, but because we will see a tiny detail added to this later on in the video that is the reason I used the word “apparent”.

Then we see this kaleidoscope effect. This time around it spins before settling on one of the guys. In some cases, it will keep spinning without stopping. Sometimes it acts as a transition, and other times it reinforces the lyrics.

Then we get the shot that is easily the most iconic for the video. The band on what looks like a rocky beach looking upward almost as if they are asking for divine intervention.

There are some close-up shots and a repeat of the kaleidoscope effect before we settle on Agnetha again. Look over her left shoulder. It is what appears to be Benny and Björn walking into frame. They are in the background and out of focus, but are still just a little ways behind her like the lyrics she is singing say: “You seem so far away, though you are standing near.”

Then we get this shot where they do the outside shot, but from what looks like the set of the video from Mamma Mia. It may be the same set, but they are wearing different costumes. My best guess is contrast. The outside where they look sad with a shot from the typical set of one of their videos where they look happy.

Another time we get a short shot of them lying on grass. Maybe contrast again since it does cutaway from that back to the straight-up shot quickly.

As the song comes to a close, the video whips out all the distortion effects. This one, to the point where you know it is Agnetha, but you can’t even see her face anymore. It’s interesting to note that these distortions are used to either merge someone’s face or pull it in two–both of which are still a distorted view. The wheel can give a clear shot or something that is a swirling blur–its all or nothing. I have no doubt that this is another one of the many ways in which Hallström created visual contrast to go with the song. He also increased the frequency of the distortions at the right time as the video works towards the separation shot below.

Before we return to the piano, we get another straight-down shot, except this time the two guys are looking down while the two girls look upwards. I know I will mention it in the future, but I really like how Hallström made use of the fact that he had two straight married couples. If even one of those things was changed, then I’m sure the videos would look different or wouldn’t be as effective. It allowed him to do Busby-Berkeley-like things by taking advantage of their inherent contrast, sexual attraction, and real world connections beyond just friendship–working and otherwise.

All these things stitched together, and you get a visual representation of a relationship that is falling apart without ever having to show them walking away from each other. I will sing the praises of the video for Knowing Me, Knowing You till the day I die. However, that used them actually walking away. Sure, it did other clever things such as visually representing fluid relationships within the band and regret for failed relationships, but I still find it impressive that this video didn’t make use of two people walking away from each other. That would have been so easy, but it does just the opposite. The group is shown together again and again. We can see from their perspective and the inner turmoil within them, but there isn’t any literal distance. Even one of Agnetha’s solo shots has the guys pop-up in the background to remind us she isn’t really alone.

One last thing I want to mention is that the working title for this song was Turn Me On. That is a bit more literal and helps me grasp the song better, but I like the desperation SOS conveys.

Enjoy!

ABBA retrospective:

1. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. Lasse Hallström)
2. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
3. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
4. Waterloo by ABBA (1974, dir. Lasse Hallström)
5. Hasta Mañana by ABBA (1974, dir. ???)
6. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
7. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by ABBA (1975, dir. ???)
8. Bang-A-Boomerang by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)

You can basically just enjoy this one. They started changing up the background, introduced instruments you didn’t normally hear in their music, made heavy use of fades, and only the two guys ever appeared to be in the same place and time during the entire video. That last one is kind of interesting for a song whose title is automatically associated with love and marriage. The lovers they are standing in for aren’t physically together with each other in the video. Oh, and they actually have ending credits. You don’t see that everyday.

That’s all I have to say about this one. It’s not one of my favorites of there’s in both song and video.

ABBA retrospective:

1. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. Lasse Hallström)
2. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
3. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
4. Waterloo by ABBA (1974, dir. Lasse Hallström)
5. Hasta Mañana by ABBA (1974, dir. ???)
6. Bang-A-Boomerang by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)

They finally escaped the white dimension! Too bad it was for a lousy song and video.

Okay, there are a few things of note here.

First is the obvious. They are on location rather than in a studio. However, they don’t really make use of it. It feels like it was out of necessity or they felt it was humanizing instead of having them all dolled up as usual. They would make better use of location shooting in their later videos such as Knowing Me, Knowing You.

We get the first video that implies a relationship between band members beyond the band. This is something that would be crucial to Knowing Me, Knowing You. I don’t know if any of them ever paired off like Fleetwood Mac was famous for doing, and it doesn’t matter to me either.

This is also the first video that has a title on it. We’ll see that on I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do and Mamma Mia as well.

This is also the first video where we not only see to people go face-to-face, but they do it to the point where they look like they are either about to make-out or head-butt each other.

We get our usual use of profile shots, but there’s also something you didn’t really see in Waterloo and Ring, Ring. We’ve seen the camera pan and around band. However, this is the first video where we move from a head shot of one member to another without an edit. It really only serves to match the pace of the video with the song in the same way as the quick face-to-face and comic book inserts do, but we’ll see it used to great effect in Knowing Me, Knowing You. Still, like this; Waterloo; and Ring, Ring, this moving around means that the performance the band is giving is still going on even if the camera is somewhere else. It makes me wonder how scripted a lot of these early videos were, and how much was Hallström telling them to get up there and recreate one of their live performances while he built a video around it on-the-fly.

I guess you could call this music video a dry-run for Knowing Me, Knowing You.

Enjoy!

ABBA retrospective:

1. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. Lasse Hallström)
2. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
3. Waterloo by ABBA (1974, dir. Lasse Hallström)

I’m glad I am doing this as a retrospective. That way I can build upon their previous videos. What do we add this time?

We get the quick zooms at the beginning that people who grew up during the 1990s probably remember from the music video for the Rock Version of Ready To Go by Republica. Also, I know I will say it again when I get to a music video directed by Michael Bay, but one of the most important reasons that music videos are not to be ignored in the history of cinema is because they changed the way editing was done. This video is a good early example. Elected by Alice Cooper from 1972 and Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees from 1977 are better examples, but it’s still worth mentioning with Waterloo because it will become more noticeable when we get to videos like Take A Chance On Me and SOS. As you watch any of those videos, notice how it isn’t just a song played over a film, but a film and a song transformed into an integrated whole. That’s a big change from many films that came before music videos that used music in service of the film rather than it being a two-way street.

Also, while the phones were kind of stupid in that alternate version of Ring, Ring; the Napoleon bust nicely ties the band, song, and their costumes together with him to immediately set the theme and speed of the song.

There’s something subtle in this music video that is easy to miss. You still have the profile shots where they aren’t looking at the camera. You still have the shot through the girls to Benny on the piano. You have the addition of the girls looking at each other to sing. The thing that is subtle and easy to miss is that during the low angles, the band is all looking straightforward whereas they do look up when the camera shoots them from a high angle. You’ll see that featured prominently in SOS, as if they are looking up to you for help. Here it looks like they refuse to look down, but only straightforward and upward towards their future. The crane shots are also more impressive in this one, than Ring, Ring.

One of my favorite things about the video is the ending. Ring, Ring ended on a cheesy freeze-frame. This one has the camera move further and further between Frida and Agnetha until you are left with a blank white shot that it lingers on even after the song has stopped. It is a nice way to visually match the vocals drifting off because the camera is also drifting off of the subjects (the band). It also visually matches the song coming to an end.

One negative thing I can say is that an edit was left in at about one minute-and-five-seconds that feels like it is there to cover up a goof.

Enjoy!

ABBA retrospective:

1. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. Lasse Hallström)
2. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)