AC/DC release an unusual music video for “Realize”

Hello, Good Evening, and Remain Indoors! As predicted, AC/DC’s new album Power Up is everything we’ve expected from all their new albums from For Those About to Rock on. And the fact that it’s hit #1 on both sides of the pond (and also Australia, where the band is technically from, even if Phil Rudd has been the only Aussie in the band since 1977) certainly helps matters. And even swapping out Malcolm Young for his nephew Stevie hasn’t really changed anything.

So, it’s really interesting to see them adapt to new circumstances. Case in point, the new video for their single “Realize.” Can you sense anything unusual about this? Well, besides the fact that the camera keeps moving and often latches onto strange angles?

Well, here comes the twist: the five members of the band filmed their parts for the video were filmed separately, for reasons that are almost certainly pandemic-related. While the NME article I used for information doesn’t explain how exactly they were able to do this, I think I can figure it out.

Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark is defined by two cinematic modes (courtesy of the late, great Robby Muller): the “real” scenes that make up the plot, shot on handheld cameras that help cement the reality of what’s going on, even if some of the plot points might not seem so, and the musical scenes, like the one I linked above, which, to keep costs and shooting times down, were shot with hundreds of stationary cameras, so that they could all be done in one go (or as many times as it took to get it right), and von Trier could find the shots and angles he wanted.

While I’m not entirely up on how camera technology has changed, I know enough to know that it looks like things have improved to the point where directors Clemens Habicht and John Cheuse could easily put Angus Young, Stevie Young, Phil Rudd, Brian Johnson, and Cliff Williams in a space where they could do something similar, but on a smaller scale, and, to increase the difficulty, they edited all the members together to look like they were playing together, even though, for all we know, they could have been filmed on different continents. And for the most part, I think they succeeded. I’m not sure if it would have worked out as well if the style wasn’t as unchained as it was. At the most, it looks like something is off, but if you didn’t know, I’m not sure you could tell.