One of the most iconic songs from the 1980's, "99 Red Balloons" was so huge that it got two versions and videos made: the original in German and another one in English.
This review here deals with the original video which had some of its images cut for the English version along with new images. Here, Nena and her group are seen performing the song with great enthusiasm on this large field where she walks around from time to time and later one a series of explosions begin to happen in the background. To fit with the song theme some balloons are shown floating around and one special red one bursts in a couple of shots.
In terms of imagery everything's quite controlled, there isn't fast cuts like many videos used to have back in the day and even today so there's plenty of time to appreciate each musician doing their part and Nena walking through the location. The explosion bits though quite random provide some spectacle, specially when the night falls and the fire effect in the background gets our attention. The key element to appreciate the viewing of the video is obviously the amazing catchy pop/rock song since by today's standards there isn't much of an appeal with the visuals, very dated. It's an immortal classic, very fun to hear it. 9/10.
This review here deals with the original video which had some of its images cut for the English version along with new images. Here, Nena and her group are seen performing the song with great enthusiasm on this large field where she walks around from time to time and later one a series of explosions begin to happen in the background. To fit with the song theme some balloons are shown floating around and one special red one bursts in a couple of shots.
In terms of imagery everything's quite controlled, there isn't fast cuts like many videos used to have back in the day and even today so there's plenty of time to appreciate each musician doing their part and Nena walking through the location. The explosion bits though quite random provide some spectacle, specially when the night falls and the fire effect in the background gets our attention. The key element to appreciate the viewing of the video is obviously the amazing catchy pop/rock song since by today's standards there isn't much of an appeal with the visuals, very dated. It's an immortal classic, very fun to hear it. 9/10.
