Creative Writing: Rhett and Link Music Video Review

Link (left) and Rhett (right) pretending to be Sandmen

Today I discovered Rhett and Link's music video titled, "Spot the Differences Side-by-Side Music Video".  Although I've mentioned in a previous post how much I enjoy their music videos, this one really takes the cake.

Their songs are always surprisingly good - they're usually funny, with twists in the music videos or lyrics, and pretty catchy (the first song to replace Bowie songs stuck in my head was their iconic "My Hair Song" this past summer), rather than innovative and ground-breaking regarding the actual music (a la Bowie).

But the thing that absolutely stole my breath away was their film-making skills so obviously displayed - the scale of their production and the "movie magic" of making a whimsical dollhouse come to life was truly awesome.  It was one of my only "how did they do that?" moments that I've had on YouTube, since most videos are pretty self-explanatory in their creation.

I loved the concept of the video.  Four narratives regarding five different characters of the Higginbottom family all revolving around sleep.  The young girl being afraid of monsters under her bed, the young boy waiting for the tooth fairy, the grandpa sleepwalking, and the parents being awakened by burglars in the night were all great stereotypes of each age group and archetypical family member.  My favourite scene by far was the one with the grandfather.  The idea that the sandmen act as ghostbuster-esque aliens (beam me up Scotty!) was awesome, and Link's rap was and dance moves were awesome.

I also love how Rhett and Link continue to be creative and have fun when they do sponsor content.  All of their videos that have sponsors behind them are usually fun and creative and turn out to be some of my favourite videos.  This is in comparison to if they saw a patron financially backing them as "limiting factor" and a "bit of a sell out" move (like many film students).  And this video seems to be no exception.  They took the idea of a mattress and bedding company and decided to make an amazing YouTube video to showcase the products, demonstrating once again their innovation as film-makers.

All of this doesn't even mention their dedication to filmmaking due to the fact that they essentially did a live-action "spot the difference" video concept.  Each performance (and you can tell they're separate and not edited in post because there are times where the synchronicity of their performances is just slightly off) had to be done to satisfaction not once, but twice.  As a filmmaker myself, I can attest to how difficult (and time/energy consuming) it can be to just get one take right so I'm always impressed when I see performances taken to the next level like this.

Overall I thought the song was catchy and whimsical, the production value was amazing, and the narrative concept was excellent.  Every time I watch their content I wish I could make something like the comedic duo, and I'm reminded of why they have had longevity in an industry that is all about 15 seconds of fame.

I highly recommend watching it.  It's only 3 minutes and 40 seconds out of your day, and it really does deserve to be put up in my Top Ten of favourite music videos of all time.  Also, it's in 4K resolution so you can see all the little details in the most high of definition.