01 April 2013

On eurovision.tv’s facebook page, the question was asked: Which video is your favourite?

The preview videos can be important in formulating a good impression of a song. Too often seeing the grainy vision and poor sound of performances of a national final is a quick turn off. The other important fact is creating a point of difference. If you see a bearded performer from the NF and then see the same at ESC, there’s no surprise. Seeing an exotic preview video just leaves more to the imagine for ESC and the performance, which in turn can create a bigger surprise, especially if the performance continues the evocative message of the video.

The two best videos for me are Iceland and Hungary. Iceland already had a nice song, and this video just enhances and really provides an idea of the song’s message that otherwise is unknown with it being in Iceland. Upon watch Hungary’s NF winning performance, the song was quite forgettable. Seeing the video transcends it the song totally, so much so that now it’s in my top 10. I can’t wait to see if Hungary can translate it onto the ESC stage. I fear for them far more than Iceland. It’s whether the subtle performance can evoke or bore. That’s the nature of these basic guitar songs.

Albania’s video, as well as the truncated version of the song, really helps. Others that really help the song are Malta, Greece (from horrid to just a really bad song), Norway (ironically, the NF performance serves the song perfectly), Switzerland (captures fun of the song) and Ukraine (mostly it’s just a great video).

The song that really needed a decent video is Lithuania. This one of the most intriguing and interesting songs, with an 80s vibe of The Cure. It deserves something far more better than a the amateurish guy smirking, winking and smiley. I hope they at least tidy these mannerisms for ESC and provide a really slick presentation. Austria is another that would be well served with something really vibrant.

The Dutch seem torn between the preview video or the pretentious webcam style acoustic video. Easily the most intriguing song this year. It literally could fly or dive. It’s also the song that’s grown on me the most, from being one of the worst to now a top 10 and the one I’m most looking forward to seeing perform at ESC.

How does viewing all the videos at once change my ranking?

Before
01-10: Norway, Estonia, Iceland, Albania, Croatia, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Spain, Latvia

11-20: Austria, Lithuania, San Marino, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Moldova, Netherlands, UK, Denmark

21-30: FYRM, France, Belarus, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Georgia, Hungary, Israel

31-39: Italy, Armenia, Finland, Sweden, Romania, Belgium, Ireland, Montenegro, Greece

After
01-10: Norway, Iceland, Estonia, Albania, Switzerland, Hungary, Netherlands, San Marino, Spain, Russia

11-20: Croatia, Germany, Russia, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Moldova, UK,

21-30: Denmark, FYRM, France, Belarus, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Georgia, Cyprus, Malta, Israel

31-39: Italy, Montenegro, Armenia, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Romania

Hungary makes the biggest jump from 29 to 6. Iceland goes 3 to 2, Netherlands 18 to 7. San Marino improves greatly, in part to the song itself impressing more and more. At the bottom end, Montenegro gets the biggest boost (most from a repeat hearing), while Greece is only second worse now. Romania drops all the way to last.

More from Mr Eurovision: http://www.eurovisionfamily.tv/user/MrEurovision