Synopsis
Queen perform "Save Me" onstage as a lonely woman watches from the crowd. The live-action concert footage gradually gives way to hand-drawn animation, following her emotional collapse and transformation into a radiant golden dove. The imagery mirrors the song's plea for rescue, moving from isolation and despair toward release. The band members appear in both filmed and animated form, creating a seamless blend of performance footage and fantasy that turns Brian May's power ballad into a small, surreal drama.
Factoids & Trivia
- "Save Me" was Queen's first music video to feature animation and was an early example of combining animated sequences with live-action performance footage.
- The live footage was shot during Queen's Crazy Tour performances at London's Alexandra Palace and the Rainbow Theatre in December 1979.
- Brian May developed the video's concept and storyboarded the animated sections, including the transformation at the center of the film.
- The song was released as a single on January 25, 1980, several months before its appearance on the album *The Game*. It reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart.
- The video is notable as the last Queen clip to show Freddie Mercury with his clean-shaven look before his mustache became part of his visual identity. The exception was the comic ballet sequence in "I Want to Break Free" in 1984.
- The animated imagery includes figures based on the work of French illustrator J.J. Grandville, whose art later influenced the cover of Queen's *Innuendo* album and its title track single.