Research into similar media texts (main task)

As the first part of my research i need to analyse multiple existing media in the category of my final project, music videos.

Avenged Sevenfold-Nightmare         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bGzWyHbu0

This music video uses the generic conventions for music videos very heavily, running 2 parallel scenes, one of the band playing and one of a story progressing with some relevance to the song. The shots of the band are all of them half covered by darkness, and only one at a time but the shots relating to the story are shot showing either the protagonist or from his point of view.  

Band shots

The shots of the band half covered by darkness are related to the theme of the video, all aimed to be a nightmare, as is the theme of the music video. This choice of shot is also related to the genre of the music itself. The song is of the hard rock/metal genre and as such the use of very little lighting and darkness is in following the intertextuality of the genre, with a lot of metal videos using a lot of darker scenes. The band themselves are all also dressed in darker coloured clothes; black jeans and black shirts, in keeping with the stereotypes of the genre and their personal style, an intertextuality of their own work as a well known band. The editing uses these shots at random intervals within the video, but cuts to them from another short gradually changing, using continuity editing to create a sense of natural flow and keep the storyline of the video. The camera angles are all also taken from a head on angle, to show the members of the band as clearly as possible, perhaps to help a viewer see that they band members are also all part of the storyline of the video. Their instruments are also really clearly visible to show that they are members of the band, and the guitarists shots focus heavily on his guitar during the solo because this is a convention of metal videos, where solos are a big part of the song.

Narrative shots

The shots showing the protagonist of the video, also the singer from the band, help us to see the situation, and set the scene, adding to the nightmare theme of the video. The shots are shot perhaps from the point of view of someone having the dream, and encourages the viewer to associate with what is happening. These shots are also used at the beginning of the video as establishing shots. The protagonist is strapped down to a stretcher and is not wearing a shirt to show his tattoos, and thus that he is of the ‘metal guy’ stereotype, but also that he has been confined and is being held against his will, also shown by him struggling to escape at the start of the video. The lighting is of a poor standard, which helps add to the idea of it being quite a dingy place. The editing often cuts from these shots to shots from the protagonists point of view, which helps us associate and draws us into the situation he’s in.

The shots from the protagonists point of view show things as he sees them, which aim to encourage association with him. These shots also show us other elements of the video, such as the other band members as part of the facility where the video is set. These shots of other people in the facility, what they’re doing and how they’re dressed, all adds to the nightmarish connotations of the video.