From the audience research interviews we have found that for a metalcore video people expect to see alot of close ups with camera movement and alot of quick pace editing.
Having some knowledge of other metalcore videos we know that these are quite conventional filming techniques but they look very effective when executed properly.
Editing is one of the most important parts of production and making sure we have enough footage is key when filming our promo. Having lots of cuts in a short amount of time not only goes along with the pace of the song but it also looks very effective and pleasurable for the audience.
We have decided to have a narrative in our music video and will attempt to be original with our ideas whilst also staying in the same structure and feel of a typical metalcore video with a dark storyline.
The main idea of our narrative is to be very abstract and bizarre for the audience. We found from our audience research that some people expect the narrative to be hard to understand and not completely tell the story, leaving it on a cliffhanger or leaving it for the viewer's imagination to decide.
From this we wanted to create something that was exciting to look at but also strange and original with the main plot line open for discussion and consideration.
Idea
The opening shot would be of a blindfolded figure coming into focus who seems disorientated and confused. He stumbles across an old mirror only to have his reflection act in a completely different way. The reflection has an old book in his hand and looks to the right, hinting to the figure to search for it. The blindfolded man turns to find an old bookcase holding many books. He begins frantically searching through the books, not knowing what to look for until he finds 'You've only done this to yourself' written in one of the books. The man looks back at his reflection in the mirror to find it has disappeared.
The protgonist in the narrative will be a smartly dressed man who is blindfolded. The audience will have no idea of his past or why he is in this state but I find this adds to the mystery and abstract approach to our narrative.
The old book will be a significant prop in the narrative due to the reflection indicating that the man has to find it. It also links back to the band's name, In Archives.
The old mirror will be very effective in the narrative, its age is interesting and it also is more attractive to the audience and makes sense to have an old mirror rather than a more modern one.
Having the reflection behaving completely different is an intertextual reference to the horror film, 'Mirrors'. It also adds to the abstract approach as well as fitting in with the metalcore genre with a dark and sinister nature of the narrative.
Asking Alexandria are a metalcore band from York and have a huge fanbase in England as well as many other countries they have toured.
They made a big impression in the 'metalcore' genre after touring the UK in 2008 and early 2009 when they recorded their first album 'Stand Up and Scream' at The Foundation Recording Studios in Indiana. After signing to 'Sumerian' record label they gained success in the United States after touring with some big bands.
Fan Base
The band have a large fan base in North America, UK and Europe with the average age most likely being 15-20 with both males and females being big fans. As the band have toured the world with other big metal bands they have played to a wide variety of cultures and races and therefore have become popular all over the world.
CD/DVD Images
Stand Up and Scream is Asking Alexandria's first album. The cover shows their iconic logo of their name in bold white at the top, standing out over the dark image below.
The imagine is of a microphone that is most likely used for live shows. It represents the genre and with the microphone on its own may mean the band are trying to stand out from the rest.
This second album cover is 'Reckless and Relentless.' The album title shows the attitude the band possibly have on life. Reckless meaning they don't care and do what they want and relentless meaning they will keep doing it for the enjoyment. The photo shows a woman sitting in a bleak room with an old television set smashed and completely ruined. The expression on her face is very relaxed and calm, as if she is used to this kind of situation and surrounding. Her outfit reminds me of a hooker or a lady that has been out partying too hard. This representation of women is quite negative from the bands point of view as it could hint that they see women as obects of pleasure and nothing else. The televsion set being smashed and the graffiti on the walls links back to the album title, suggesting they are reckless in their behavior and relentless in their motivation. Reckless & Relentless in an interview with Fallen Blue, Danny Warsnop said, "we wanted something shocking, so we had the famous porn actress, Belladonna, just sitting in The Dirty Room."
Music Videos
In this video of 'To The Stage' the video is full narrative which is quite unconventional for a metalcore video. It shows the band have been told their set for a live performance has been moved forward and so the band need to get together and get to the gig. Unfortunately the end up in a bar and one drink leads to another and Danny, the lead vocalist, ends up going upstairs with a woman, unknowingly having his drink spike and ends up having a fit and possibly dieing. The video is shot like a movie and features no performance what so ever, throughout the video the actual song plays but the narrative focuses on the band and ends with a cliffhanger.
This screen shot shows that the band are big drinkers with not only beer being consumed but also whiskey. This representation of the band shows that they are enjoying their rock star lifestyle. It shows that being in a band means that they can afford to go to bars and spend alot of money on alcohol. It also shows a negative view as consuming large amounts of alcohol such as this is very damaging to your body but they obviously have no thought for this. Again linking to their album title 'Reckless and Relentless.'
Here this shows a woman in a bar, she is dressed in very little clothing and a lot of make up. She is a stereotypical woman that is looking for a man on a night out. In the video she ends up taking Danny from the band upstairs. It shows quite a negative view on women as here she is represented as someone that spends her time in a bar drinking alcohol and has sex with a man she doesn't know.
In this screenshot it shows the woman, 'spiking' Danny's drink.The audience doesn't know what type of drug it is or what effect it will have if it is consumed. We can see that this woman is being represented in a very negative way as she is putting someone elses life in danger by putting a drug in their drink.
This screenshot shows Danny and the woman from the bar kissing. They have not met before and would not know each others name. This links to lyrics from one of their songs, 'Clothes trailing from the backdoor to the bedroom and I don't even know your name.' This representation shows that the band, especially Danny, see women as objects for pleasure and nothing else. The hand on her throat shows that this is a very lustful encounter and not passionate or full of love. It would be a 'one night stand' with no emotions. This shows that they probably have no real respect for women.
Lyrics deconstruction
Magazine Cover
This magazine cover from Kerrang! Magazine shows Asking Alexandria when they were touring America. The slogan above states ''We're taking over America.'' This possibly shows that they are very confident in their ability and feel that they are winning over fans in America. You could say they are arrogant as they believe they are taking over the metalcore scene in another country as nomrally it is quite hard for an English metalcore band to break through and become popular in North America as even though they are from the same genre, the bands are quite different in musical stlye.
Danny, the frontman, also takes over the band photo, he appears dominant and masculine at the front and is the main focus over the other band members. His metal 'pose' could represent his masculinity and the love for the music and his lifestyle now they are a signed band.
It also states ''they're off their faces in Las Vegas.'' This links to the video of 'To The Stage.' The narrative had an american location and although it was never said where it actually was, we could imagine it to be Las Vegas, a city renowned for alcohol and women. 'Off their faces' represents the band in a way that shows they enjoy the lifestyle of consuming large amounts on alcohol and the company of women and their friends.
As we are filming the track 'Step Down' by In Archives we are also using all the band members on filming day.
Zak Pinchin - Vocals
Kelly Pinchin - Guitar
Phil Moore - Guitar and vocals
Louis Grant - Bass
Richard Stimpson - Drums
Zak is the frontman of the band. His screamed vocals are very unique with a good range of high and low screams as well as speak-to-screams which are very effective in the genre. On filming day Zak is most likely going to wear skinny jeans and trainers as well as a band t-shirt or a wifebeater (pictured).
The band will be able to supply a microphone for the video as that is the only prop Zak will need.
Kelly is one of the guitarists of the band and also plays a huge part in the song writing process. His ability for writing up beat riffs and heavy breakdowns is impressive whilst also being a very talented guitarist.
On the day of filming Kelly will most likely wear a checkered shirt or band t-shirt as well as skinny jeans and Vans plimsoles.
Kelly will use his own guitar that he uses for live performances as well as bringing his own guitar amp to plug into for background use.
Phil is the other guitarist of In Archives and has alot of band experience. He also sings the clean vocals in a few of the tracks from the bands debut E.P. 'Traitors.'
Phil, on filming day will again most likely wear a band t-shirt, wifebeater and skinny jeans. He will use his own guitar for the performance.
Louie plays bass and has been good friends with the all the band members for many years. For the video Louie will most likely wear skinny jeans, a t-shirt and hoody, depending on the weather as it may be very cold.
Richard has been playing the drums from a very early age and has proven himself to very talented. He was also part of 'The Prophecy True' the metal band that also feature Zak, Kelly and Louie before 'In Archives' were formed.
Richard will use his drum set for the day of filming whilst also wearing jeans, a t-shirt and hoody.
We shot some practice footage using a very strong light that we may possibly use for our music video. We found the lighting to be very effective as the main focus was highlighted perfectly whilst dimming the rest of the location. We also filmed Zak miming some of the lyrics to the song whilst getting a feel for the camera, the movement and how much of the actor we want in the frame. Thirdly we filmed Kelly playing the bass guitar to get an idea again of how much of the actor and the instrument we want in the frame and how much movement the camera needs to go with the conventions of a metalcore video.
The camera we are using is of high quality and you can see here how good our footage will be. This close up of myself is very clear and we are planning on using lots of close ups throughout our video on each band member, whilst mainly focussing on Zak, the frontman. Declan has used 'After Effects' very well here, he has colour corrected the lighting, making it more moody which fits to our genre.
We are aiming to use lots of shots like this one here of Zak screaming the lyrics. This close up was panning past Zak as we were filming and the action was very smooth even though it was handheld. We have found that in most music videos from our chosen genre, the camera is never still so we took influence and used the same handheld technique. The lighting is again very effective, illuminating half of Zak's face whilst putting a dark shadow across the other side of his face.
This screenshot is of Kelly playing the bass, here we were again using the handheld technique but also trying out different ideas of how much of the actor and the instrument we want in the frame. We decided that we would probably use a close up or mid shot when filming the band members playing their instruments as we found that having the actor tight in the frame looked more effective and professional.
