Research& Planning: Directors of music videos.

One of the biggest directors of Metal and Rock music videos is Tony Petrossian, he’s directed such videos like Before I Forget by Slipknot and The Beast and the Harlot-Avenged Sevenfold. He has also directed videos for many other well renowned metal and heavy rock bands such as Seether, Slayer, Bullet for my Valentine and Three Days Grace, to name just a few.

 

Before I forget is a purely performance video, and Petrossian has used a lot of close-ups and extreme close ups focusing on the band members playing their instruments, such as the beginning shot of Mick Thomson with his guitar and Corey’s microphone.

Throughout the whole video there are no clear shots of the member’s faces, with the clearest being Corey while he sings, this helps to create enigma. The focus on their instruments emphasises their image as rock musicians that focus on the music rather than what they look like.

The mise-en-scene is hugely contrasting, with all the band members wearing black and the location being very light and white. This contrast is played up by the way that Petrossian shows shots of them wearing studded bracelets and boots and showing their tattoos and then shows the location that they are performing in.

 

In Scream Aim Fire by Bullet for my Valentine Petrossian has once again used a lot of close ups throughout the video, especially during the introduction where there are many close ups on Matt Tuck as he headbangs whilst playing guitar.

As with Before I Forget jump cuts are used a lot, so that the visuals match the pace of the music. However in this video there is more focus on the location as there are some shots of them playing in what appears to be a warehouse, instead of the contrast created in the previous video this time the location adds to the image of Bullet for my Valentine by showing them performing in a dirty and run down area.

As with Slipknot the band members of Bullet are also wearing all black with some of them wearing things like chains and studs which are accessories often worn by the people who listen to metal, showing the band wearing the same kind of clothes as their target audience would improve the bands popularity as their audience would instantly recognise them.

So although there are lots of differences between the two videos there are also similarities and doing research into them has given me a much better idea of the codes and conventions of a rock or metal music video and will help me when it comes to deciding on our mise-en-scene.