These album covers are "The Fall Of Ideals" by "All That Remains" and "blessthefall" by Witness
"Define The Great Line" by "Underoath" and "The Poison" by " Bullet For My Valentine"
All That Remains - This Calling
Metalcore/ Death Metal
2006
Video Characteristics
- band playing guitar and drums
- man chained/blooded
- light head banging
- unnatural sunlight only on artist
- underexposed lighting and dark and grey costumes.
What is the relationship between the lyrics and visuals?
At the start, we see a ground and then, we immediately see the artist screaming which in effect wakes someone in a cave chained down on a chair. The lyrics " My flesh is weakening" matches the visual of the man that his flesh is chained to the floor. The Lyrics "I steel my nerves for temptation at hand again" matches the visual of the man getting up from the chair and moving towards the door, even though he is chained to his flesh.
What is the relationship between the music and visuals?
There are two rhythms of musical pace through out the music, the verse melody which is usually screamed, and the chorus which is usually sung. These are very important in the metal-core genre. The head banging works well with the music as it goes in time with the heavy beats and melody. The conventions that relates the music to the visuals include fast editing between the band members performing and the actor in the room, which gives the audience a disconcerting feeling especially in the scenes where the actor is pulling him self away from the chains. Other conventions include camera angles, and the band members are seen from a high angle, while the acctor is seen from a low angle even though he is chained. This might signifies his strength. The artists are filmed in different angles through out the music which also adds to the relationship between the music and visuals.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
There are various close-up shots of the actor through out the music video. At the start of the song, as soon as the band starts singing, there is close-up of the actor's face as he opens his eyes. There are also close up shots of the man pulling himself away from the chain which the audience sympathise with him.There are also close-up shots of the lead singing as he screams and the all band members head banging, and are key conventions of metal-core genre and lifestyle.
Are there any intertexual references?
This video makes reference to some movies such as The Underworld and Blade. This could be seen as a convention of this genre as they are always dark and sinister.
Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base?
It is has a mixture performance and narrative. It is partially performance based with the music matching the visuals. The video is also narrative based with the man struggling to escape for freedom.
Blessthefall - What's Left of Me
Post-hardcore
2009
Video characteristic:
Long hair
Shouting
Vintage footage of performance base (some scenes)
Headbanging
Monotone colour scheme (some scenes)
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
There is no relationship between the lyrics as visual as the music video is performance based and so, we only see the band members performing in a studio settings.
What is the relationship between the music and visuals?
Through out the video, there is a relationship between the music and the visuals as we hear heavy drumming and can see the band members jumping and headbanging on stage, which are very important conventions in the metal-core genre. There are also scenes were the music becomes shaky and we can see that through hand-held camera work.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
The audience see generic conventions of the metal-core genre in close up such as headbanging, close-up shots of a band member singing. There are also long shot and mid shot which is seen with match-on-action showing the drums and guitar being played.
Are there any intertexual references?
The video has an idea of behind the scenes footage of photo shot as we can see both the artist and the producers on the video.
Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base?
The music video is performance based as we only see the band members performing on in a studio.This is a usual convention for the metal-core genre as it is most common for narrative and performance base.
Underoath - In Division
Metalcore/ Post- metal
2010
Video characteristics
- Headbanging
- white and black footage
- Use of water
- Long hair
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
The song starts with the lyrics of "I lay in a bed of resistance, chained to either side, this matches the visual scene where they show a picture of a family on the wall. The family looks 'awkward' to be around each other which makes the audience feel uncomfortable. There is also the idea that they are stuck with each other and have no where to go, and so matches the lyrics of "chain to either side".
What is the relationship between music and visuals?
Fast editing are used during the harmony while there are slow editing are use during some of the chorus. There is also the use of soft beats with still images of water, a family image on the wall which the song is based around it and the band members. As the song quickens, we see panning shot and head-banging of the band members.
Are there any close-ups of the artists and star image motifs?
They are a lot of mid long shots of the band members performing which is used along side match on action as we see the band members jumping from different angles. The star image motifs are close up shots of the lead band members (Spencer Chamberlain) under water while singing.
Are there any intertextual references?
The video makes a lot of references to water which the audience could almost get the idea of "The Titanic" in the where the actors were drowning.
Is it performance based, concept based or narrative based? How much of each?
The video is performance based with various footage of the band members playing instruments in a studio settings before the video continuous of them playing in water.
Bullet For My Valentine - 4 words (to choke upon)
Metal-core
2005
Video characteristics
- Headbanging
- white and black footage
- long hair
- monotone colour scheme
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
The lyrics starts with "betrayed one more time", which looks like the band members are talking directly to their fans, they might be asking for their trust and support. The lyrics "Soon I'm the one on attack" could be also matched with the scenes were the fans are trying to get on stage to meet the band members.
What is the relationship between the music and visuals?
Heavy drums and guitar playing is matched with the fans and the band-banging their fans. The fans are also moving to the rhythm of the song of by jumping and head-banging.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
There are a lot of close-up shots of individual band member singing. The close up shots are emphasised around their mouth as they scream. They are also mid long shots of both the band members and the fans, and the audience is able to see the stage setting fans. The star image motif is of the band members playing the guitar which is seen in a close up shot.
Are there any intertexual references?
The video gives an idea of what it's like performing in front of a life audience.
Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base?
The video is live performance of the band performing to their fans on stage.
After analysing some metal-core music videos, I decided to analyse Payphone by Maroon 5 to see how they use the above elements such as relationship between lyrics and visuals, and intertexual references.
Name of track: Payphone
Artist: Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa
Director: Benny
Blanco and Shellback.
Payphone is a pop and hip hop music, and was sung by Maroon 5 and
Wiz Khalifa. It was released on April 16 2012 as the lead single from the album
Overexposed. This video takes a total approach of how a hip hop would look like
such as using guns and police chases.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
The audience get to see the relationship between the lyrics and
the visuals at the start but as the music video progresses, the audience see
otherwise. For example, at the start of the music video, Adam Levine, the lead
singer of Maroon 5 was stood at a phone booth singing the lyrics that had
direct reference to the payphone 'I’m at the payphone trying to call home'.
However, the relationship
between the lyrics and visuals fades as the video continues. The start of
the video was a flashback of what happened to let him to stand penniless at a
phone booth. In the flash back, the audience see robbery in a bank and police
chases on a high way. The lyrics does not have a relationship with the visuals
because the lyrics talks of a break up of a relationship and the video shows a
man (Adam Levine) running from the police after been mistaken for an armed
robber.
What is the relationship between the music and visuals?
The relationship between the music and the visuals is unusual. The
music and lyrics would be viewed as a break up song or possibly romance, but the
visual indicates different. If someone was to watch only the visuals without
the sound, they could imagine a different music to reflect the song. This
visuals of payphone could be compared to “Bonnie and Clyde” by Jay Z and
Beyonce where they are been chased by the police. There is a scene of the song
where the audience see the police chasing and stopping a
car.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
Payphone has very few close-ups as compared to compared to 'Bonnie and Clyde'. The first close-up shot is
that of Adam Levine as he sits bored in an office. A lady then walks passes his
desk and the camera is directed and focused on her to show that she might also
be a lead character in the video. There is also a close-up shot on Adam
Levine’s lips as he sings the lyrics into the phone.
Are there any intertexual references?
When the audience watches the music video of payphone, they get an
idea of watching a movie. Examples of intertexual films that could be reference
to this music video include Fast and Furious, Taken, Wanted, Salt and S.W.A.T.
A shot from Fast & Furious, similar to the accident in Payphone
Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base?
The video is a narrative based performance about a man (Adam
Levine) who is mistaken by the police as one of the robbers who are robbing a
bank. As he tries to rescue himself and a girl in the office, police see him
with a gun and thinks he is part of the robbers and so start chasing him. The
music video could be seen as post-mordern, story within a story as it’s a flash back of
what happened that made him end up in a phone booth penniless.
Finding from metal-core analysis
After analysing a variety of metal-core songs released in different years, I found that almost all the songs have generic conventions. This will gave us an idea of what metal-core conventions we could include in our own video when doing our storyboard, and we are open to the idea of challenging some of the metal-core conventions.
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