Music Video Research

Eddie Gough

Nightmare- Avenged Sevenfold

As in all of there videos they show their logo to build brand awareness of the band and so that it becomes well known. They tend to show this either at the beginning of their videos or at the end. This could be to let the audience know who they are about to watch or who they just watched. This is a good way to build brand awareness as it is either the first thing that you see or the last thing that you see so it stays in your mind and you remember it. They aren’t always obvious so you don’t always notice it directly but will be in the corner of your eye. Not many other bands do this without being obvious so we must make sure that if we do this in our video that it’s subtle.

They use animals in their videos to show danger and fear. In this particular video it’s a spider which is linked to one of their previous videos where a spider was crawling across the drummers face. They do this in this video in memory of their drummer that passed away. They show this spider on a broken drum set which could symbolise the death of the drummer. Most of their songs are based around their lives and things going on within their lives. This is why the lyrics of the songs are always linked to what is happening within the video and we must do this within our video to follow their conventions.

There is very often a strong religious aspect in their videos which could be due to their religious views. It also could be to show that they are against religious beliefs like other bands within this genre of music. This could also be due to the death of the drummer in the band that was nicknamed “The Rev” which could be short for reverend. The use of a religious figure could also be to show contrast between the way they do things compared to the religious world.

A live feature is always in their videos to show that they play their own music unlike most within the pop genre. It also advertises the band itself by showing them up close and playing the music instead of just the music in the background of the video. This adds familiarity between the audience and the band and lets them feel more up close and personal. It also adds emphasis to the talent required to play this music by showing the speed and accuracy that they play at.

Like in many rock videos, there is a fear factor that plays a part in their videos. In this particular video it is very common due to the name of the song. Many other bands use this in their videos to make it look a bit more intimidating and scary which makes the band look better in the genre they are in. Being scary is seen as good in this genre as most of the songs are about being scary or dealing with darker parts of life.

At the end of their videos they like to give a final hint to what the song is about. This allows the audience to see why the song was made and what it’s about. It lets the audience feel more involved in what they are doing and why. In this particular video it is about the death of their drummer and the loss of their friend, hence the empty drum kit. The lyrics very much link to this as it is about the struggle he must have been going through leading up to his death that was a shock to everyone. This band in particular like to link their songs to their life as a way of showing the struggles they have gone through and issues they deal with.

Almost Easy- Avenged Sevenfold

Most of their videos are very similar with the use of the same conventions and style. The conventions that they use are the dangerous or scary animals, a religious figure or symbol and their logo being shown at the beginning or end of the video. These are very consistent within their videos making them a theme for the band. At the beginning of the video there are bats flying out of a hole that seems to be closing in. it then transitions into the face of the main singer which links to them being seen as scary and dangerous.

Live performance is always used in their videos as it shows the band itself and advertises them but in this particular video, they use CGI to show fire surrounding the band members. This shows power and manliness often a common convention within the rock genre. By showing the band members surrounded by fire they seem tough, especially when they seem to be ignoring the danger they seem to be surrounded by. This makes they audience see the band as strong and dangerous as they don’t seem to care about any danger around them.

Like in all of their videos they show a religious figure but in this particular video he seems to be leading the crowd behind him which shows the power of religion. Yet the priest doesn’t seem to be that encouraging for them to follow but seems disappointed that they are simply following him without question.

They tend to show the main singer up close and clear to make the audience feel closer to the band. This creates the feeling of intimacy between the viewer and the band which makes the viewer feel more involved in the music. By making the viewer feel more involved in the music they will be more likely to listen to more of their music and possibly buy the music.

They end the video with their logo burning at a distance. This reminds the audience who they just listened to. It also creates the memory of the logo so if they see it they recognise it. This might influence the audience to buy the music if they see logo somewhere. By showing the logo repetitively in their videos they will make sure that the audience remembers them.

Afterlife- Avenged Sevenfold

The start of the video is the lead singer running towards the camera in a completely white environment. This makes it seem like the artist is coming to you for the song an also link in with the lyrics of the song later on. This gets the viewer thinking about the song more and will make them want to watch it again so they can understand it better.

In this song in particular they use a lot of shots featuring the whole band. This shows that they all work together to make their music. It also builds familiarity to whole band and the viewer. This allows them to feel involved with the whole band instead of a single person in the band.

In this video the religious aspect is relatively subtle by only being a crucifix necklace. Unlike their other videos it is very different as the other videos have a person as the religious part of their videos. This makes it more subtle so the viewer has to really pay attention to notice it.

Although most of this video is live performance of the band there are still some scenes without the whole band together. In this scene one of the members is holding a skull in a room filled with candles. This shows danger and mystery and makes the viewer want to know why he’s in there. It also links with the lyrics of the song which is about death and the afterlife. This also links in with conventions of this genre being dark and sad.

In this shot it shows the contrast between the band and the white background. It shows that they are in a dark genre of music in contrast to other music genres. It also links to the lyrics of the song from moving from an ideal world back to the real world. Which in this video is represented by the dark and empty warehouse.

The end of the video is the whole band leaving the white area and back into the dark. This shows them leaving the contrast behind them and going back to where they feel comfortable and where they belong. This is linked to the lyrics of them leaving the afterlife and coming back to the real world.