The Acacia Strain - The Impaler

Band: The Acacia Strain
Song Title: The Impaler
Genre: Deathcore
Release Date: 30 June 2011
Target Audiance: 15-24 Male audiance

Menacing figures

The video starts off with a diegetic intro which is a very common convention in music videos, this introduces us to the narrative or sets the scene. However in this video there isn't really a narrative it's more of a performance video, but it can be argued that the band are playing inside the man's beard as the shot zooms in very fast on the beard just as the music starts. The location of the rest of the video is a darkened room with two yellow lights facing towards the band, The lighting works very well as the shadows on the band members and the light are extremely contrasting and give the video a more 'evil' feel to it as the people in shot are seen less human and less glamorous with more shadow on them. The use of a fog machine can be clearly seen as the room is flooded in fog and partially blurs some of the shots.

The editing of the video is done very well and is very rapid this is to create a sense of urgency and violance without showing any violance as it's very frantic. The shots seem to be intentionally blurred to make the darkened figures (the band) more menacing.

The range of shots used differ a lot and the framing within the shots is very good. There seem to be a large amount of close ups/extreme close ups on the vocalist's (Vince) mouth, this is because another common convention of music video is used lip synching. There are also numerous close ups of the guitar from low angles suggesting the band member/s are dominating and in power. The shots seem to be done in a handheld fashion this could signify realism although seeing as they're playing in a mans beard I doubt that was the intention, but it can also signify movement and the power of the music this is a convention used in a large amount of video's in the extreme metal genre and even into genres like 'Hardcore'.

Heart of a Coward - Shade

Band: Heart of a Coward
Song Title: Shade
Year: 2011
Genre: Metalcore
Director: Jack Lilley
Target Audience: 15-24

The video is strictly a performance video. The video incorporates a large amount of common conventions used in modern music videos, such as lip syncing and focusing on the vocalists, however it does also focus on the instruments themselves such as  close ups on the guitars with the pick ups being a focal point and shots of the drummer on his drum kit. The video is very dark and uses minimal lighting which only shine on the band members and the front row of the crowd. This connotes darkness and possibly evil/supernatural, this is a reference to the genre which is normally associated with 'evil' and being quite a dark and heavy genre. The lights flashing creates a chaotic enviroment. The video does get boring fast due to it being an all performance piece as there is no change in scenery really it's just different angles in the same location. There isn't enough shot variation as well which is a downfall of the video, as the video does get a bit boring at times due to this, however there is some interesting shots with interesting framing.

Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers

Artist: Tyler, The Creator
Song Title: Yonkers
Genre: Alternative Hip-Hop
Director: Wolf Haley

The infamous cockroach...

Tyler going blind.

The video for Yonkers shows Tyler lip syncing through out the entire video, this is a very common convention of all music videos and especially of Hip-Hop videos. The video consists of 3 extremely long takes, this goes against most other music videos which consist of loads of small takes. However the long takes work due to the constant movement of the camera and Tyler himself. The video was shot with a perspective control lens this is the cause of the blurriness throughout the video. The use of black and white is also used to show the two sides of Tyler's personality 'Wolf Haley' and 'Tyler Okonma' the track is centred around both personalities arguing with each other. The video is very controversial, mainly because of the hanging scene towards the end however the shot of Tyler's silhouette vomiting was seen as vulgar.  The m
essage of the video is centred around hip-hop today and how it's lost all meaning to the artist. The roach is meant to symbolise 'mainstream America' in the video we see him take it in (When he eats it) It makes him sick to his stomach and makes him vomit, Tyler is shown to hate himself at this point. His eyes turn black to show him turning blind as to why he got into music, after realising this he kills himself.
Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers from Dauphín on Vimeo.

Cancer Bats - Pneumonia Hawk

Band: Cancer Bats
Song Title: Pneumonia Hawk

A typical Canadian guzzling down maple syrup.

Release Date: September 5, 2006
Genre: Hardcore Punk
This video is a concept/performance. The video has lip synching in, this is a typical code and convention of nearlly all music videos. The video is a parody of how Canada is perceived by other countries... Big lumberjacks who feast on maple syrup all day. The video is a perfect example of regional identity and stereotyping in media. The video starts off with a diegetic introduction that uses sounds taken from a forest, this is also a very common convention of music videos, as it's used to 'set the scene'. The video looks at Canadians and their stereotypes, the band is outfitted with ripped and stained plaid shirts and jeans with boots, this links in with the Canadians typically being stereotyped as 'Lumberjacks' later on the band is joined by George from Alexisonfire (Alexis on fire, not alex is on fire) Alexisonfire are another big canadian band, so he also links in with the lumberjack stereotype. The editing of the video also refferences the famous canadian stereotype that canadians are slow and very laid back, the editing in the video is very slow and uses various transitions most of which consist of slow fades. This however also goes against the conventions of most hardcore punk video's, if you look at another Cancer Bats video from the same album 'French Immersion' you can see that the takes are extremely fast due to the tempo of the music, this song isn't as fast as some of CB's other tracks but it's still no where near slow. The video could also have links to social class and how hardcores members are perceived as the working class, nearlly all hardcore punk bands are from a working class background, the idea behind the genre was the working class (the proleteriates) lashing back out at the middle class (the borgeosie) and sticking it to the 'man'.

Attack Attack! - Stick Stickly

Artist: Attack Attack!
Song Title: Stick Stickly
Release Date: June 4th 2009
Genre: 'Electronicore'


The video is mainly a performance video with a bit of narrative tied in with it. The video takes place in an arid, abandoned area. The video is shot inside and on front of an abandoned house with dead trees in the distance. This location is shot to show the loneliness of the female character and to show isolation. This video has went viral for all the wrong reasons due to the song being terrible and as cookie cutter as possible, and the bands stands and synchronised moshing, which is now known as 'Crabcore'. The band however received massive amounts of fame on the internet which sky rocketed them, as it's said any press is good press.

This video is a perfect example of viral music videos, due to it being the butt of so many jokes on the internet. The vocalist at the time said that "The band has embraced the meme" and were using it for publicity. Many other videos do this they add a simple movement or dance which can be copied and recognised as the dance or movement from that video by other people.


The video follows the codes and conventions of most music videos by adding lip synching and a focus on the frontman or singer of the band. The video tends to focus on either one of the singers and also has individual shots of each band member and close ups on their instruments. there are also a number of shots which focus on the entire band.


The editing of the video is extremely fast with some takes only lasting half a second or less. There are a few video transitions including fading and fading out there are also shots which are edited to look damaged and jarred.

Deftones - Hole In The Earth

Artist: Deftones
Song Title: Hole In The Earth
Release Date: 12th September 2006
Genre: Alternative Metal
Director: Brian Lazzaro

The video for hole in the earth is a narrative and performance video. The video shows shots off the band playing against either a green screen or blue screen background which has had a CGI background imposed onto it later in editing. The video tends to focus on Chino (the singer) as he is the main part of the narrative. The narrative for the video is that  Deftones singer/intergalactic traveler Chino Moreno and his space pod fall to earth in this video for "Hole On The Earth." Once on the ground, it becomes apparent that his proximity to the stars has imbued him with an aura which causes all earthly matter that he comes in contact with to disintegrate. There are also shots of computer screens showing a black hole coming closer to the earth. This links in with some of the lyrics. The video uses alot of imagery from space, including shots of band members with redshift.  the lighting in the shots are supposed to depict stars.  The video has shot of the singer lip synching this is a typical convention of most music videos. The shots tend ton linger on Chino the most due to him ebing the frontman of the band, he is the singer of the band meaning he has the most connection to the audiance because he's the 'spokesperson' of the band , as it is much easier to convey the meaning behind the song through lyrics then just the music by itself. the video makes is mostly shot against a blue/green screen which might be hard to replicate in my own work but it can be done, there are a few shots though that aren't shot againt a background which is Chino laying in a pod with screens around him.