Music video deconstruction-Avenged Sevenfold, The Beast And The Harlot

I chose to review and deconstruct this video because of its stated influences to the band and relevance to the song we have chosen. I.e Heavy riffs, powerful drumming and aggressive vocals.

The first thing i notice in this video is the lighting and hue of the video. Its dark and shallow. This compliments the music being over driven and deep. The whole mise en scene of the video is shaped around the style of music and appearance of the band.
There is a story being told throughout the video which accompanies the lyrics. It exchanges between the story line and a live performance of the band.
During the live performance we see Matt (singer) give a direct mode of address to the viewers by looking at the camera. This supports the Horton and Wohl "parasocial theory". This is the idea that fans have a parasocial relationship with the artist. In other words. They feel involved.

The video comes across as being a high budget video. This appears like this to me with flashy lights, Alot of actors/actresses, and effects. (The skin being covered black)

There is alot of burlesque-esque women in this video. This attracts the male viewer considerably, especially because the rest of the band are males. Sigmund Freud's Theory of voyeurism comes in to play here. His theory is that pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object. Which is obvious but very valid. Without this appeal male viewers may become bored or distracted from the video and its selling purposes.

When the band is performing, the camera works impact on the meaning. Angles and movements are quite in particular and messy. This reflects the band attitude and the songs energy and style. Also the editing is fast cut and on the synchronized. This creates an energetic busy video.

The storyline on the video includes no dialogue or narrative but it is showing us what is going on. We can understand the story by listening to the lyrics and watching the video. Andrew Goodwin's theory explains how visuals are illustrating the song and amplifying what is trying to be explained through the song itself. This is easier for the audience to understand the lyrics and provides a better more informative video.

The video overall is very well made and i think i will especially take in the storyline visuals and how it directs the song and crates an impact on the lyrics.