Asking Alexandria are a British metalcore band (Danny Worsnop, Ben Bruce, Cameron Liddell, Sam Bettley and James Cassells), they formed in 2008 when guitarist Ben Bruce returned to the UK and formed the band with his old companions, names mentioned above.
Frank Nasso was the director for Asking Alexandria's 'To The Stage' music video, he began his career in film at the age of 10, co-starring in major motion pictures. Whilst Frank never took an acting class to hone his craft, he continued to work consistently in film and TV throughout high school, but his focus shifted from being in front of the camera to being behind it. Frank's passion for the world of film production enabled him to graduate with honors from New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts in May 2006, earning a B.F.A. in Film & TV Production.
With the band being of a British origins, it's no surprise that Frank Nasso decided to depict them crossing a road in a line, to mirror The Beatles' popular picture when crossing Abbey Road in London; this depiction acts as a globally recogniseable anchor to them in nationality and perhaps trying to subtly connotate that Asking Alexandria may be as successful as The Beatles.
In relation to other camera shots, the video consistently shows close ups of facial expressions and key interests in the video's storyline, for example when the woman drops a drug into Danny's whiskey, the camera cuts to a close up of the drink and the pill dissolving, then Danny drinking from it.
Common characteristics of this genre include fast-paced editing, high saturation, band members being in a place altogether, and the popular terms sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Unsurprisingly, the video for To The Stage includes all of these characteristics at many different occassions.
The relationship between the lyrics in the song and the video's visuals correspond very well with each other, for example in relation to the title, in the first minute of the video each band member receives a text message from their band member saying "SET TIME MOVED. AA TO THE STAGE IN 30 MINUTES.". Another correspondance to point out is that in the chorus when Danny says "She's just a beautiful girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, I'm just a kick in the teeth" it shows the lead female character that Danny hooks up with walking towards him slowly, focus of the camera directed on her facial features showing her intentions and then it cuts to Danny smiling and many more drinks being poured with the line "I'm just a kick in the teeth" implying that heavy drinking and himself are a bad combination for anyone to be involved with. One more noticeable point lyircally is that after the drug dissolves in Danny's drink, and in the song itself he laughs manically, it shows James laughing in time, then with fast editing it cuts to lots of manic shots such as 'downing' drinks, blinding light, shaky camera movements, canted angles and hightened saturation.
In time with the song, the video frequently cuts to different shots in time with the song's beat. At points where the song tends to slow down or the guitar plays one long chord before playing another section, the visuals slow down with either lowered tempo in editing or even with the point in the video becoming less 'active', for example at 1:43 when the instruments just ring out with one chord/note, the point in the video shows them slowly walking toward the camera in a line together. The video constantly changes pace with the music being played.
The record company, Sumerian Records, seems to want to sell this track as a pure Rock 'n' Roll styled song, putting the band in light of the stereotypical themes. The company must also be either giving free advertisement or have a deal with Jack Daniel's whiskey as in the beginning it shows Danny holding a bottle of it, and frequently later on it is shown in the bar. The band is given a quite negative image in this video, shown as unloyal rockstars with little care for their scheduled gigs and their own well-being; however in the video it does show a caring side to them as friends toward one another, Ben seems concerned for Danny throughout and at the end he is searching frantically for him calling out his name in panic. The video is very different to others done by Asking Alexandria, for example the song 'A Prophecy' is simply just the band singing and playing at night in the rain, however A Prophecy was directed by Robby Starbuck and not To The Stage's director Frank Nasso.
The audience intended for To The Stage's video could be described as people with similar lifestyles to the components of the video; partying, drinking and sex. The video contains many innapropriate scenes, for example toward the end when Danny and the woman are quite literally 'getting freaky' upstairs in the bar. The audience is expected to be from ages 21 to 25 (the age of consent for drinking in America, although minors are no doubt expected to enjoy the video as well, like myself) and of a middle class demographic.
Pierce The Veil (ft. Kellin Quinn) - King For A Day:
Pierce the Veil is an American post-hardcore band from San Diego, California. Formed in 2006, the group was founded by brothers Vic and Mike Fuentes after the disbandment of the group Before Today (formerly Early Times), which was formed out of the San Diego punk rock scene. Other members of the band include Tony Perry (lead guitar) and Jaime Preciado (bassist and backing vocals). The director for the music video is unknown, but I am given to understand from several interviews I've watched with the band members, that they had a heavy influence on this video, particularly Vic and Kellin. They decided to go for a humorous extreme situation narrative, in where the employee-overworking, greedy, diluded boss of a bank is stealing money from the bank and putting it into a private Switzerland bank account. Vic and Kellin find out then plan to get revenge on him by meeting up with 'acquaintances' and all plan to stage a bank robbery and tie up the boss, gagged to a chair at watergun-point, ready for the police. The relationship between the lyrics and the video don't particularly have any correspondance, the lyrics such as "Imagine living like a king some day" could be the only relevance within the song to the video, as the whole video begins with a man wanting to flee with a large sum of money; other than this there is no relevance. The song does move in time with the video, in the sense that at softer parts such as the bridge when Vic sings "Hail Mary, Forgive Me, Blood For Blood, Hearts Beating..." etc. the video begins to show the team attempting to rob the bank gearing up slowly and then storming into the bank, gun in hand the song's bridge gets heavier; the more aggressive parts in the video move in relation with the heavier parts of the song. There appears to be no influence from any outside companies in the advertisement or music industry within the video, meaning they've kept things focused a lot on the band themselves as opposed to anything they're using/saying. The video isn't too different from any other videos by Pierce The Veil, they keep their footage focused mostly on the band, with small narratives behind this to keep interest in the video alive; making it more engaging.
Music Video Techniques:
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