The first video I have chosen to look at is Avenged Sevenfold's 'Seize The Day.' Firstly I will start by introducing the band, Avenged Sevenfold are a country rock/hard rock band from California, famed on Rock scene for their fast paced and deep songs. Their video for Seize The Day follows a period of time (perhaps 3 months) in the life of a young man - played by the lead singer M. Shadows - who is at first singing with rest of the band behind a wire fence in what looks like a prison. The scene then fades - almost as if it is a memory - to the main character celebrating what the viewer can assume is the pregnancy of his girlfriend/wife, the scene is taken from the point of view of a handheld camera held by the main character, it is made obvious that this is a very happy time for the couple, the scene then cuts to a long haired character knocking at the front door of the house - as the audience we can assume that this is either an enemy or a friend of the main character. The door is then answered by M. Shadows who then proceeds to hug the man and more characters are shown to have arrived, the new characters in the scene are shown to sit and converse with the main characters wife or girlfriend and all seem to know her and the main character, almost making themselves at home. After the visit of Shadow's friends he is shown telling his wife something that obviously upsets her (shown in her facial expressions and body language) and then kisses and hugs her, she then mouths 'no' and attempts to grab his arm before he walks out the door. After a quick cut to the band behind the wire fence the video snaps back to the narrative and shows Shadows and his friends putting on masks in a car, they then proceed to raise weapons and exit the car, as they approach the doors of what the audience can assume is a shop I noticed that there is a red/orange tint to this piece of the music video, I believe this was used to connote a memory, perhaps to suggest that the singer and the band behind the wire fence are remembering. The group of friends are then shown pushing over the shop keeper proceeding to rob the store. After cutting to the band and lead singer a police car is then shown pulling up outside what we can assume is the same shot, the thieves are then shown fleeing the store with them jumping over the counter and scrabbling away (this connotes desperation/fear). I then noted that one character seemed to be lacking behind with the camera shots used show this, all of the thieve jump into a car, bar one who is tackled to the ground and unmasked by the police, when the mask is removed it is revealed that the main character had actually gone to rob the Off Licence, the character is then shown on a television being viewed by his girlfriend/wife being led away by police officers. The Wife/Girlfriend is then shown crying and the scene cuts to a performance scene of the band behind a wire fence. A cut in the scene shows the main character being led by a guard in what the audience can assume is a jail or prison, he is shown having his piercings removed, his head shaved and then being led to a cell. It then cuts to the Girlfriend and Main Character arguing through a glass window both holding wired phones, the girlfriend proceeds to slam the phone down and walk away leaving M. Shadows with his hands on the glass partition. The music in the background then stops showing the girlfriend driving a way and suddenly a van smashes into the side of her car, the scene then fades to a funeral, with the bands guitarist appearing from a puff of smoke and a flame on top of the coffin and then proceeds to play a solo as the priest reads from the bible, after the solo ends the shot fades back to the prison with the main character staring at a photograph and then a jump cut to a performance scene of the band. The remainder of the video cuts between shots of the band in a prison environment, performance shots of the band and finally each member of the band visiting the grave of the protagonists partner or wife with protagonist holding what we can assume to be his child who has survived the crash.
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