I am a Video Editor – and one of the things (probably the main thing) that inspired me to work in television post production was actually music videos.

Music videos are one of my favourite things in the world and I spent hours and I MEAN literally hours when I was growing up watching them Even now in the modern world, I can find myself getting lost on YouTube watching music videos for hours on end – they are an addiction.

This month we are looking at the band that I think was the first emo band I listened to when the genre and style came about in the mid noughties. I wasn’t sure of My Chemical Romance at first but when I heard Helena I absolutely loved them. Their videos are dark but they are very beautifully edited and put together to create this world and I think that is why there is so much love for this band. As they have grown older the creativity in their videos have developed and become amazing, I mean look at the way they announce their return to the world below and you will see why I wanted to include them in this feature.

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My Chemical Romance – Famous Last Words

Why did you choose this particular video?

This is one of my favourite songs by My Chemical Romance as it has some really powerful lyrics to it and the video that goes with it also really creates the impact as well. It is a great end to the album and also the strong of singles.

So, what is the narrative?

The video shows that the float that was in the Black Parade being destroyed and scattered in the background and that the parade has left them and they are now in a desperate state.

Favourite parts of the video?

The video is very different to the other videos as the red does not really play a part of this cinematography, unless you count the flames in the background. I think that this is show that the elements of the band are getting darker and that there is no red to be seen. It could also be argued that the red is so passionate that it has turned to fire which is actually a theory I really love and going to say that as the song goes on it gets more fierce in the background. I really like the use of the pan shots and the vignettes as it really makes you focus on the shots in the darkness. The use of shadowing is very clever as it gives Gerard this skull like effect

I really like the way that the video plays with dust and fire to create dramatic scenes. There are these slow motion shots of the dust that really create these wonderful sequences where you can feel the emotion of both the band and the music. Throughout the whole video it plays with the use of light and dark to create these really powerful scenes.

When the guitar solos kick in the shots become more erratic in this very quick edit set of shots. It has a lot of images of the band and a lot of close ups which can create this sort of surrealism to the video. Due to the fact of where it is placed in the video it heightens the musical interlude and really emphasises the passion. I really like the use of the blurs and again slow motion to create the mood.

The last section of the video, the finale of the Black Parade chapter is big, bold and bright. It is a lot brighter then the rest of the video as the fire takes over and there are elements of lens flares throughout. It feels powerful and emotional and really defines the journey with this album.