1) The music video for Black Veil Brides' "Knives & Pens" combines a performance element showing the band playing with a narrative about a bullied character meant to represent the lead singer. 2) The narrative follows the character being bullied at school but finding creativity through writing lyrics instead of harming himself, reflecting the song's message. 3) The video effectively merges the narrative and performance elements, serving as inspiration for creating a meaningful music video that illustrates the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of a song.

1. Music Video
Timeline 2
By Emma Jane Laffoley

2. Music video 2 – Knives & Pens – Black Veil Brides
• The music video for Black Veil Brides’ ‘Knives
& Pens’ is a mixture between a performance
video and a video that has meaning to it. The
video switches between the band performing
the song and a character (who is meant to
resemble Andy Biersack the lead singer when
he was young). The song itself is about finding
creativity in sadness instead of harming
yourself, therefore the title is ‘Knives and
Pens’.

3. The music video starts with a white screen and text which reads; ‘Black
Veil Brides, Knives & Pens, Directed by Patrick Fogarty’. I will most
likely add this in my music video as I want it to look professional.

4. A tracking shot has then been used to follow the microphone cord, the
camera then lands on Andy (the lead singer of the band).

5. A mid shot has been used to show one of the band members playing
the guitar to the song track. This is conventional for a rock music video
as shots of musical instruments are frequently used throughout the
video.

6. A close up shot is then used to show the main character walking
through the halls at school. I will most likely use this shot in my own
music video to show the main character as I would like to create a
narrative based video as opposed to a performance based one.

7. A wide shot has then been used to show the band. This is also a
conventional shot type for a rock music video as the fans of the music
want to see the band perform the song. Also, as this video is a
narrative and performance based piece, wide shots are perfect for
showing the whole band performing.

8. A mid shot has been used to reveal the main character for the
narrative side of the music video. The mise en scene has been carefully
picked to make the character fit the stereotype for a person who
listens to rock/metal music. This is because he’s dressed in black and
has long hair, which is the stereotypical ‘emo’ look.

9. The video then cuts to show the band performing again. I really like
the way this music video has been constructed as it has a perfect mix
of performance and narrative. I personally find narrative videos more
pleasing to view as they help to explain the meaning behind the lyrics
of the song instead of just showing the band perform the song which
doesn’t illustrate the meaning behind the lyrics.

10. A mid shot has been used to show the main character tearing off notes
on his locker which say; ‘kill yourself’, ‘fag’, ‘emo’ and ‘makeup is for
fags’. This is the narrative side of the music video. The mise en scene is
really important for narrative music videos, I really liked this scene as it
focuses on the issue of bullying and it illustrates the meaning behind
the lyrics of the song which is that you need to become stronger from
bullying.

11. A close up shot has been used to show Andy Biersack performing the
song. Close up shots of the artist is conventional for all types of music
videos. The close up shot was also likely used to make the music video
appealing for the fans as they’re obsessed with Andy because of his
looks, style and talent.

12. A tracking mid shot has been used to follow the main character in the narrative side of
the music video. I will be using a tracking shot in my A2 production as my video is
going to be a narrative style piece and I think this shot is perfect for following the main
character in the story.

13. A wide shot has been used to once again show the band performing
the song. The shot also reveals the mise en scene which includes a;
drum kit, amp stack and guitar all of which are conventional props in a
rock music video.

14. A close up shot has once again been used to show the lead singer of
the band. This is a conventional shot for all genres of music videos.
This shot would also appeal to the target audience as fans of Black Veil
Brides specifically love the lead singer of the band (Andy) it’s quite
common for the rock music fan base to prefer the lead singer or the
guitarist of the band.

15. A wide shot pan has been used to show the whole band performing
the song. It’s once again conventional for a rock music video to have
wide shots of the band playing.

16. Another wide shot has been used to show the main character in the
narrative side of the video. I will be using this type of shot in my A2
production as I want to show the main character and make use of the
mise en scene to help create a story to illustrate the meaning behind
the song I pick.

17. Another close up shot has been used to show the lead singer. This
would appeal to the target audience as they’re obsessed with Andy.
Also it’s conventional for a rock music video to have close up shots of
the artist as I have already mentioned.

18. A mid shot has been used to show the main character being bullied (he
has his book taken from him and thrown). This is part of the narrative
side of the music video and shows that even though he’s being bullied
he’s decided to retaliate in a positive way by writing lyrics instead of
harming himself or others.

19. A low angle shot has been used to show Andy singing and another
band member playing the guitar in time to the song. This could
connote the fact that the fans ‘look up’ to Andy and the band.

20. An over the shoulder shot has been used to show the main character
watching the music video on his laptop. This could suggest that the
band has an influence on his positive decision to write music instead of
harming himself and/or others as after watching them he decides to
write lyrics, specifically the lyrics to 'Knives & Pens’.

21. Conclusion
• To conclude, I think that this style of music video is interesting as it
had both a performance and narrative element and the way it
merged the two together was very clever. However, I will still be
making my music video specifically narrative, although I may decide
to add clips of performance.
• I think that the whole idea of the music video was very inspiring as
it had a meaningful core message which was that bullying should
only make you stronger as a person and that you should take your
anger out in creative ways such as writing music or other creative
activities. I would like to make my music video just as meaningful as
I think that music videos should illustrate the deeper meaning
behind the lyrics instead of just making a music video for the sake
of it like most artists do.