Music Video - While She Sleeps // Crows

The artist of this video is While She Sleeps and the name of the song is Crows. Tom Welsh is the director of the video and he also filmed and edited it as well. The genre of this music broadly would just be called Metal or Heavy Metal, but within Metal there are sub-genres such as Hardcore, Metalcore etc. While She Sleeps are classed as a Melodic Hardcore band due to their fast pace but heavy sound. Also their energy has a lot to do with what genre they are because it is a well known aspect of Melodic Hardcore bands in the Metal scene to have a lot of energy and great stage presence. This video in particular definitely shows this energy element to the band because although here doesn't seem to be a story line or narrative in the video, it's showing the band perform and showing their fans and the audience how they would put on a show. The energy in this video is incredible and the passion of every band member is shown in the video.

The video contrasts the lyrics because the lyrics have personal meaning to the vocalist if not all the members of the band but the music video is completely performance based video with no apparent connections between the lyrics and the video content.
Contradictory to this, the video editing is in sync with the music and cuts or changes are made when the speed or tone of the song changes. Also, when there is a specific guitar, drum or vocal part, the camera does cut to them or focuses on a close up of the instrument and musicians hands playing their specific parts. For example on the left, in the intro of the song there is a quick guitar solo that leads into the first verse and the camera goes close up to the lead guitarists hands while this part of the song is being played.


While She Sleeps are unusual in the sense that when they wrote this album they were not signed to a record company and so recorded all the music themselves at home. Because of this, they didn't have any record labels or companies to promote in this music video which is why there is no sign of a label or company appearing in the video. The image that is being offered in this video of the band is possibly a bit wild and gives off a kind of care-free attitude. Also, like I said before, they deffinitely show that energy that almost exploads out of them when the music starts. This is the bands first music video so it is definitely something that would give viewers their first impression of the band. The video represents the image I assume the band wants their viewers and fans to see them as which is definitely a possibly wild and passionate group of guys that play fast paced and heavy music.

There is no suggestions or images of sexual display in this video because I think the band are more focused on the music than any narrative or other visual representation. Another reason they may have filmed a performance based video is because as it is their first video, they may have aimed to show their audience the amount of passion they have for their music which definitely comes across in this video.

There is an element of un-originallity to this video because there are a lot of other bands that make their music videos of them playing the song in some sort of landscape or secluded area etc. This seems to be a common favourite within the heavy metal scene and maybe this was a way for While She Sleeps to be recognized as a Melodic Hardcore band due to the way they present themselves. Because of this, the video is completely performance based and has no narrative or concepts in terms of a story.

In conclusion the main thing the band have focused on in this video is getting their image out to their fans and audience and creating an insight into how they perform and the passion they posses for the music they play. Such things as camera cuts speeding up or slowing down and the use of slow motion before the song drops allows the band to show their passion and energy when performing.