Conventions of Genre

Motionless In White- Immaculate Misconception

Immaculate Misconception Video

Motionless in White (or M.I.W for short) are an American metalcore band from Scranton Pennsylvania formed in 2005. The band are known for their dark, horror themed lyrics, heavy, ominous sound, Gothic styled physical appearances, and their energetic and demanding live shows. The band have featured in many publications world wide including more notably the covers of Kerrang! (as seen on the right), Orkus and Alternative Press.

M.I.W have stated to multiple magazines that they have had a wide range of influences from bands like; Dimmu Borgir, Slipknot, Metallica, HIM, Breaking Benjamin, Blink-182 and many other bands from other sub-genres of rock and metal.

The song ‘Immaculate Misconception, released on November 11th, 2011 is the 3rd single released from their the bands second studio album ‘creatures’ following the success of signing to a major label. Up to this day it has reached 3,885,107 views on YouTube and will most likely achieve many more in the years to come

Chris ‘Motionless’ Cerulli, lead vocalist of M.I.W stated in the description of the video on the record labels channel that “The main idea and main concern of mine was to basically parallel the 2 time periods of our band and all the open minded people in the world's present day life and the time period of Jesus' life and show how similar they are. I wanted to highlight the hypocrisy and hold a mirror up to all the self righteous, Holier-than-thou people and show them how full of shit they are. We have our own beliefs and we aren't afraid to speak out about them, We are not Satanists, We have a positive message towards finding self-worth and inner peace, We don't discriminate against ANYONE regardless of the way they look, their faith, sexuality, or race, and believe it or not, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jesus Christ. Yet despite all these very moral and positive vibes, we are still constantly ripped apart for being who we are. Sounds really similar to what happened to the man the people that criticize us put all their faith in. The difference between myself and Jesus is that he was trying to convince people to believe in him and a higher power (God) to find salvation... Whereas *I'M* trying to convince people to believe in themselves. God does not control your life, YOU do.” This is what the main idea of the video & song is about, to challenge those peoples narrow minded beliefs and views and stand up for what you believe in no matter who and what gets in your way.

The song is just like lots of the bands other songs in the style of them and the way they are played both live and on the recordings. It has a mix of hard-core metalcore vocals as well as the softer more hard rock style singing in the chorus.

They have had three studio albums, one EP, ten singles and seven music videos and one demo to date in their career.

2009 album when the bandWas signed to Tragic Hero records.

2010 album released while the band were and still are signed to major label, Fearless Records

2012 album was also released via Fearless Records and is their most recent album later this year due to release a deluxe version too.

Reached #175 on the billboard 200 upon release in 2010

Charted #53 on billboard 200, #19 on Top Rock Albums, #9 on Top Independent Albums and #5 on Top Hard Rock Albums chart.

There are many generic conventions used in this music video like the props, the stage lighting in the performance section, the tattoos and piercings, stretchers that the band members have but one of the things that is not generic of metal/metalcore bands are that they don’t always use the make up/ ‘paints’ that M.I.W use the only other bands that have been noted seen with paint like that are Murderdolls, Black Veil Brides and most famously, Kiss. It gives them a sense of identity and makes them stand out among the many bands out in the world today.

The performance part of the video is very typical in nearly all rock and metal music videos because that is the image the band tries to promote through out all of their career; that they play and write their own music unlike these singers who just sing what they get given with a backing track.

The lyrics and images on screen are very illustrative because at the start of the video it shows the band walking down the street and there are a group of protesters saying ‘God hates you’ ‘You’re going to hell’ and as a result of one of them spitting on Chris the vocalist he jumps on him and that’s when the opening lyric comes on as if he is shouting to the protester shouting “What the F**k!” This ties in with the message that Chris gave in the description of the video on the record labels channel. Then in some parts the images are also quite amplifying in some places like when Chris is being portrayed a Jesus Christ by being put on the crucifix but it works because sometimes you have to amplify a picture to actually get your point/message across.

The camera shots work especially at the start when you get the shot reverse shots of both the groups; the band and the protesters as it shows two completely different groups of people, the open minded religious metal band who sing about things that they believe in and then the narrow minded Christians who think metal is a sin and they will go to hell.

The editing throughout the song is very fast paced and up beat to go with the tempo of the track and this is kept throughout the whole apart from the part when in the video the protesters walk in and it is a slow tempo to the instruments just before the breakdown kicks in. The editing at this point are still fast but not as fast. From 3:30 in the video the editing gets even slower when the song becomes more calm.

The video is both performance and conceptual with the conceptual part being used for the band to give that message across and this is very common in music videos from the metal genre. They 99% definitely have a performance based section and then it normally has either a narrative section or a conceptual section but sometimes even both.

Motionless are being portrayed as people who can play and write their own music unlike some of these people and groups who sing any songs that are given to them. They also are being portrayed as being able to get their point across even if the way they do that may be seen as a bit extreme by some social groups and that they will not let people get in the way of doing their jobs and playing shows/writing music for those millions of fans across the world.

There is a reason for the band to get portrayed like this and it is for promotion. The reason for being portrayed like this for promotion is so that they can be known to their fans and even those who aren’t fans that they can write and play their own written music. This then gives their fans that sense of admiration for the band because they can look up to them because of the talent and skills they have and one day those fans will maybe end up touring with Motionless, the band they looked up to.

The notion of looking is not evident as women in this music video are not viewed as objects there are hardly any woman in this video the closest to the notion of looking is when Chris has the man on the floor you see him stare at the man and then it cuts to the man but that is simply a shot reverse shot.