My Chemical RomanceWelcome to the Black Parade

“The cover art for the single is a scene from the video, with the man in the bottom center being

the Patient. He is flanked by two women named "Fear" and "Regret" in Gerard Way's revenge-

era makeup.”

The video features 4 of the main characters. "The

Patient", "Fear", "Regret", and "Mother War".

"Mother War" is the woman in the Victorian-era

gown and gas mask.

It’s very different from your average music video

nowadays. It is very much based on German

expressionism; very similar to the horror films in the

1920s, emphasising and focusing on the blacks and

whites, the shadows and the emotions portrayed with no

sound.

The Black Parade is based entirely around the character of

"The Patient”, around his passage out of life and the

memories he has of his life. "The Patient" dies

and death comes for him in the form of a parade. This is

based upon Gerard Way's belief that death comes for a

person in the form of their fondest memory, in this case

seeing a parade as a child. The float is followed by many

figures in gas masks and other surreal outfits etc;

The setting of the music video goes from a hospital

to a surreal cityscape, with ash-covered

wreckage, black snow and destroyed buildings

They have made use of some colour, possibly using

a colour filter as they have used red on the roses

around the float on which the band are standing and

you can see that the skin tones of the people

involved were slightly washed out but not entirely

lack of colour.

By Kyanna Sutton

Analyse three of your favourite videos using technical terminology and key concepts

My Chemical RomanceWelcome to the Black Parade