Serj Tankian - Saving Us

OCT 17 2007 · 12:00

Serj Tankian - Saving Us (2007) Director: Kevin Estrada Era: Post-Grunge/Alt-Metal Solo Era (2007) - Serj Tankian's debut solo record cycle, following System of a Down's hiatus, marked by politically charged songwriting and a decentralized, artist-curated video campaign. High curatorial value as a documented artifact of the 'Elect the Dead' multi-director video project, one of the most ambitious self-financed rock video campaigns of the 2000s. Represents a confirmed directorial credit for rock photographer Kevin Estrada, whose transition to video direction is historically notable. The video's quantitative profile (161 cuts, 1.77s avg shot, high motion score) provides rich data for comparative editing-pace studies within the alternative metal genre. Its 2007 copyright and Warner Bros Records affiliation also mark it as a major-label-distributed, artist-controlled production, a meaningful case study in label/artist creative autonomy negotiations of the era. Context: Released in October 2007 as part of the fully artist-curated video campaign for 'Elect the Dead,' 'Saving Us' arrived during a period of heightened U.S. anti-war sentiment and political rock resurgence. Serj Tankian, known globally as the frontman of System of a Down, used his solo debut to amplify political themes independent of the band's hiatus. The decision to self-finance all twelve videos and assign each to a different director, including photographers, painters, documentary filmmakers, and digital artists, was a deliberate counter-programming move against mainstream MTV-era video production norms, as Tankian explicitly stated in interviews. The video's warm, high-contrast, rapidly edited aesthetic aligns with mid-2000s political documentary visual language. Director notes: The 'Saving Us' video is one of twelve videos commissioned by Serj Tankian for his debut solo album 'Elect the Dead' (Serjical Strike/Reprise, October 23, 2007), self-financed by Tankian. Each of the album's twelve tracks received a separate video from a different director drawn from Tankian's personal network. Estrada was assigned track five, 'Saving Us.' Tankian instructed all directors not to write treatments and gave them full creative latitude to produce their own visual interpretation of the music. The video was produced by Paul Bock and carries a 2007 Warner Bros Records copyright. Estrada's background as a rock photographer, rather than a traditional commercial video director, is consistent with the documentary-influenced, high-motion, high-contrast aesthetic reflected in the video's quantitative metrics.