Helena

On the 7th and 8th of January 2005, My Chemical Romance filmed the music video for Helena. It was filmed in the Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The band had enjoyed working with Marc Webb on I’m Not Okay, so they asked him to direct Helena as well. They also got Michael Rooney to choreograph the dancers. The video is described as being “celebratory but sombre” by Frank.

The video is based around the funeral of a girl who died tragically young. Gerard sings from the pulpit while the rest of the band perform in front of the altar. While he is singing, several performers dance to the music. When the song reaches the bridge, the girl in the coffin (played by Tracey Phillips) comes back to life to do one last dance down the aisle, symbolising her crossing over into the afterlife. When she finishes, she falls back into the casket, and the pallbearers (the band plus a fan called Cameron) carry the casket to the hearse as dancers with black and red umbrellas dance around them.

The band decided to use a younger woman to play Helena so as to make people take the video more seriously, and so people could connect with it on a broader level – “when somebody older dies, you kind of expect it, when somebody younger dies, it’s more tragic”. Gerard has stated that making the video felt a lot like he was reliving his grandmother’s funeral, and he had to leave the room when Tracey did her dance because it made him so emotional.

The crew hadn’t expected it to be raining on the days they were shooting, but Marc used the rain to help set the tone of the video. The sixth pallbearer and most of the mourners were played by fans who had received emails asking them to be in the video. Frank was too short to help carry to casket, and so had to walk underneath pretending to hold it. Gerard and Ray bore the brunt of the weight, as they were at the front.

The music video was released on the 23rd May, 2005. After they had finished shooting the video, the band kept the clothes they wore for it. They liked the way the matching suits made them look like a gang. It wasn’t a calculated movement, just a moment when they decided they liked the way they looked. From then on they played many live shows wearing “uniforms”. After a while they ended up not having any other clothes with them on tour, just their pajamas.

Helena was premiered on the MTV2 $2 Bill Show on March the 1st. It was nominated for five Moonmen at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. They didn’t win any, but they did a surprise performance at the end of the night. The video won other awards, including the Kerrang! award for Best Video in 2005. As well as this, on April 9, 2005, My Chemical Romance organised a parade in London with a hearse that was inspired by Helena. They played 2 shows on that day to keep up with demand, and had dancers on stage when they played Helena to recreate the music video.