DREAM THEATER: 'Forsaken' Video To Premiere This Weekend

Anime News Network will present a preview of DREAM THEATER's new video for "Forsaken" this Saturday, January 26. The preview for the second video from "Systematic Chaos" will include three video stills and a question-and-answer session with the video's director. Later on that night the video will premiere on MTV2's "Headbanger's Ball", starting at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

A question-and-answer session with DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci follows:

Q: How was creating an anime video different from the video process you usually go through and would you want to do it again?

Petrucci: In this case, I worked a lot closer with the director and production team than ever before. It was essential that the lyric as well as the broader story line be conveyed and interpreted in such a way as to be true to the story's original meaning and also to create an accurate and compelling backdrop from where the video would be built. I would absolutely do this again. I think it would even be more fun in a longer form, perhaps a short film.

Q: Tell us a bit about the two main characters, their inspiration, etc.

Petrucci: The two main characters are Leo and Alice. Leo is basically a lost soul who is searching for something to believe in. He is seduced nightly by Alice, a beautiful and hauntingly familiar phantom whose main agenda is to take his life through his blood so that she may live on.

Q: Tell us a bit about the lyrics and meaning behind "Forsaken".

Petrucci: The lyrics to "Forsaken" are very story line driven. I tried to illustrate not only the story's various settings, but to also get inside the characters heads. Leo is depicted as someone who is agonizing and wants to understand everything that is happening to him while Alice is the luring demon focused on her continued eternity. Her seduction is played out as the two float weightlessly through the night visiting cities and events in history that prove to be both exhilarating and horrifying.

Q: Do you have a favorite part of the video and why?

Petrucci: My favorite part of the video is when Alice first gives Leo the "stinging kiss" and his entire body and face take on a really frightening form as they rise from the earth together while her poison races through him. This to me very graphically illustrates the stark contrast between Alice's enticing gestures and of course her ultimate true evil intentions.

Q: How was the overall experience working with the director?

Petrucci: Working with the director was a great experience. It got off to an amazing start as soon as I read his futuristic interpretation of the story. It was very cool to develop the characters and of course to see the animation evolve from the storyboards to the final video.