Linkin Park
Director Mark Romanek famously treats music videos like high art (he directed Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" and Johnny Cash's "Hurt"). For "Faint," he wanted to capture the blinding energy of a live show. He set up a massive array of floodlights behind the band and filmed the first half of the song almost entirely in silhouette. It was a bold move to release a major single where the lead stars are essentially invisible until the final breakdown. The video was filmed in downtown Los Angeles at an abandoned location to give it a gritty, underground atmosphere. Mark Romanek's "Director's Cut" of the video exists, which features slightly different editing choices and color grading, but the broadcast version is the one most fans know. The spray-painted artwork seen on the set and the specialized instruments were part of the Meteora art direction, heavily influenced by street art and graffiti culture, which Mike Shinoda was personally involved in creating.