Analysis of music videos

  Green day wake me up when September ends

Wake me up when September ends is a punk-rock song from the artist/band greenday. The song was released in mid 2005. This version of the music video is a longer extended edition (almost a short film) telling the story of a teenage couple and how the boyfriend leaves to serve in the army. The director of the music video was Samuel bayer how directed many other videos for the band.

The music video starts with a wide/ establishing shot of the teenage couple standing in a field (as shown at the top) as the video begins it cuts to s more close up ‘intimate’ shot of the couple as they begin to condensate, during this period of time there are many camera angles of there faces to show different expressions caused by the conversation. Because the music video uses a lot of dialog (diagetic and some non-diagetic) the viewers understand the key plot/ characters in the video. After this there is a quick few shots of the lead singer of the band before cutting back to a wide/ extreme long shot of the couple in the field piggy backing in the dusk of the sun ( suggesting peaceful and happiness which then contrasts later in the video)

After this scene it shows the couple walking past a take away stand as the camera tracks them as they pass other people in the shot. (this tracking highlights the main characters in the scene) then the couple return to a home where they embrace in romantic kissing on the sofa which then cuts to a shot of a birthday party where the two begin eat and laugh ( setting the scene and feeling of romance and joy) and then a silhouette of the bands lead singer comes into shot against a red background being very contrasting (black and red) this is followed by a long shot of the band spread out of platforms across a studio.

In the next scene (as the singing starts) there is a shot of the girl sat on the sofa and then cuts to the boy sitting in a green top which then cuts to a marine drill sergeant giving orders to those who get of the transport bus, which then shows the viewers he has joined the marine corps. The shots of the girl on her own with her ring on her finger suggest isolation and loneliness without her boyfriend. There are then multiple close ups of marines having there heads shaved expressionless which then cuts to a shot of a marine in uniform with a helmet on in the background there is the stereotypical image of a war torn city.  As the song builds to its climax towards the guitar solo there is a large explosion against a building as this happens there is a shot of the band with sparks dropping behind the stage. This then is followed by multiple shots of marines sheltering behind a hummer for cover against fire. As the tempo of the song changes we begin to hear the diagetic sounds from the scene of gun fire and explosions before it cuts to the shot of the girl in the bathroom washing her face.

This is then proceeded by a close up of the marine about to move from cover and then sees a fellow marine running before being shot in the leg and falling to the ground, then towards the end of the film of shows the girl walking by herself to some old ‘bleachers’ and sitting in isolation suggesting her loneliness and venerability  before cutting back to the fallen marine and then the additional sound of the original conversation from the start of the video between the couple and then the camera pans upwards towards the sky before cutting to a fading black editorial.

The Verve- Bitter sweet Symphony

The music video for this song was released in 1998 and is of the band's vocalist walking down a busy street lip syncing the song, this video was obviously filmed on a set or on a hired street where all of the people are actors but the surroundings are very realistic and believable. Overall the video is quite simple, but this is what makes it memorable and easy to watch, I like the style of the video by the way it grabs your attention.


This video is similar to the music video for Massive Attacks song 'Unfinished Sympathy' released in 1991, this video is filmed all in one shot which is more impressive, being much harder to plan, set up and film without mistakes. The Verve's music video appears to be a copy or interpretation of this video's style, though the verve's video is not filmed in one shot.

This is also very similar to the a modern interpretation of the song "i got a feeling" by the"black eyed peas", the music video is preformed by a Canadian university and is filmed all in one shot much like the video by massive attack, as it is filmed in one shot the planning and synchronicity of all of the parts must be 100% in flowing with the music even though this effect is hard to create it also makes the video very enjoyable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zcOFN_VBVo