Music video analysis 3

Song: Wake me up when September ends

Artist: Green Day

The song ‘Wake me up when September ends’ by Green Day is alternative punk rock.

The music video begins with a long shot of a teenage girl and a teenage boy sitting together in a field, surrounded by yellow flowers. This indicates that the scene is shot in the summer and could suggest a summer love/romance. . The title ‘when September ends’ could also highlight the fact that it could be a love formed over the summer period as summer

generally ends around September time. The characters in the music video are mainly wearing short sleeves clothing, this also suggests it could be set around the summer. There are then close ups of the lead singer from Green Day’s eyes, nose and mouth as he begins to sing. There is

then an extreme close up of his face so that audiences attention is immediately focused who it is that is singing the song, he is also using direct address which will also draw audiences in. the video goes on to show the couple at home playing video games with one another and play fighting on the sofa. They look very happy when they are around one another. The couple in the video kiss on various different occasions, this is iconic of love songs, this may be slightly breaking the stereotypical expectation of punk rock music videos due to the love theme running throughout it. The guitars that are seen in the video are iconic of punk rock and if an audience were to see them they would instantly link them with this genre. The haircuts and the outfits that the band wears are also iconic of this genre as they are very darkly coloured. There is a silhouette of the main singer in Green Day singing into a microphone, this is giving the video performance style footage as well as narrative style. Behind this is a bright red background which could highlight the theme of love which runs throughout the video. Red is also a connotation of danger and evil which represents the punk rock genre.

Part way through the video, the music stops and there is a scene where the music video almost becomes part of a film. This tells a little more of the narrative as it shows the male and female characters fighting as she is not happy with something that he did. Adding this into the music video will make an audience f eel more familiar with their situation and will be able to sympathies and maybe even relate to certain

Heather Wileman

characters. Here audiences will get the feeling that he has cheated on her as she is crying and asking him how he could do that to her, he then goes on to say “I did this for us” which would question the minds of viewers as it is not clear what is going on. This may make people want to carry on watching the video as they are interested. After this, the music then starts again and we see Green Day situated on a stage with instruments and a red backdrop, here they are

following the stereotypical expectation of the punk rock genre as they are surrounded by dark colours, lights and instruments. They are also wearing black clothing which could be a connotation of sadness due to the fight that the two characters in the video had. There is then footage of the two characters shown living their own lives separately, this suggests that whatever it was that

the boy did was unforgiveable and obviously caused problems within their relationship. Later on in the video, there is a scene showing the male character going to war, this gives hints that this could have been what the previous fight was over. At the end, the male character is shown watching one of his best friends die before him, it then cuts to a shot of the girl sitting down staring at the sky. This does not give the narrative a clear ending and allows an audience to interpret it in anyway they want.