Video Analysis - By Luke

The Suburbs (Arcade Fire) directed by Spike Jonze.


The video itself is shot without the band Arcade Fire featuring at all. Normally within music video, more often than not, the band will be featured in a performance scenario or in an acting role. Within our video we want to provide a contrast between the narrative as well as the performance of the band to give a healthy balance as well as two different outlooks to keep the audience interested. 

The video itself features the life of everyday teenagers in their local area and the activities that they get up to - perhaps providing a microcosm for teenagers in general. They are shown riding their BMXs, firing BB Guns at each other and meandering about. In the video, there is a military aspect where the army instill marshall law in the town which shows the difference between the innocence shown by the teens in the video and then later highlights this loss of youth innocence as the army take this away from them. 

When looking at this video, the loss of innocence is not important in terms of our research as we want to show how the youth can be presented as nothing but teenagers in their normal everyday life. So by focusing on Spike Jonez's portrayal of this, we can be inspired as to how to show the youth in our video which is titled 'Young Blood'. It is our plan to also show young people in events such as around a campfire, walking through the woods and on bikes for example, similar to the Suburbs video. 

The first shot is of a boy walking in front of a rather suburban setting, which immediately introduces the viewer to the characters' surroundings. This is then repeated in a long shot of all the teenagers riding their bikes through a typical American housing estate. The camera then tracks alongside one of the characters who again is stereo typically presented wearing a beanie hat and vest, symbolic of casual teenage wear. At this time the lyrics say "In the suburbs, I used to drive", which can be seen as a literal and iconic representation of bike riding as it is so familiar for a young person in the childhood. Jonez then carries on to show their friendship and youthfulness as they jump off their bikes and let it ride away before celebrating with each other at the achievement of the bike continuing to stand without them on it. It depicts the simple things that make a teenager happy and are integral parts of their life. We want to rein-act these simple events and show the joy of being a young person in our music video ultimately. 

The next scene shows the group on top of a bridge firing their BB Guns at a stranger and then laughing in a medium shot. Whilst this is happening, two of the characters are aside of this and are shot in a close-up intimately- showing young love and romance as a normal part of growing up and how innocent love is endearing. Here we see two components of teenage life happening alongside one another, love and fun. The romance side of thing we want to be represented within our video and this can be seen hopefully in the camp fire scene with couples spread out around it in quite a cliche situation. Spike Jonez shows these as he himself is quite young for a director and therefore has these memories fresh in his memory. As we (our group) are still this age we are living through them right now, therefore our representation should be even more accurate than his, so theoretically ours could be more credible.



Although it is a complicated video, when you take away the involvement of the army, the core of the video is teenage experiences and within our video 'Young Blood' we want to demonstrate this. The opening lyrics set the platform for what is to unfold in the video -"We're all young and naive still, we require certain skill". We want to let this curiosity of a teenager be shown and them developing their life experiences - which reiterates the gaining skills message.

Green Day - 21 guns

The video above is called '21 Guns' and is by the American band 'Green Day' from there eighth album '21st century breakdown'. It is part performance and part narrative.  It plays on the idea of the 21 gun salute, which is a saying for a warship emptying their guns in order to show that they have no hostile intent it is also often used as a reception for heads of state. The first interpretation fits in well with the music video as it is about surrendering and giving up on a fight that is not worth dyeing for. it is directed by Mark Webb who is quite well known. Webb won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction for this video in 2009.

It is about what is worth fighting for in life and what is worth letting go. the idea in this song and video is that although pride is important you should not let it stand in between you, and happiness. there.

 The first lines asks a question about 'do you know what is important to you?' and we see a man looking at a bullet which again refers to war and he then drops it suggesting he is giving up and as the bullet hits the ground the first guitar strums start. Then there is a close up of the actual bands Billie Joe Armstrong lead singer we see that he is trying to hide his emotions as his girlfriend is at the window looking out which shows that they have grown apart again seen when they are seen at opposite ends of the room. And the lyrics ask weather it is worth the pain. which suggests that they should forget there pride and forgive each other. The band say that 'it is not about giving up instead realising what is important'.

The couple are then subject to stray bullets coming through the walls as the chorus sets in, we see a long shot of the woman covering her head in fear as bullets come through the wall around her. The band who are seen in a similar room to the couple are also affected by it but act as if they don't notice, a medium close up shot of the guitarist playing on and singing calmly whilst bullets shoot through the walls behind him is an example of this. Compared to the couple who panic, therefor showing that they don't want to die which may suggest they don't really want the relationship to die.

I also think that is like the band are narrating a silent movie as they are almost watching things unfold and explaining. the fact that they are not affected by the bullets would suggest they are not real almost like a guardian angel.

Also the bullets could be seen as their pride which is keeping them apart and after the chorus the music becomes calmer and the couple both become calm and walk towards each other, not caring about the bullets which shows that they have overcome that and realised that it is not worth the pain of not being together therefore, surrendering there pride which again refers to the earlier line '"Does the pain weigh out the pride?'and when they meet in the middle they kiss.

The video is shot in a your average city apartment and the couple are both dressed fairly plainly, which i believe is to suggest that they are just normal people, therefor the viewer can see that this could be them if they do not listen to the meaning being portrayed. they are both wearing black leather jackets  and have similar color hair may suggests simelarities. therefor connecting the two.

Fairly often in this song the video cuts to the beat of the music, examples of this can be seen at the beginning when the bullet hits the ground the beat comes in and the video cuts to the band, it is also common when the camera is on the band for it to cut to the different members and this if often done to the beat of the music, especial the drum beat.

The video for this song is similar to a lot of the music videos made by this band especially in the album '21st century breakdown' where there is a separate narrative story and also visuals of the band playing the song, a good example of this is in the video for 'Wake me up when September ends'. However other videos especial in earlier albums have been made very differently compared to this one which is very serious and solom whereas in videos such as 'American Idiot' and 'Holiday'the video is much more relaxed and fun with a fast tempo.   

There is a defernate message trying to be portrayed in the song and the video helps to portray this to the full extent. you can tell the words are asking the question if things are worth the pain and not to let your pride get in the way of something that you want.  

Eminem - Stan

The music video above by the rap artist Eminem is about an obsessed fan who becomes insane due to the fact his hero Eminem does not reply to his fan mil and ends up killing himself and pregnant wife. it was directed by Philip G. Atwell.


It starts with a man in a bathroom bleaching his hair. This is cleaver as Eminem is well known for is blond hair and this means that when watching the video you can tell that the man is trying to look like Eminem this shows that the film makers are relating aspects to Eminem's appearance. We then see the man have a argument with his girlfriend about her calling him Stan again showing he want to be like Eminem. After this we see Stan go into a cellar which is covered is posters of Eminem which helps to make him the main focus of the video. He starts to write a letter and after an ellipses of time we see Eminem receive it and read it, this suggests that he cares about his fans. In his letter Stan was writing about his letters before and how Eminem had not replied but we then see it fall of a trolley in the post office explaining the problem to the audience and proving Eminem did not ignore him. Stan also talks about his girlfriend being pregnant and the video cuts to her alone on the bed which tells her that he has isolated himself and left his girlfriend alone in when she is in need of help.  The video takes a turn and you see Stan becoming frustrated and angry to by Eminem not replying. and he writes about self harm and you see blood on a magazine. we see Stan and his girlfriend in bed and she then gets up and goes down to the cellar and finds a picture of them but she is covered by a cut out of Eminem this shows he has become obsessed with him. we then see Stan speeding down a highway it the rain screaming into a tape reorder. the stormy weather emphasises the idea that he is not in control and it also portrays his feelings. We see Stan gone mad, he is furious that his idol does not seem to care about him. The quote 'I hope you cant sleep and you dream about it.' suggests that he knows what he is going to do and it makes the viewer sympathise with him. we see cuts to him destroying the cellar, ripping pictures of the wall showing us he has lost his love for Eminem. and also we find out that his pregnant girlfriend is in the boot of the car and we then see him drive into the river. the last few shots of Stan are extremely important as you can see the madness and anger expressed in his face. The video then cuts to Eminem replying to Stan's letter and we find out that he never meant to ignore him and he offers advice and tells Stan to find help,this shows Eminem in a good light as he seems to care about his fan and is concerned for his and his girlfriends well being.  but it is too late and, as he continues to write he realises that it is the same person who had driven of the bridge in the news.

There are many controversial parts to this video with suicide, self harm, murder and violence all included but the fact that wee see Eminem trying to stop it means that he is not seen as advertising it but instead as a advocate against it. the video and the lyrics are related and it is almost like a conversation between the two and throughout the lyrics are spoken by the person on screen. You can identify relationships with the lyrics and visuals throughout the video, for example wen he talks about meeting Eminem at a signing you can see it happening and also when he is driving the lyrics say 'I'm in a car right now, I'm doing 90 on the freeway'.There are examples where the video cuts to the beat of the music. However the video does not show any pacific instruments being played.

The company intend to sell the track as a message to his fans and shows Eminem against the things you see in the video such as self harm.

The video does not have many sexual connotations and does not try and sell the artist as a sex symbol instead it has a more serious tone and try's to put a message across. The camera work and costume again does not portray any sexuality. instead the lighting and mise en scene work to show Stan in a grotty house proving that his obsession has had a negative impact on his life, the dark lighting help to portray this.    

Compared to other Eminem's videos this one differs as he is not the main character instead it is about someone else where as in most of his songs it is a narrative of his own life. however some think that his life experiences influenced this song as his Uncle Ronnie also committed suicide which is mentioned in the song.

There are lots of cuts and changes of time for example when he is writing about meeting Eminem the video cuts to the when it happened also when he asks why he never replied to him it cuts to the letter falling of the trolley at the post office. These are all examples of an ellipses of time.