Tom Snaith- A2 Media

Music Video Analysis: Green Day – Wake me up when September ends

Wake me up when September ends is a punk rock song by the American band Green Day. The song was released in 2005 and is over seven minutes long. The lead singer of the band; Billy Joe Armstrong, said the song was in memory of his Father who dies when he was ten years old. The music video features teen actors Jamie Bell and Evan Rachel Wood. The genre of the music video is a hybrid between narrative and performance.

The narrative of the video tells the story of a young love stricken couple who couldn’t live without each other. The beginning of the video shows a wide establishing shot of the two sitting in a field with the title of the song to the left of them. The couple then kiss and a close up of the two talking is shown

The video continues to show the couple together at home playing video games, play fighting on the couch and acting lovingly towards each other.

As the next scene comes in the music stops completely. It’s like the music video becomes a movie for the next minute. The girl slams open the porch door whilst the guy is sat on a bench out there. She begins to shout and yell at him saying ‘how could you’. He’s trying to calm her down and reassure her, but she pushes him away. At first you’d have thought he cheated on her or something along those lines but then he says ‘I did this for you, for us’ and the scene changes. As this happens the music starts again.

Tom Snaith- A2 Media

The scene changes to the guy stepping out of a bus at an army camp. Then changes again to him having his head shaved along with other recruits. We then understand why the couple were arguing. The narrative continues of the guy at war, fighting in battle, whilst the girl is at home endlessly thinking of him.

This continues until the guy is shot dead. The scene changes to the girl sat looking up into the sky repeating a line said during the narrative at the beginning of the video, ‘no matter what you’ll always have someone here for you, I’m never gonna leave you’.

Tom Snaith- A2 Media

The video is continuously cutting between performance and this narrative. The scenes which display the performance parts of the video are of the band singing. The lead singer is brought forward with lights flashing in time with the beat of the song.

The obvious characters in the video are the young and in love couple. The band in my opinion appears in the video as secondary characters, reason for this being they want the narrative to be the main story for the audience. The couple represent young love in the way they act with each other, saying and thinking it will be like that forever and that they’re lifelong partners. This is a stereotypical representation with young love.

There’s juxtaposition between the hybrid of genres. This being because the characters in the narrative are in love and happy together. Whereas the representation in the performance and in the actual song is quite dull. The punk rock band represents rock and rebellion. This is represented through what they wear and their body language throughout the performance side of the video.

There is certain iconography in the video in both aspects with the love and punk rock. In the narrative the way the two characters act with each other and lovingly talk to each other is iconic to love. They repeatedly kiss each other and hold hands. They look at one another and it’s clear to see they’re in love. When he joins the army iconic props are used to properly represent this. For example the tanks and guns. The uniform he wears and the way he gets his head shaved along with other men in the same position as him.

Likewise the band themselves are iconic to the punk rock genre. This is represented through the use of the clothes they wear and props they use. The band are dressed in black, coats, jeans, shoes ad tee-shirts, with black hair which is generally seen as a stereotypical colour within this genre of music. Also the instruments they use are generally associated with a punk rock band. These being, electric guitars, bass guitars and drums. This al represents the rebellion which punk rock stands for.

The camera angles in the video vary depending on the scene and if it’s the narrative or performance side of the video. The narrative uses quite a lot of close ups of the characters faces to show the love between on another. Also when the music cuts out completely, mid shots are used which makes the music video seem like a clip from a movie. Establishing shots are also used to show the viewer where the scene is set.

During the performance side the camera angle is close up to the lead singers face to allow the audience to properly understand the words when watching the video. At other points during the performance side of the video the camera is set back and shows the whole band playing the song.