Textual Analysis of 2 Contempary Music Videos

Green Day- "21 Guns"
Directed by- Marc Webb



On May 25 2009 the artists Green Day released their new song 21 Guns on ITunes and then again on CD on July 14. The song Green Day 21 Guns was written by the band. Green Day is usually a punk rock but they have been known to do acoustic songs as well. The music video of 21 Guns was recorded in June 6 in Los Angeles California, it premiered on MySpace on June 22.

The music video is set in a house were we see 2 people a male and a female. The male is sitting on a chair holding what appears to be an empty bullet. The man drops the bullet and when it hits the floor the music begins to start. The 2 main points in the video which tells us what it is about is the bullet and the female walks over to the window to see police lights. From this we can guess that these people have done something wrong and this is confirmed when bullets then start penetrating the house, hence the name of the track 21 Guns. The music video itself was directed by Marc Webb who has done many other pieces of work for people like My Chemical Romance, Snow Patrol and Maroon 5.

In the music video as the director Marc Webb will make sure that Misc-en-Scene is exactly the way he wants it as this is one of the most important factor in making a music video. In 21 Guns the misc en scene is a white room in a house. Some of the props which they use are a mirror a phone and a fish tank. One of the props used at the beginning of the video is a bullet. The bullet seems to signify that something is not right as the person who is holding it is staring at it, plus the fact that it is a bullet. Another prop which is used in the video is a phone. The phone is used by the woman who sees that it is ringing and answers it; after she has answered it she throws it into the fish tank. The costumes in which the 2 characters are wearing are both quite dark but are very individual as they are dark but it makes you feel sorry for them.

The cinematography in the video is very little movement there is very rarely a fast and speedy movement however they do use a slow motion filter which slows all of the shots down, with fast action happening but it is slowed down this looks effective as well as giving the director more time to get more shots of the action. The lighting of the room is fairly well light as it makes it look more like a real house, however half way through the video the lighting changes to just a solid beam of light over the 2 characters. One of the most important things about cinematography is the camera shots. In this video the camera shots used are mainly close ups and mid shots to show the characters facial expressions as to what is happening. There is also use of a crabbing shot which is used very effectively as it circles the 2 characters very slowly but it also does the same thing with the lead singing of Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong). In the video when the band are performing they are performing in the house as well, when the crabbing shot of the characters begins they do the same thing with the lead singer, the light on the characters is exactly the same as the singer but the only difference between the 2 shots is that in the shot of the characters you see bullet hole penetrate the wall and allow very small holes of light, and when the lead singer sings you just see things being destroyed not the bullet holes.

As I said earlier there are a few good uses of visual effects, the most obvious one is the slow motion movement shot which are used in some of the shots. This gives the audience more of a chance to see things which should be happening much faster. The second visual effect which I thought was very effective was to do with the lighting. At 3 minutes and 10 seconds the lighting changes, this is a very big dramatic changing of the light and it changes the whole song. The lighting then becomes just on top of the characters so like a spot light, and everything else just becomes dark, the focus is just on the characters as they kiss. Apart from the shot with the lead singer there isn’t that much slow motion used on the band.

In most music videos there is usually some reference between the song lyrics and the song visual, usually in film and TV there is a good strong link between the music and the visuals, for example in the TV series Friends the song “I’ll be there for you” by the Rembrandts has a deep effect as the song title is I’ll be there for you and it is about friends who you can imagine will be there for you. The visuals and the lyrics in this song fit fairly well as the song is called 21 guns, and in the video they are getting shot by 21 guns and so this is the link.

As well as the lyrics having to have some reference to the video so does the music itself, as without these two things then the song will not sell. The relationship between the song and the video is that in the song there is not a very fast pace, which is unusually for this band as they usually do more fast beat songs. In the song we do not see a fast paced edit and even when the song itself picks up it doesn’t even come out of using the slow motion which makes you think that this song is still a slow paced song.

Some music video have tried using experimental ideas of colour or possibly something else, sometimes when people try these ideas they work out really well, some people have seen these ideas and know that these have worked well and so decided to copy what this person has done but use it as their own. This is called intertextuality. In Green Day’s 21 guns there are several incidents of intertextuality for example uses of shot types and use of spot light, but overall it has made something that is all together very individual. This is because I think that the song is very individual as well, because it is a slow song and does not have up-beat tempo and yet it is a rock song.

As music videos have been around for nearly a century people usually will associate certain types of video with certain music so for example if it was a rock song you would expect a quick cut to the next shot and lots of dark colours and possibly even a bit violent. 21 guns is a slow paced rock song which surprisingly works well together as usually there isn’t a slow paced rock songs as they don’t work. With the slow motion showing the slow pace of the song it also works very well with the upbeat chorus and of course works well with the verses as they are not so much rock.

Music video’s tend to come under 1 of 3 genres the first being Performance, the second being narrative and the last being concept. A lot of music videos these days tend to be a mixture of all 3 for example Bjork- all is full of love, this is a concept as it is just saying that female robots could have sex however it could also be a narrative as well as there is a bit of a story to it. With 21 guns you could say it was a bit of all 3 as there is a feel of concept to it as the room in which they are in feels original, but again it could just as equally be a narrative as they start off sat on a chair and looking out of the window and then move to be kissing each other. Finally it could also be a performance as it the band is in the music video and is singing to the song.

As the song is what the band are trying to sell and the video is a promotion for the song, the video is not just a promotion of the song it is also a promotion for the act themselves as if it shows them in a good light then people will be more inclined to buy their music. The music video for 21 guns is a very good representation to the song as it shows the rock side of the song well and also shows the quite parts to the song as well but the video links in the two parts of the song making the song fit together very nicely. The song also promotes the band very well as well as it shows them as the non bias people not actually taking part in the video but can sympathize for both sides of the argument which is taking place.

The intended audience of this song are young adult and teenagers as they band are quite a cool looking group plus the music in which they play would appeal to teenagers.

Nickelback- "Rockstar"
Directed by- Dori Oskowitz



Nickelback are a hugely popular and well selling rock band which was formed in 1995 by Chad Kroeger, Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake. Since then they have had major success with the songs “How you remind me”, Photograph” and many others. One video which they have produced though has been a major success, this video and song is called Rockstars. The songs original release on the 22nd august 2006 had not had much of a success as it had reached various points on the charts but had not done anything special. On the 2nd June 2007 they released a music video for both this song and “Far away”. When they had made the music video which it was directed by Dori Oskowitz it had been a huge success as it had increased sale dramatically. The song itself had reached number 3 on ITunes most downloaded song plus it had also reached number 1 on ITunes most downloaded music video. The song had then become a big success as it had reached charts which it hadn’t got to the first time around.


The misc-en-scene of the music video is a tricky one to answer as there are so many different scenes but I can talk about the actors in each shot. In each shot there is always a different person or persons having said that there are a few people how get repeated. The music video is a group of shots which consist of different people miming the words to the song; these people consist of celebrities as well as just normal people. The celebrities are usually in a unknown location but with the normal people they are in famous locations, for example there is a older man standing outside the houses of parliament, there is also a semi naked cowboy which is in times square in New York. There is also no use of costumes as everyone always uses just their own cloths, which is effective as it feels like the video was easy to make.

Again with cinematography there are no real clever effects and no CGI or anything as it is just normal shots perfectly in synch with the video. There are no sudden movements in each shot there is only a slow movement of zooming in or possibly out and sometimes there is no movement what so ever. However there are fairly quick cuts as they have to be if they are lip synching. The song I feel has influenced the visuals as the song is talking about how everyone wants to be a Rockstars and how they would do anything to get it, this in turn has been interpreted by the director by getting loads of normal people and getting them to sing the song, they also use celebrities to show that even people who have a lot of money would still like to be a Rockstars.

There are no incredible visual effects but there are clever editing techniques. The first technique they have used is a lip synching one as this is perfectly in time with the visuals. They have also used quick cuts to go throughout the song which this is very effective as it shows all the people who want to be Rockstars.

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is a very important one as it is a very big link, the link between the lyrics and the visuals is that it is showing you all the people who want to be Rockstars, and in the song they talk about how everyone wants to be a Rockstar and what they have to do to get it and what it is like being it.

Another link between is the music and the visuals. This is a very important one as without this the video could be dreadful; as if the music does not go with the visuals then the promotion of the song isn’t very good. When you look at this genre of music which is rock you would expect to see a performance from the band itself and also have probably woman dancing around, however this song has changed its music video genre as in doing this it has made the genre of music video fit with the song. With the music you have a specific target audience and this is what you have to target it to, when making the music video you have to make sure that you don’t cut down you target audience as if you do the promotion will not work, this is what the song and video has done. The song has appealed to its target market but when creating the music video, it has appealed to a wider range of audience resulting in a new market for the song and in doing this they have been successful with it. The relationship between the lyrics is the audience are with the people in the video as they wouldn’t mind being Rockstars, the music is a rocky song and so the people in the video are either dancing like a Rockstar would want them to dance or pretending that they are in fact a real Rockstar.

There is no real use of intertextuality as the video is made up of lip synching and from there the director has said that we could make a whole video out of lip synching, this is a very original idea which is why it has sold so many copies of the song, there is nothing which is really coping anyone as they have just taking a standard idea or possibly even a law in music video and have just taken it to a new level.

The song is a very rocky song as has lots of genre characteristics to it. For example when you think of a rock song like this you would expect to have dancing woman or something else but in this song the genre characteristics of the video have been thrown out the window as it is nothing like what a normal rock video would be like. Having said that there are certain parts of the video which are associated with rock videos. These are that everyone is dancing like a Rockstar; the second is some of the people in the music video are pretending that they have a guitar and are pretending that they are a Rockstar. There is also a small characteristic in the song as the song talks about drugs in the chorus which again is associated with a Rockstar. That part of the song was blanked out during day time as it deemed to be offensive and inappropriate for children.

The video itself is not really under any of the titles but you could argue that it is as well. I believe that the song could be described as a concept as it is an idea and people have gotten involved with it. I think what it really is though is a performance. I think it is a performance as it has loads of people just performing themselves as if they were Rockstars, but the strange thing is about the performance is that none of the performers are part of the band until the very end when we see the band performing on stage but apart from that they have managed to make a success of a song by not including themselves in the video.

The image of the band has probably gone up in this video as it is a good song and it is a good video however you could argue that they did not appear in the video so how could this possibly make them more famous? Well the song itself advertises the bands voice and general style of music which shows them in a good light and will promote themselves in a small light, but what they have really done here is that they have promoted their band more than anything so that people will enjoy their music and will come back and listen for more, which is what they want to happen. The music video itself again is not advertising the individual people it is advertising the band and their style of music.

The intended audience for the song is everyone as it has a wide appeal of lots of people; it could appeal to teenagers but equally as much to adults and young adults. This is what the music video has done, the director knows what the target audience is and has pushed the song towards the target audience. The reason why it appeal to a lot of ages is because it is not solely a rock song as it is talking about Rockstars and saying how it would be good to be one as you would have lots of money.....etc, and in doing this, this has made people think yeah it wouldn’t be bad. What I am trying to say here is that the music video has the same or possibly a wider range of audience which is unusually because it doesn’t usually work this way.

In conclusion I believe the music video is a huge success due to its wide audience appeal and that how it makes you watch the video to see if there are any celebrities who you know. It also is successful because it has a good song in the back ground, if the song had not of reached such point to begin with I do not think that the song would of been a huge success.