Music Video Analysis - 21st Century Breakdown

21st Century Breakdown  - Link"21st Century Breakdown" - Green Day
This music video is a concept based video with elements of performance. It was released in 2009, directed by Marc Webb and the genre falls under pop-punk and alternative rock.
This is a very unique video so it is very different from other music videos of the same or similar genre. Some generic characteristics used in the video are the band playing their instruments, close-ups of the band/instruments and mid-shots. The video is unlike any other music video as it is animated in graffiti for most of it, this then makes the video able to have various different transitions that they couldn't do if it was live action. The video was shot in live action then edited in post-production.

Lyrics and Visuals

The visuals in the music video are graffiti animation of the band and other people with lyrics occasionally animated in a wall. At one point in the video the lyrics "I was made out of poison and blood" were animated as graffiti on a wall with "blood" in red to make the lyric stand out. Other examples are the lyrics "21st Century Breakdown" on the wall during the chorus and when the camera is focused on Billie Joe Armstrong (lead singer). These lyrics being shown visually keeps the audience engaged with it. They obviously chose the more provocative and interesting lyrics to animate as it is better for the video.

When Armstrong sings "homeland security could kill us all" he makes the shape of a gun and pretends to shoot himself in the head with animated blood splattering behind him as if it were coming out his head.

Music and The Video
In the opening of the music video, the main couple kisses after two beats of the drum and the opening guitar chord is played as they kiss. It then zooms in on them and transitions on to Green Day playing.
On some of the chords that Armstrong strikes, the animation is paused and animated graffiti comes up and goes to the next shot.
After the second chorus (1:49) there is a drum solo, there is a bird's eye view shot focussing in on the drummer's sticks and the zooms in on the drum, transitioning on to the next shot.

Close Ups and Star Motifs
The album cover for "21st Century Breakdown" is a graffiti stencil of a young couple kissing, this imagery is repeatedly seen in the music video, in the introduction, when they fix the car (1:46), during the mini drum solo (1:49). This also links with the imagery in Green Day's "21 Guns" music video where a live action version of the couple kisses.
A lot of the shots are mid-shots of the band and there are close-ups of Armstrong (lead singer). At 2:16 during the guitar solo the camera focuses on each of the band members. After that, it goes into a sort of "tunnel" silhouette shot in the shape of the side of Armstrong's face.



Intertextuality
As I mentioned before, the imagery of the couple kissing is taken from the album cover and also links with the 21 Guns music video.
A graffiti animated version of Richard Nixon is featured, it is of him throwing a baby and then giving his iconic peace sign gesture which was very popular in the media when he was in office.
There are other shots of politicians on televisions but no one in particular.

Music Video Analysis - Hardest Button to Button

"Hardest Button to Button" - The White Stripes
This music video was released in 2009 and directed by Michel Gondry. The genre falls under rock, more specifically garage rock. The music video is a performance/contemporary since it has the band performing but uses editing techniques for the whole thing.
Garage rock is quite a niche genre so a lot of garage rock bands were around in the 60s when music videos were less common so the genre doesn't really have any defining qualities that stand out. However, rock has some obvious ones, musicians playing their instruments, performing the song, close up shots of each of the musicians, a simple a setting, not that many low or high angle shots and high key lighting, etc. Hardest Button to Button has almost all of these.

Lyrics and the Video 
The lyrics are about a young boy who's parents had another child and he feels less important. "You Think It's Sleazy? Then put it in a short letter" this is about wanting everyone to be quiet, this is reflected with the amount of amps and drums featured in the video (32 of each!).
One bit in the video that is a direct reference to the lyrics is when Jack White sings "Except a stick, a dog and box with something in it" and a man in a white jacket comes and shows him a box then closes it and leaves.
The song is also about how the family are poor and have to give the baby brother up for adoption. This is reflected with the minimal amount of activity happening in the background, since it's in a big town but nothing else is happening. Only a few cars and pedestrians can be seen and the train they go on is empty.

Music and the Video
Throughout the entire video the drum kit is being edited and multiplied to the underlying beat of the song, making it obvious that they are linked. As the drum kits multiply along side each one, Meg White (the drummer) is instantly on the next drum kit. When the guitar playing starts in the song, Jack White (the guitarist) appears out of nowhere with an amp beside near him. He and the amp are then edited so the amp multiplies and he is moved along with a jump cutting effect (so it looks like he's teleporting) to the sound of the guitar riff. Essentially the drummer "teleports" on each drum beat and the guitarist "teleports" when a the main riff is played. At some points in the video equipment disappears to the beat of the song or editing if sped up but still to the beat.










Close ups and Star Motifs    
The drum kits featured in the video have the bands (at the time current) design, so it was in every shot of the video so it was constantly being seen by the viewer so they would recognise it. The video isn't linked to any previous videos they've released. A lot of the shots are mid-shots of the duo so you can see them clearly, this is a common characteristic of performance based music videos. The motif is repeated throughout the whole video with the drums and amplifiers multiplying.



Intertextuality
There are no references to other texts or media in the video. However, the duo are wearing their iconic red and black clothes. They are synonymous with these colours as they wear them for a lot of photo shoots so this directly links to the stars persona and helps reinforce their iconic image.
This video was used as a reference in an episode of The Simpsons after the song was released.

Target Audience
All these techniques used are good for the viewer as it will reinforce the band's image into the viewer's mind and they can stay recognisable.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is when a media text references directly or indirectly another media text. It could be any kind of media text with another. It appeals to the audience as they get fulfilment from seeing references from other that they like. It could also bring in new fans if people discover a new music video because they wanted to see a reference that they recognised, regardless of whether they know they artist or not.















Blink 182 mocked boy band videos with their single "All The Small Things"  by referencing obvious common characteristics that they have. One Direction ended up using the exact same location for their song "Beautiful" summing up how generic boy band videos are.

SR-71's video "Right Now" features a section referencing Queen's iconic "Queen II" album cover.
Sum 41's alter-ego band Pain For Pleasure parodies many 80s metal/hard rock bands such as Iron Maiden.
Teenage Dirtbag references the film American Pie with one of the main cast Jason Biggs

Weird Al Yankovic does it amazingly with almost every major artist or band

Richard Dyer Star Theory

Richard Dyer's theory states that artists and celebrities are constructed by institutions for financial gain and everything is to appeal to the target audience. This image is so the artist is instantly recognisable for the audience and differs from other celebrities and separates them from them actual selves.

Audience, Institutions and Star Persona
The primary goal for the record label is to make as much money as possible from the artist. Companies will modify the artist to appeal to more people and will sometimes hire a publicist. They can modify the artist by controlling what they say in interviews, what music videos are released for them and what they do in them. Everything will be done with the target audience in mind.
 The star persona of an artist is a constructed image that is instantly recognisable, some good examples are Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Sia.
Other artists however constantly change their style like David Bowie and others may capitalise on other artists style like "Weird" Al Yankovic who is known for parodying other musicians.

Male Gaze 
The male gaze is used to so it appeals to men and make celebrities aspirational for women. The attractiveness of a star means people are more likely to listen to them and therefore watch their videos and then buy their songs. A good example of this is "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus, where sex appeal is used to draw the viewer in.



Voyeurism and Objectification
Both are used often to sexualise artists to draw viewers in.

• The idea of watching or looking without the subject knowing 
• Links in with the male gaze theory and uses sex appeal
• Sees women as just pretty people "objects" to just be there instead of being seen as people (e.g "Blurred Lines")
• Some artists are now trying to change the way they are viewed, not in a sexual way or objectifying way but in an empowering way

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin
Genre Characteristics and Lyrics & Visuals
Goodwin has made points on music videos, stating different theories applying to representations in music videos.
Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, videos of certain genres have traits of the genre. For example, Metal videos will feature horror type things in them like Cannible Corpse's video "Zero The Hero". With hip-hop videos there is usually dancing.
There is usually a link between the lyrics of a song and the visuals of the music videos. Green Day's "Macy's Day Parade" has quite dark, sad lyrics and the video is shot in black and white so it reflects the mood. The video is also done entirely in one shot so this represents the songs message of repetition.

Close Up Shots
Record labels will want music videos to include close ups and mid-shots of the musicians so it is easier to sell them as a brand. This can be seen in most music videos if any of the musicians are performing  or even just feature in the video. This is used within every genre, from pop punk to country to comedy to rap.

The Notion of "Looking"

This is the frequent reference to the notion of looking, where a music video will feature screens such as a television or things like a telescope that characters will often look through and/or be seen through . It is often used for the male gaze as well, affecting the treatment of the female body possibly using voyeurism. It can also be used to drive the narrative and move the story along or to represent something or be used as a metaphor. Good examples of this are Green Day's "When I Come Around" where a little girl looks through her telescope to see someone and "American Idiot" where you can see the lead singer through a small screen as well as in real life. Other examples could include "Stacy's Mom" is seen through a window undressing and it is used sexually in this context.

Male and Female Gaze

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The male gaze is the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. The phrase male gaze was coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey in 1975.
 This is what we see in mainstream media as a huge majority of the media is run by men. This is common in music videos, especially with pop songs.



The Female Gaze is a Feminist film theoretical term representing the gaze of the female viewer. It is a response to Laura Mulvey's term, "the male gaze," which represents not only the gaze of the male viewer but also the gaze of the male character and the male creator of the film.
This is a like a role reversal of the male gaze. This can be seen in videos such as "Call Me Maybe" and other music videos



Female Gaze
The roles of each gaze are to appeal to the audience, primarily the male audience since it is mostly men with high up roles in the media. Some female artists try to balance it out with the female gaze and try to create opposite kinds of music videos. For example, we see the female gaze used in "Call Me Maybe" where the main focus of the video is an attractive man shown in revealing ways with the use of (or lack thereof) mise en scene and camera shots. But it's also what the actor does. In this video, the male subject is shown mowing the lawn and fixing a car while being attractive at the same time. These are very manual, labour intensive jobs and link them with the male gender.
The gaze clearly affects the representation of men in the music video. 
Other examples of this include D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel" where D'Angelo performs his song as the camera focuses very closely on parts of his (sweaty) body. P!ATD's "Girls/Girls/Boys" pays homage to D'Angelo's video.

Sum 41's "In Too Deep" sort of mocks the male gaze in a way. Having professional divers with ripped bodies performing well in a diving competition with the band mocking them and then contrasting that with fans cheering for the band, while not being anywhere near as strong as the divers. The videos concludes with the judges favouring the band, this could be interpreted as a metaphor for the way the band sees men in society







Male Gaze
Examples of the male gaze are more common in music videos and media in general. Even with female artist's music videos as many conform to western society's gender roles and often exacerbate expectations of women.
The White Stripes' "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" is literally just a model in a bikini dancing on a stripper pole. However, with some lens flares, high contrast lighting and shaky camera shots The White Stripes have created a quite artistic video. Especially considering the model showcases her talent for dancing. This is an untraditional view through the male gaze.

More examples can be seen in "November Rain" where the main woman is incredibly skinny and the mise en scene is a very short wedding dress. Also Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" and "Shake It Off" where the cameras linger on certain parts of women's bodies. The iconic video "Stacy's Mom" also relies heavily on the male gaze.

Andrew Goodwin
Goodwin has made points on music videos, stating different theories applying to representations in music videos.
Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, videos of certain genres have traits of the genre. For example, Metal videos will feature horror