Image - This is a graphically designed logo of a grenade in a heart shape almost bleeding; as the red paint ie dripping down the the hand that is clutching the grenade. The fact that the grenade is shaped as a heart is symbolising the saying "pulling on heart strings" maybe some of the songs are love songs in the album. Or another interpretation is that the representation is portrayed as negative to American ethnicity because they are too powerful with a great deal of money and weapons. Nevertheless I like the stencil effect and may try to achieve this with a peace or OK sign with hand gestures. As Conquer the Decade could relate to history and I think in the album there are war songs so it could work well.
Colour - Red connotes death most certainly even though the grenade is in a heart shape - white connotes purity almost as though the hand is innocent and shouldn't deserve to bleed or die. The colours could also convey a positive stereotype of English or American ethnicity as the white hand is brave enough to touch the grenade even though the person bleeds from it. However this could also be classed as negative because they could be foolish enough to pick up the grenade thats about to blow up.
Font - The album name is once again bigger than the artists name again, and the artist name is in capitals and the album name is in lowercase putting more emphasis on the bands name. Once again there is a sketchy font being used for both names. This is except the "presents" which emphasizes the importance of the words.
Layout -"presents" is right next to the i's dot in american kind of signifying a bullet point in war stating the soldiers mission. Also the hand and grenade is almost like a stencil - this is iconic to the band as many recognise the grenade as a fashion symbol.
Language - Green connotes jealousy thus one interpretation of the bands name is a jealous day. I looked it up and Green day is one of the [seven plagues] that will change the course of all "green life" as well as the third part of all humanity. or it could also be a day for smoking Marijuana according to http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071026084110AA3a4bP. American idiot is similar to Bleed America with the derogatory stereotype that Americans are not very smart. This is reinforced by one of the bands songs in this album the lyrics say "I don't wanna be an American Idiot" inferring that all americans are idiots which of course they are not. Therefore, the album cover could represent a negative stereotype of ethnicity.
This video reminds me of Avril Lavigne's when your gone because its about a woman's husband going to war and had unfortunately passed away just like this one. Thus, the narrative must be a convention of this genre and both videos are performative and narrative based. This is reinforced by the actor in the video as she looks like Lavigne. This is either a coincidence or this is what girls should look like in this genre "blonde hair blue eyes, and confident". Nevertheless, it would be too difficult to find a war location and do explosions with fake guns and stuff. The CD cover is linked quite closely with the theme of war.
Editing -Then again I like how this is edited with band playing and singing separately. Most of the professional music videos have very good lip sync editing. This is probably because the band wrote the song but as I am using actors it could be proven as a bit trickier as they will need to learn the lyrics and the rhythm to act it out and mouth the words. However, like most videos it cuts between the story and the band which is what I plan to achieve. I think it was effective how the story was happening in different locations as both characters and actors were thinking of each other. The slow motion effect is used a variety of times especially at the end which makes a contrast with the pace of the music. I think music just tends to increase in pace at the end because it spends most of the beginning building up in this case building up the tension and then releasing in music
Mise en scene - the beginning the facial expressions and body language is relaxed and happy as the male protagonist laughs when the female protagonist says "don't ever leave me" as we replies "I won't" this is ironic as it girders the future as he leaves her to go to war. When the girl finds this out she gets angry and starts to cry as he broke his promise this is when body language and facial expressions all change as she slams the door and storms out to him and falls to the floor with sadness after his facial expressions change to anger. Thus the tone and mood of the song changes as the audience feels sympathy for the couple.
The location and lighting is really bright and sunny in a field of yellow flowers which is a huge difference to the next location through an extra close up if the singer in the band with black make up over his eyes. This is very rockish and pop punk developed from rock thus has elements of the genres conventions running though it. The lighting also changes just before the female protagonist finds out that the male protagonist is going to war; there is a silhouette of the singer with a red background which connotes blood and death. The location changes again as it goes to a performative based set as its a stage with bright lights and then the percussion comes in.
The people in the story are wearing pretty mainstream clothes e.g. patchwork shirt and black top and then after 7 years passed they have changed clothes off screen their new costumes is a white top and a beige top with denim jeans which follows the codes of the pop genre. However, when the guy goes to the army he wears the iconic camouflaged clothes.
The location and lighting is really bright and sunny in a field of yellow flowers which is a huge difference to the next location through an extra close up if the singer in the band with black make up over his eyes. This is very rockish and pop punk developed from rock thus has elements of the genres conventions running though it. The lighting also changes just before the female protagonist finds out that the male protagonist is going to war; there is a silhouette of the singer with a red background which connotes blood and death. The location changes again as it goes to a performative based set as its a stage with bright lights and then the percussion comes in.
The people in the story are wearing pretty mainstream clothes e.g. patchwork shirt and black top and then after 7 years passed they have changed clothes off screen their new costumes is a white top and a beige top with denim jeans which follows the codes of the pop genre. However, when the guy goes to the army he wears the iconic camouflaged clothes.
Sound - Diegetic the couple talking - I personally feel the dialogue is fractured and it has the feeling of a documentary so I believe it makes it have a cheesy tone especially when they start talking in the middle of the song. The comments on YouTube about this prove that familiarity is essential as audience don't like change but like creativity. Hence it's a matter of having a balance between the two, not too much creativity like this video or my first AS level idea. Then the non diegetic score kicks in and the band starts lip syncing. The rage is emphasis in the sound as the male protagonist says "I thought of all people you would understand". I think it was effective when there was non diegetic score of gun shots over the top of the fast passed chorus of the song. Moreover at the end of the song the girls voice saying "I will always be there for you" from the beginning is used as non diegetic sound.
Camera angles - The first long shot is establishing the setting and the characters. The close up shots show the intimacy between the couple and creates sympathy for them and as the singer almost knows what's going to happen there are extra close ups of his mouth and eyes to reveal that it is him telling us as he's seen it, but I find it as a viewer slightly disorientating. Therefore, there is mostly close ups and long shots to show the location and emotions with facial expressions and body language the. Next there were more mid shots and long mid shots so that the audience could follow the story from a certain distance. The first shot of the stage is a long shot. Then it is mainly close ups again e.g. the wedding ring the female protagonist was hold symbolizing love or possibly doubt of love. After that there were mid shots of the male protagonist and other male antagonists having their hair cut it connotes their change in personality so the males may not be the same when they go back. Plus they are committing themselves to the army instead of his marriage. There were server pans at the beginning of the music video but when the male protagonist is in the war zone hand held camera is used more. zoom shots are used when the band is in the frame.
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