1. The purpose of a music video is to be a marketing tool for a song and the artist. The intention of a music video is to portray the artist in a way which is appropriate to the gender of music and a way which shows them as a role model to their fans. It is important for an artist to be shown in a good way to avoid bad media attention. Artists are shown in music videos according to their age, gender and genre of music.

2. The first thing we see in the music video for “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day is an establishing shot, showing a field of yellow flowers with a girl and a boy stood together kissing and hugging. We automatically get the idea that these two are a couple in a peaceful setting. This then cuts to close up shots of Billy Joe (the lead singing of Green Day) this could be to show emotion or to let the audience know who the artist of the song is. Through out the narrative, the camera angles switch from a mid close up shot to a close up, either way the actors faces are always clearly show, so we get a sense of the emotion and how they feel within the “relationship.”

3. During the performance aspect , the camera is filming from all sorts of different angles. The camera seems to change angle on the same beat of the repeated tune. This is to give a sense of simplicity, to make it easier to watch. The different camera angles and shots allows the audience to see all the members of the band. During the war scene, the camera shots are changing a lot quicker and sharper to create drama and show the mood has changed from the slow shots at the beginning.

4. The narrative behind this song is really powerful. The actors within are dressed in accordance with the genre and similar to how people dress in music videos of similar genre’s. For example, how Avril Lavigne dresses in her music videos. The actress isn’t dressed provocatively so she isn’t a subject for male gaze (Mulvey) . This perhaps connotes the genre of the music, as provocatively dressed females are usually found in RnB/Hip Hop music videos At 1 minute 41, the female is sat holding a ring, showing she has been separated from her boyfriend. The war scene is shown really realistically, the explosions happen in the instrumental, which is the most powerful part of the song, at the same time, sparks are falling behind the band in the performance part. The shows intensity and contrasts with the rest of the song. When the instrumental dies down, the video cuts back to the female, sitting at home on her own, this portrays the mood. The gunshots become louder so they can be heard over song, which again makes the video powerful and intense.