analysis of Green Day 21 Guns

The song 21 Guns is of the pop / rock genre.

It is a performance video but it has a narrative content.

Narrative

The song compares a war to an argument with a loved one. It tells us that it is not worth destroying a relationship over an argument. Sometimes it is better to “throw your arms to the sky” and surrender to each other for the sake of the relationship.

The song is reflected and illustrated by the band members and their instruments, including drums, bass, guitars and microphones.

The video consists of two parts – a narrative and a performance part. The video flashes between the two parts but the audience is able to follow the storyline.

There are many close ups of each member of the band and some long shots of the whole band to display the instruments played by each member. The main singer is typical of the pop / rock genre showing his dark hair, eyeliner and black clothing.

The title of the song is 21 Guns, and in the first shot there is a reference to guns as a man is rolling a bullet between his fingers. The narrative character uses a TV remote as a gun and begins to shoot things, including the wall around the girl. Gunshots are coming from all around, the man covers his head with his hands and glasses explode. These shots relate to the lyrics in the song.

The words “you and I “are accompanied by shots of two characters walking slowly towards each other, they meet and kiss.

Setting

The scene of the band playing takes place within a house. We see writing and picture frames on the wall. There is a fish tank and some furniture, such as chairs. Some of the narrative takes place in this room as this is where a girl is standing and where she meets the male character towards the end of the video. The whole video takes place in the same room where both characters and band members are situated.

Number of Shots

79 shots

Transitions

The scenes cut from images of the band to images of the couple. These are examples of jump cuts and cutaways. The first shot is of a man sitting in a chair, it cuts to a close-up of the bullet which falls t the floor. There are several cuts to close-ups of the band members and their instruments. As the main chorus comes in, the cuts become faster and the shot length decreases which gives connotations of the frenetic energy of the music and the lyrics which accompanies the chaotic scenes.

Representations seen

Throughout the clip there are close-ups of the band member who all have a large amount of black eyeliner on, this is a stereotypical representation of the punk/rocker. This is also backed up by the clothing worn by band members and the characters seen in it. The dark clothing and dim lighting are also stereotypical representations of the rock genre. In rock we see the image of a rock musician as tough and uncaring, however in this video the male character is seen to be a sensitive man who wants to make-up with his girlfriend and doesn't want to fight, this makes him the voice of reason. Throughout the clip there are numerous items being broken by the gunfire, this gives a stereotypical representation of the rock genre as they are stereotypically seen to break things.

This is a music from the punk rock genre, and by studying the generic conventions used in this video, I will be able to incorporate these conventions into a music video of my own in this genre.