5. Green Day: Boulevard of Broken Dreams Analysis (Rock 2)

I have chosen to analyse 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Green Day because I think the video is very conventional of the rock genre. Firstly, it is a promotional video for the band because although it doesn't convey a particular message, it reminds everyone of what the band is about, what kind of audience they are targeting and the personalities of the members. The band are lip syncing which is conventional of all music videos.

The mise en scene in the video consists of an exotic, rural location which is derelict and abandoned, at times, the lyrics within the song actually match the location with the use of the words 'empty' and 'broken'. The costume which the band are wearing (dark suits with white suits and dark ties) match the solemn and pitiful mood that the music video emits, because they give connotations of death and funerals. The scratchiness that we view on screen at the beginning of the video is also very serious and could also make some people feel weary of the band because they could be viewed as dangerous. Also, the fire that we see towards the end of the video gives connotations of danger and abandonment. Unusually, there is high key lighting throughout the video.

The performance that the band gives throughout the video is consistent, but we really begin to understand the feelings and messages behind the song when they are performing in the set up environment and using their instruments. The fact that none of the band members smile throughout the video is expected from this particular genre, however if we were watching a pop music video, the situation would be very different.

Furthermore, the editing in the video is not very fast and on average each shot is on screen from two to three seconds which may not seem like long, but can become boring for the audience in some situations. However, even though the editing is slow, it suits the pace of the song. Each shot has also been cut to the beat of the music which make the editing seem less jumpy and more natural for the viewer.

The cinematography is very varied throughout the video. It starts off flicking between close ups (of the band members faces) and long shots (which shows the audience the location), however, as the narrative in the song and therefore the video develops, shots become more varied and we see lots of mid shots and even some low angle shots when the band are performing. We also see close ups of specific objects throughout the video, such as right at the beginning when there are various close ups of the 'green' car that 'Green Day' step out of and then abandon prior to their performance.

I like this video because even though the narrative has been kept simple, it is very conventional of its genre and shows consistent performance and meaningful mise en scene.