GreenDay- Wake me up when september ends music video analysis

Context

 "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released in June 2005 as the fourth single from their seventh album, American Idiot.
The song deals with the death of lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong father, who died when Armstrong was a child. The director of this certain music video, as directed some of there more famous rock music videos such as "American Idiot" and " Bouvelvard of Broken Dreams".The video focuses on a very loving couple. The boyfriend promises never to leave his girlfriend but they later argue when the boyfriend enlists in the United States Marine Corps.The boyfriend interprets his actions as a way to show her that he loves her so much that he would put his life on the line to keep her safe; the girlfriend, however, is heartbroken, as he broke his vow to never leave her, and terrified at the thought that he might die in battle. The video then shows the boyfriend in battle in Iraq being ambushed by insurgents. This scene is intercut with scenes of the girlfriend tearfully mourning in a quiet field. The video ends on this juxtaposition, emphasizing the pain and heartache of losing loved ones due to the war.

At the very begining of this music video, the first shot is a long shot of a loving couple in an open feild. The left of them is the name of the song and the band name, as you can see it has been written in big bold white writing to stand out from the bright yellow scenery. As the couple kiss, it immedialty cuts to a close up of the young girls face as the begin to talk and embrace each other.
As both characters begin to talk to each other the camera cuts between a close ups of their faces, The camera then breaks away to a mid shot of the couple hugging, and the girl facing the camera, slowly the camera then begins to zoom as the opening of the song begins to play within the music video.

Straight away the next shot is shown of an extreme close up of the main singers dark black eyelined eyes, the camera then tilts down to his nose and lips as he starts to sing the first verse of the song. It then jump cuts back to the young couple again in the feild ( extreme long shot). The next shot is of the  couple lying down together, in the top left corner the sun is begining to set. Which helps to set a more of a romantic mood when looking at both of the characters. Following this there is then a slow cut of the couple walking past some benches and walk towards a fast food counter, to where the young female then is paying for their food. By using a long shot we were able to track both characters as they were walking round the people and the couple messing around together to show their connection between them.

The next scene then cuts to a establishing shot and the girl running through the front door, shortly after being followed by her partner. There is a quick cut to a mid shot where the young male is being engrossed by a video game ( sterotypical). There is a slow cut to a long shot of the couple at a party and an unseen person is holding an "18" birthday cake. A silhouette of the vocalist in the group is then shown on a red background, which helps make the outline of the band member stand out and make him look alot bolder.

The next shot is of a long shot on a closed door, through this door you can see the young female running forward to it. The music suddenly then quietens as the door is flung open. As the door opens the young female walks through, as the male is sitting outside. As the girl starts to talk her distress is apparent. As she starts to sob her boyfriend tries to comfort her she pushes him away showing to the audience that there is tension between the couple. During this scene there is a variety of close up shots of the characters talk to each other, which helps to show their reaction to the audience. As the boy leaves the scene the music then begins to pick up once more.

A long shot of the band follows. The lead singer is on the floor, whilst the other bands members are on different sized podiums. There is a red background and a large flash appears on the beat of the large drum solo. During this scene there a variety of close ups and mid shots. These are used to show the audience all different prospects of each band member. Each of the band members are wearing dark clothing so when the back lights are down there are individual shadows of the band members.