Analysis of BLINK 182 - STAY TOGETHER FOR THE KIDS Official Music Video

The video opens with a clear message - white text, black backdrop, reading "50 percent of all American households are destroyed by divorce."
This emotive opening is emulated throughout the production. The band members stand in a derelict household; no panes of glass in the windows remain, wooden joists and structural beams are exposed, the paint flaked and decayed - the house nothing but the withered skeleton of its former self. Connotations are inevitably drawn - the derelict building represents the literal epitome of the phrase "broken home." The camera cuts between extreme close ups of the graffiti, and the wrecking ball swaying not ten feet from what remains of the walls. The presence and portrayal of the graffiti might well be a suggestive of youth, plausibly angered youth, a connotation reflected in the song title. We witness close ups of discarded, flat tin cans, the camera pivoting across the rib-like roof beams, rays of light illuminating the smog of dust and scattered debris. The miasma might well represent a confusion or lack of direction, while it's lingering existence, and that of the litter, denote neglect.
The camera proceeds to pan along a collection of adolescents, idle and each with a look of total indifference. We cut to a close up of a particular individual, enforcing the visage of an exhausted sort of sadness.
As the video progresses, a rhythm is established - each chorus, the aforementioned wrecking ball crashes against the adolescent's haunt as the camera begins to shake as we witness footage of the band performing and the teenager's ensuing mosh; effectively allowing the audience a glimpse of actually being present at the demolition.
The established formula of slow, bleak, details of the house itself, and the pandemonious chorus footage of the wrecking ball's effects and the resident's reactions continues throughout, the already crippled dwelling spiralling further towards nothing but rubble as the song continues. Eventually, the inhabitants themselves begin to tear down beams, strip plaster, hurl aimless trashed matter, to the degree of the band's eventual departure, at which point the vandals turn upon the instruments. This final act of desctruction might well be construed as highly telling - that a cycle has become established in the lives of the teenagers present; those whose parents seperate are likely to struggle to sustain healthy marriages in the future, suggested specifically by the teenagers, whose household was broken by a third party, then destroying the functional instruments of others - thus acting as the destructive third party themselves.

Analysis of MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - TEENAGERS Official Music Video

As the title suggests, the track Teenagers by My Chemical Romance, both in lyrics and video, is centred around the adolescent demographic. A highly stylized group in all aspects, including the colouration of album colours coordinated with costumes in live performances and merchandise, the video for the single Teenagers differs little from the trend, with black and bold red featured front and foremost.

The entirety of the video is set within a high-school environment, a dark concert hall, retaining the familiar palette. On opening, red drapes hang as a backdrop to the band on the stage, dressed head to toe in black, and accompanied by a cheer-leading squad (also sporting scarlet), the unmissable separating feature from the portrayed squad and an orthodox team being that they each wear World War II-esque gas masks. From the off this suggests many connotations. Gas masks in purpose are to prevent suffocation, the word "suffocating" often used throughout media to represent feelings of repression, of being crowded or the sense that a decision or decisions that ought to be one's own to make are in another's hands. This theme of rebellion against a predestined existence are commonly expressed throughout teenage-orientated media, as they have been for decades since the existence of the anarchical punk movements, even dating back to the activities of the Edelweiss Pirates in the late 1930's. The most common connotation of the phrase "youth-culture" is individuality, or rather a unified sense of self opposed to one aspect of the adult world or the other, whether it be the opinion of a parent on an adolescent's fashion sense or their taste in music -animosity towards any form of dictation is the heart of the matter. This theory is strengthened as the video progresses, as the masked cheerleaders take up police batons, incorporated into their dance routine. The police force are yet another trope villain portrayed throughout the media in teen-targeted productions, the epitome of upholding order and retaining a formulaic structure, governing civilians through endless maxims as much as formal law. The cheerleader countenance itself is a high-school cliche throughout the media - representative of what's presumed to be an exclusive club for the popular and pretty, an interesting contrast to the alternative style of music.
The lyrics to the song essentially capture the heart of this iconography - "They're gonna clean up your looks, with all the lies in the book, to make a citizen out of you. Because they sleep with a gun, and keep an eye on you son, so they can watch all the things you do." "They" are in this case representative of parents, teachers and adults in general. The lyric "to make a citizen out of you" clearly denotes conformity, as "keep an eye on you son" denotes the big-brother system of control and regulation, all-too-commonly portrayed as particularly offensive to adolescents.
As the video progresses, a congregation of black-clad teenagers, presumed to be pupils, swarm the auditorium. Initially apprehensive, the situation escalates to a riotous mosh, followed by the eventual raiding of the stage itself in which the band are humorously trampled. This brawl is initiated as the aforementioned red-drapes drop, revealing images of the nuclear mushroom cloud, synonymous in iconography to that of the gas masks. The phrase "to go nuclear" is often translated to define absolute drastic action, or to describe a course of action resulting from being pushed to the metaphorical edge and having to react excessively in order to reclaim hypothetical lost land.

In summary, both the lyrics and video represent in their entirety the same key theme - the theme concisely put forth at the off by the song-title: the emergence of the relatively recent term "teenagers" where once there was no such noun, and the connotations it holds, whether fabricated by media production, grounded in reality, or most commonly a combination of the two.

Analysis of EMINEM FT RIHANNA - LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE Official Music Video

This video, like many others, is comprised of footage used to compose a parallel narrative, as well as clips of performances by both artists in-keeping with the theme of said narrative. As far as the performances go, both artists appear separately, shown in time with their respective verses of the song.
Initially, Rihanna, singing chorus, is portrayed in close up miming the song lyrics, a backdrop of fire behind her. The theme of flames is a key element throughout the production.
However, Eminem is featured at first in a perfectly ordinary corn-field, clear blue skies behind him - a stark contrast to the fire, suggesting a calm equilibrium opposed to the many connotations of fire - namely danger, pain, energy or passion, and in essence, destruction.
The narrative footage is comprised of two main protagonists - a female character, portrayed by Megan Fox, opposite her presumed boyfriend, portrayed by Dominic Monaghan. By the forty-second mark, it appears their relationship has become turbulent, and a somewhat violent argument breaks out, juxtaposed by fast cuts to Eminem rapping the lyrics. Their argument proceeds to slow, only to once again escalate - a theme represented previously by the motif of fire - unpredictability. Also, the well known phrase of "playing with fire" - portrayed bluntly by Megan Fox's character literally doing so within the video.
This is strongly suggestive of the state of their relationship - that on the one hand, it's seen as exciting, and on the other, merely dangerous. This connotation is strengthened as the chorus returns, and the couple reconcile despite their heated infighting.
This theme, of a love/hate, unstable relationship is underlined throughout by a variety of scenes - Monaghan's character lonely at a bar while Fox's sits alone, appearing dejected at their home - her crying, him putting his fist through a wall, spliced between footage of them both enjoying themselves. The lyrics of the song consistently reflect this message - the chorus, sung by Rihanna, featuring the lyric "I love the way you lie." "Love" offers obvious connotations of enjoyment - a deep emotional bond, while contrasted starkly to the word "lie," offering nothing but negative connotations such as betrayal of trust.
As the video draws to a close, the actual house in which the narrative is largely staged is aflame - a climactic conclusion, seemingly unavoidable due to the desultory nature of their relationship. As the flames consume their home, the denotations lend themselves to a clear conclusion - the destructive quality of the relationship will, in the end, become all-consuming, a negative throughout many aspects of their individual lives, yet, they will prolong it, because neither protagonist can exist, in contentment, alone.

Analysis of JOHNNY CASH - HURT Official Music Video

A swansong of sorts, Johnny Cash's 2003 single "Hurt" features a medley of archived and contemporary footage to represent, in essence, a human life. Arguably, the modern footage is tinted sepia in order to add a retrovert touch and better meld together with older excerpts featured elsewhere throughout the video. Johnny cash himself is featured, aged significantly from as his original audience remember him, alone, in a darkened home, bustling with antiquities - connotations of a life exhibited are clear.
A picture of his mother hangs on the wall behind him, perfectly in-keeping with the blunt truth of the lyrics: "Everyone I know goes away - In the end," is but one of many examples to suggest nostalgia as a burgeoning theme featured. Many other examples are carefully strewn throughout of such reminiscence. Footage of Cash's wife June Carter, both in her younger days and featured in photography in her latter years, is presented in a montage, adding greatly to a sense of wishful reminiscence as opposed to what might be construed as merely pangs of remorse. Cash continues to break the fourth wall almost continually when present in the video, adding greatly towards an emotive and personal performance.
As Cash sits alone at a banquet table, still amongst shadows, the video once again aligns itself with the lyrics to present a simple honesty - that "...you could have it all" - that possessions, regardless of physical value, are of little worth when one's confined to isolation. In a similar fashion, the value of Cash's coveted Golden Record reward, in Cash's own eyes, is clear - lying shattered in his "closed to the public" memorial museum - another paramount testament to his opinions on the importance of physical belongings and renown. This belief is solidified in the now iconic lyric, "My empire of dirt."

Analysis of TYSON: THE MOVIE

Tyson: the Movie opens as infinite media productions do - the credits roll as due. A simple font choice is livened by a spectrum of colours - unarguably suggestive of the subject matter, namely, Tyson himself's colourful life. This introduction is furthered by the use of several clips of footage from Tyson's fights, extracted from archived footage, sliding on and fading out of view in and amongst the credits themselves. This dynamic representation of extracts might well be suggestive yet again of a somewhat diverse and unorthodox past, in essence non-linear - Tyson begins the interview process discussing his school-days, many years before the events displayed throughout the opening credits. Black backdrop of the footage is reminiscent of many feature films, as opposed to documentaries, adding to a sense of drama and lacing the format with a touch of the silver-screen, as does the fade effect introducing and ending the appearance of each credited name. Similarly, the fight footage presented begins with an establishing shot, as do many movies. Adversely, a repeat or replay effect is present several times in the opening alone, adding to the sense of traditional sports coverage juxtaposed to the drama of cinema. The title itself, merely Tyson's own surname, is emblazoned upon the black backdrop in a similar font to prominent sportswear manufacturers Everlast and Lonsdale, shaded with flames through graphic imagery, once again elevating the sense of drama and individuality previously denoted.