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1. Tonight Alive – Lonely Girl
The video opens with quick cuts
of the band playing along to the
fast paced music that begins
right away with a heavy,
constant drumbeat which is
common the pop, punk, rock and
alternative genres which this
song is a mixture of. The band
appear to be set up and playing
outside out various shops. This also sets the video as being at night-time as it is
dark out. It becomes obvious later on that this is foreshadowing the events that
will later occur within the narrative part of the video. It then begins to cut
between the band playing and the narrative that initially shows a teenage girl
who is clearly going through emotional turmoil and begins to fight with her
mother. As the music video progresses we see cuts to scenes of the young girl
going out with her friends, which, eventually, goes wrong when they leave her
for guys resulting in her becoming upset and angry.
During the scenes when the girl
is at home in her room she is
wearing a white t-shirt and a
silver heart shaped pendant, this
usually symbolises innocence
and purity of the character,
which initially makes the viewer
feel sympathy towards her
character. However, as we see
the rest of the non-linear narrative unfold, it appears that the scenes in which
she is at home have occurred after the rest of the story. Throughout the rest of
the narrative the young girl is wearing black clothing: hoodie, t-shirt, jeans and
bracelet, as well as wearing makeup. By putting the character in these clothes the
director has shown that she is acting rebellious; that she isn’t as innocent as she
first appeared to be in the beginning scenes of the story. This then changes our
attitude towards the girl, as we
no longer view her as the victim
because we see that she put
herself in the situation. This lack
of compassion is also mirrored
though the lyrics of the song sand
by the actions and facial
expressions of the lead singer,
Jenna McDougall.

2. Just like the All Time Low music video we see a lot of close-up shots of the band
members playing their own instruments as well as a quite a few close up shots of
the leader singer; sometimes with the band, sometimes in a different setting on
her own as once again she is the main selling point of the band. The band are
wearing their own clothes as they are not a part of the narrative or storyline
therefore they do not need to be in ‘costume’. We see from the group/wide angle
shots that each member of the band has a very slightly different style, although
they are all quite similar. David Buckingham said “Genre is not simply given by
the culture, rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change.” This
applies to this video as some of the types of clothing seen, that; we as
contemporary audiences expect to see in such a style of music video as this
would have been a ludicrous idea twenty years ago. An example of this would be
the use of sneakers, beanie hats and baseball caps worn in music videos of songs
that are considered to have a rock element to them.