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1. HollyTaylor
First Date- blink-182 Analysis
The music videoIhave chosentoanalyse is“FirstDate” by Pop/Punkband:blink-182.The videowas
directedbyThe Malloys whoalsodirectedvideosof asimilargenre suchas“Breakout”by Foo
Fighters.Thismusicvideocontainsahumorousnarrative andalsoperformance bythe bandintheir
characters.Throughoutthe video,there are typical conventionsof the hybridPop/punk genre such
as: drinking,skateboarding,humorousincidentsandthere isalsoanoverall rebelliousattitudefrom
the characters withinthe narrative. There isanillictical narrativethroughoutthe musicvideo,asthe
characters inthe narrative don’thave a particularcoherent narrative;insteadthe musicvideo’s
narrative isjustthe characters doingdifferentthings,suchasgoingto a waterpark,whichcreatesa
funatmosphere whichistypicallyassociatedwiththe popaspectof the genre.
Atthe beginningof the musicvideo,throughdigeticsoundthe theme of ahumorousnarrative is
created,as the bandare in the character of the leadsingerandmain guitarist;TomDelonge asthe
character named:Boomer,bassguitaristMark Hoppusas the character: Spauldinganddrummer
TravisBarker as hischaracter: Travis.In the digeticsoundof the openinglongshotof the band,the
character of Boomersays to Spaulding:“Iendupkissingmyownbrother,youknow?”,thenlater
Spauldingcomments“Youknowwhat theysayman,like Father,like son.”Thisuse of dialogue
before the songbeginsistypical of the bandblink-182whoare knownfortheir“toilethumour”and
so therefore createsafeelingof comedywithinthe restof the narrative.
The firstshotof the musicvideoisa lowangle long shotof the band,a longshot enablesthe
audience toobserve the bandasa whole whichengagesthe audienceandtherefore makesthe
videomore memorable.Throughthe use of a longshotin the performance aspectof thisscene,
there isiconographytypical of the pop/punkgenre suchaselectricguitarsandmicrophones.
Withinthe mise enscene,the charactersare establishedandthere isause of bricolage,asthe
characters are dressedincostumesthatare typical of the 90’s Pop/Punkgenre,suchasthe skater

2. HollyTaylor
sliponshoes,however,theirhairstylesare typical of the 70’s/80’s,withthe mulletandbig
hairstyles.
There are close upsof the bandin theircharacters,such as the leadsinger:Boomer.
The use of a close up shotof the maincharacter in quite ahumorousnature istypical of the genre
and alsotypical of the maintheme withinthe band’smusic.A rebellioustheme isshownwithinthe
musicvideowhenTravishashismiddle fingersuptoa female characterthisalsois typical of the pop
punkgenre,where rebellionisoftenshownwithinmusicvideos.
There are fast cuts throughoutthe videowhichlinksinwiththe pace of the track, and alsocreatesa
teenage anthemtype feel towardsthe song.There are multiple cutstootherbandmemberswhich
isin syncwitheach time Travisplaysthe drumsand there’sariftwiththe guitar,whichamplifiesthe
songand again createsan anthemfeel towardsthe track.
The firstlyricsof the songare “In the car I just can’t wait,topick youup onour veryfirstdate,is it
cool if I holdyourhand,isit wrongif I thinkit’slame todance.”The lyricsare contrapuntal tothe
musicvideoasthroughoutthe narrative there isnodate depicted,onlyjealouslywhenthe
characters watcha female andmale characterkissingopenlyandthenlaterinthe narrative,the
bandmembersembarrass themselvesinfrontof female characters.However,some of the lyricsare
linkedwiththe musicvideo,suchasthe line “Do youlike mystupidhair?”as withinthe mise en
scene,the character’shairstylesare designedtoappearquite comical.