Jesus of Suburbia by Green Day

Firstly, the element of time is striking with this video. The full version is over 11 minutes long. This is very unconventional for a music video that is designed to be shown on mainstream TV channels.

However, this shows that the song itself has a specific narrative that has to be showcased in order for the audience to feel the full effect of the lyrics. I believe that this is very effective, as from watching the video I can see that there is a very structured narrative that often perfectly resembles the lyrics. This keeps the audience captivated as they are being shown a narrative that is not rushed to conform to the mainstream music video length. This helps them establish a connection with the character, feeling a more personal liking to the song.

The video starts without music, which some may argue is generic of most music videos, however the extended length of this introduction sets it apart from other videos of its type. Immediately, from the use of dark hues and backgrounds, the audience are aware that this is a very negative environment. This is further reinforced when the first bit of audio they hear is actually the characters arguing with each other.

In reference to the characters, the young, troubled boy in the video closely physically represents the lead vocalist/guitarist of the three piece pop-punk band, Billie Joe Armstrong. Members of the audience who are familiar with the band will instantly be able to make this connection purely from the similarities in their appearance, this makes the plot of the narrative more interesting, as they are aware specifically of who the story is about by using a common medium. Furthermore, to continue to 'thicken' the plot of this narrative, during the interludes of the medley of short songs, the musing fades out to allow a conversation or specific scene of the video to be focused on. This is effective as it allows the attention to be diverted from the music to allow the story to be slightly moved along before the lyrical connections can be made to the next section of the music video.

As for visual codes, the camera is rarely ever static as it is mostly following the characters movements. This is effective as it allows the audience to feel as if they are personally following the characters life during that day. Furthermore, a range of shots such as long shots, medium shots and close ups are used. This is effective in displaying the appearance of the character and allowing the audience to make their own judgments of their controversial appearance.
I think that the director has very cleverly incorporated elements/clips of the band performing through their usual mediums, such as TV or radio. However, this clip never interrupts the narrative as it is so brief but allows the audience to be reminded that they are watching a Green Day video.