Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
Like my father's come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when September ends
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
Like my father's come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends
Lyrics Analysis
The song 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' was written by Billie Joe Armstrong after his father died of cancer on September 1st 1982.
Synopsis
The video 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' is a 'narrative' video that follows a couple before and after they have a break up, to emphasise how much their lives change. We see the girl being portrayed as a typically emotional female who is extremely upset after the breakup. On the other hand, the man is shown to be strong and instead goes to fight for his country instead of staying at home, moping. In between this story, we see shots of the band 'Green Day' performing the song on a stage. The video ends with the girl willing herself to leave her house, and the man hiding in desperation as his team get defeated.
00:00 - 1:46
The video begins with a smaller frame showing a couple sitting in a field whilst the text of 'Wake me up when September ends' appear in clear white text. This text carries on from the
long shot to the
close up shot. No music is playing in this time, as it only contains ambient sound and the dialogue of the girl and the boy. The couple share an emotional moment together whilst they talk about their feelings before embracing. After a couple of seconds of hugging the instrumental beginning part of the song starts to play.
1:46 - 2:01
The video then cuts to a much darker frame which adjusts to be an
extreme close up of the singer's facial features. The camera focuses on his mouth as he begins to lip sync the lyrics of the song. The camera then cuts to show his whole face in a
close up shot.
2:01 - 2:11
It then cuts back to the couple in the field, shown through an
extreme long shot. It then cuts to a
mid shot of them walking together through the field. The brightness of the flowers in the field contrast with the gothic look of the artist shown previously. A slight
high angle shot then depicts of them laying together as the camera slightly pans upwards to show them full in the frame. The shots are long as the pace of the music is slow.
2:11 - 2:29
The camera then cuts to a different location and
tracks alongside the same couple walking along the street surrounded by other people. The lighting of the sunlight cleverly focuses on them, perhaps symbolising how to them, no one else matters and they can only see eachother. The
low angle mid shot focuses on them whilst there are people who are blurred in the background. The shots are also slowed down, perhaps to emphasise that time goes slowly.
2:29 - 2:56
It then cuts to a different location of a different colour pallete. The shots are still slowed down and they are laughing together. Various shots, ranging from
long shot to
close up are used to show them spending time together inside a house, doing normal 'coupley' things. The camera then cuts to a different location of a
mid shot of the girl laughing and shoving cake into the boy's mouth. As the shot is slowed down, it makes the people in the background look like they are frozen in time, as the idea of only focusing on eachother is seen again. This is also shown by the bright lighting on just them, whereas the other people are in darker lighting, as to make the audience not focus on them.
2:56 - 3:02
The next shot shown is a
mid shot of the artist lip syncing to the song, however all is seen is the silhouette of his face and the microphone. The lighting behind him is a deep shade of pink, contrasting with the colours shown in previous frames.
3:02 - 3:57
It then cuts to a
mid shot the girl coming into focus as she walks towards the camera, her facial expression looking upset and slightly angry, different to her recent emotions. When she opens to door, the music stops playing and the sound cuts to ambient sound and dialogue. The camera cuts to show both of them in different shots, symbolising how there is something that has come between them and they are not acting as the 'close couple'.
3:57 - 4:10
The instrumental part of the song starts to quietly play before cutting to a long shot of the drummer hitting the drums to match the drumbeat. The lowkey lighting starts to get lighter, using the same reddish colour in the background as seen before. The camera
pans around as we see the whole band on a stage through a
long shot. The lyrics start again and the singer begins to lip sync.
4:10 - 4:37
The camera then cuts to a
mid shot of the girl sitting on her own looking upset. The camera focuses in and out, perhaps acting a symbolism of how she is feeling. We then see the man surrounded by other people but looking equally lonely and unhappy. By the use of a
long shot we find out that he joined the army instead. The camera cuts between
extreme close ups of the artist singing and
close ups of the guy being instructed what to do. Sped up shots are used when showing other people, contrasting with the slow motion shots used earlier, perhaps to illustrate that now the couple are no longer together, time does not go slowly for them anymore. When it gets to the guy's turn for his head to be shaved, the
extreme close up focuses on his eyes, showing the pain in them, and to metaphorically show he is starting a new chapter in his life.
4:37 - 4:40
The camera cuts between the shot of his eyes to a
close up shot of his face, both holding the same facial expression, however this time he is in his army uniform and looking at a mother and children who are stranded amongst men with guns. This is shown through a
long shot as he steps away and they are then exposed.
4:40 - 5:20
As the pace of the song is quicker, shorter shots are used more often. We see him being a part of the military and running along with other men holding guns. A variety of shots are used such as
mid shots to show their uniforms, and
long shots to show the large machines such as the tanks. The camera cuts between the band playing and these shots.
Close ups of the girl's face is seen, showing how she is still sat in the same place, and still upset, whereas the man is out fighting. This emphasises that the time frame is quite big, but as a girl, she is stereotypically more emotional, however a man can pick himself up.
5:20 - 5:47
The music changes to a loud instrumental, which is matched in the shots with various explosions happening, shown through
extreme long shots and
long shots. When the camera cuts back to the band, an explosion of lights is happening behind them, which is shown through a
pan shot in slow motion.
5:47 - 6:03
As the pace slows down, a
mid shot shows the girl still sitting on her sofa crying, contrasting with the man being surrounded by fire and bodies as someone tries pulling another into safety. Ambient sound of shots being fired can be heard underneath the music.
6:03 - 6:12
The drumbeat makes the music become louder, and the gun shots become louder. The ambient sound also includes shouting of the soldiers. A
mid shot of the guy crouched on the ground is shown, whilst the long take is also sped up.
6:12 - 6:17
A
mid shot then shows the girl splashing water on her face, showing how she has finally picked herself up, as well as the long take of her looking at herself in the mirror, perhaps to also show how she is starting a new chapter of her life. The camera cuts between shots of her and the band playing on the stage.
6:17 - 6:49
The camera then cuts to a
mid shot of the guy turning and facing towards the camera, holding his gun. The camera cuts between him and the artist aggressively lip syncing the song, emphasising the emotion behind it. The
extreme close up of the guy's face illustrates his emotions of fear and determination. The
long shot then shoes one of his men getting shot, which then cuts back to him showing annoyance and sadness. The camera then cuts to a
high angle shot of the girl walking outside, exaggerating than amongst how much has happened to the guy, she has only just stepped outside. This is contrasted with the
long shot of all the soldiers running to the wounded man. This could be interpreted to show the different pains all the characters are going through and how they differently they are dealing with them. It then cuts back to the band playing the song, which ends in them bowing and the screen fading to black.
6:49 - 7:08
The camera cuts back to the girl and
pans from a
high angle shot from above her head to a
mid shot showing her face. The last beat of the song elongates as she looks upwards, and the camera cuts back to the guy. Ambient sounds of gun shots are also heard whilst the dialogue of the girl is heard. We can tell it is the same dialogue as the beginning of the video, and the camera
pans out to a
high angle shot of her and cuts between a mid shot of the man still crouched on the floor, to emphasise how different their lives are now. When her dialogue ends, the camera keeps
panning upwards before fading to black.
Analysis
Time length of video - 7:12
Total number of shots used - 179
Extreme Close up shots - 6 (4%)
Close up shots - 43 (24%)
Mid shots - 68 (38%)
Long shots - 27 (15%)
Extreme Long shots - 4 (2%)
High Angle shots - 4 (2%)
Low Angle shots - 8 (5%)
Tracking shots - 13 (7%)
Pan shots - 6 (3%)
Mise en Scene
Setting
The video begins in the location of the middle of a field, where the couple are sat together, alone. Fields tend to be romantic places to be together, so is used to emphasise this.
Throughout the video, the female character is shown to stay in her house. Stereotypically, women are presented to be more emotional than men, which is emphasised here when she lets her emotions take over her day to day life.
Another location used is the centre of a war, when showing the male character. Men typically go to war to better themselves and start afresh, which is emphasised here for the audience to understand.
As well as a story being told, the band is also presented, shown to be performing the song on a stage.
This is a typical convention in music videos, especially in the indie genre to show the artist as the most important factor.
Costume and Makeup
The girl is presented wearing heavily made eye makeup. This, therefore, is used to emphasise that she has been crying, to further stereotype her as being "overly emotional".
After becoming a soldier, we see the man fighting at war wearing a full military outfit, heavily loaded with guns.
In terms of the artist, he is shown wearing dark eye makeup, further emphasised by a darker filter, making him look pale and washed out. This makes him look "emo" and links to the genre of indie.
