First Date

Continuing with Andrew Goodwin's 5 aspects of music videos and applying them to some of my favourites, I decided that the second music video I will be analysing is Blink 182's 'First Date'.

In previous songs such as 'What's My Age Again?' the singer portrays a character that acts very immaturely, in 'First Date' it is no different. From swearing at a woman who just had an accident, to urinating in a bush at a go-kart track. Therefore this shows that the artists want the audience to view their music in the same way as they had viewed it previously.   Even other characters in the video do not appear very mature, for example when the girl laughs about the star's penis size, or when the guy with the baseball bat knocks over the woman on the bike. The  perception of the band's identity before this video was one which portrays them as serious off camera, yet about as immature as it gets when recording a music video and at a live gig. So taking Goodwin's theory that a star develops over time and/or with every music video that they create. In Blink 182's case, the star can be seen to develop slower than Goodwin may have anticipated.

In terms of the relation of the song to the visuals, only about half of the video consists of the first date the singer is having with the girl. The other half either consist of the 3 members of the band playing in what looks like a pimped out garage or just hanging around with his friends at a go-kart track. More specifically, the lyrics state how the singer is nervous around the girl and is constantly jealous of everyone else around her. Yet he always seems to be happy around her. This could be so that although he is trying to appear cheerful around his friends, the audience can tell that in actual fact he is feeling rather paranoid that this girl will crush him (E.g. "Please don't hint that you're capable of lies, I dread the thought of our very first kiss, it's just a target that I'm probably gonna miss").

The camera rarely moves in the video, when it does it is just the slightest of adjustments in order for the star to remain in the centre of the screen (bar the shot at the go kart track). This is likely to be because the video director wants the viewer solely focused on the band (and when necessary, their instruments), instead of getting distracted by camera movements or any form of complex special effects. The video therefore goes from shot to shot very quickly with nothing but the use of instant transitions. The mise-en-scene used in this music video is very peculiar, because it isn't as if the band are usually dressed in this manner. The clothing of the main woman is the traditional sexy look, however the 3 main band members are not dressed traditionally at all, instead they are all dressed as if they have no fashion sense whatsoever. Which would make sense, due to the song being about how the star does not have a clue how to act around this girl and is constantly paranoid that she will leave him (E.g. "Could you guess that I didn't know what to wear?"). The lighting and the colouring of the video is very bright (which adds to the events that they can be seen doing) to create a cheerful atmosphere.

If the singing voice is to be seen as an expressive instrument, then 'First Date' would not be seen as a serious song. A serious music video is pretty rare for Blink 182 to produce, even in a song such as 'I Miss You' where the lyrics are meaningful, what can be seen in the video can be rather random and irrelevant. The voice is not singing in a style which is trying to convey any form of strong/deep emotions to the audience, nor is it attempting to get an emotional response. Instead the music video is more about the band just having a laugh and creating a piece of music that is fun and enjoyable to watch. This remains true with the artists form of address, because although the artist is telling a coherent story that is simple to follow, the style of which he communicates the story to the audience remains unserious.

This music video is likely to appeal to its target audience as the people who generally like this don't usually like mainstream music videos, and this is anything but. Instead this appeals to people's inner immaturity, and the typical Blink 182 fan has this in great quantities.

Much like 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', I see this music video as being what Joe Gow would call an enhanced performance as it blends the performance of the band with various other visual elements.


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