Analysis of The Amity Affliction - Youngbloods

The Amity Affliction – Youngblood’s

Song Meaning and Video Narrative

This is another example of a performance video. The song itself is about living life to the fullest and refusing to grow old and die. “Youngblood” suggest this is aimed at a teenage audience who they want to relate themselves to as much as possible.

Mise-en-scene

The first thing I notice is how the band is seen on the same level as the performance’s audience rather than up on a stage and how many shots of them there are mixed in or interacting with the audience. This is to involve them with the audience and the audience with the song which they want all teenagers to relate to. Because of this the audience in the video consists of teenagers. Throughout the video the band is surrounded by dust or dirty smoke in the air. Teenage boys have connotations of being dirty and this smoke is put in to reinforce the fact they are and want to stay teenage boys. The only shots that differ from the band shots are of a small skate park with a few boys doing tricks and shots of the performance audience.  They are both lit with bright blue lighting to separate them from the bands bright yellow lighting. This is so we can distinguish between who is the band and who is the audience when the two are so close together or the edits are quick and we only get a fraction of a second to look at a shot. The shots of the skate park also have the dirty smoke that is seen in the shots of the band.

Cinematography

Most shots are low angle close ups of band members of their instruments. This is conventional of the Rock/Metal genre. Although this could also be to give the impression you are there in the crowd making the audience watching relate with them.

Editing

The editing if fast paced and jumpy to match the song. It does slow down during the song chorus to again match the song.

Sound

The sound is the track played through the video. There is no extended narrative with any other sound.