Blink-182 - 'First Date'

The opening shot shows the band, blink-182 walking into a garage set up with musical instruments, what this could signify is that they aren't a mainstream band, however existing fans would be likely to follow a preferred reading that they are reverting back to the days when they were practicing in their own homes. This could signify to the audience that the band haven't forgotten their roots or let fame 'go to their heads'.

The opening also begins by not going straight into the intro of the song, instead their is a bit of diegetic dialogue between the two band mates, this adds a comical element to the video, which is maintained throughout. blink-182 are renowned for their slightly immature humour, especially during their stage performances, this is also something they like to add into their music videos as it helps to attract their target audience, which is predominantly teenage males.

Following the opening, the band begins to play, and from here there are common codes and conventions of performance video seen, such as constant camera movement, focus on the band members to showcase their instrumental talents and close-ups of the front-men. This is an unusual aspect of this particular band, that there are two front-men, Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, as they both play guitar and both do lead vocals, they also share the amount of screen time and the amount they each speak on stage and in videos, pretty evenly between them.

The video is set in the 70's, this is clearly signified by the titles on screen 'El Segundo, CA 1974, but also the outfits, especially the hairstyles and mustaches which are clearly outdated, and also the props used, such as the old VW wagon, predominantly seen driven by 'hippies' in this era. The purpose of setting the video in the past could be to provide their audience with some variety within their music videos. From this section the visuals contain more narrative than performance, making this more of a concept video than a performance video, which is a common aspect of rock video's to mix the two together.

The concept of the video isn't visuals which match the narrative, which are based on a 'first date'. Instead the aim seems entirely to provide the audience with a humorous video.

Again to attract their audience of teenage boys, there is much objectification of women seen in this video, there are many medium shots which focus on the female form from the neck down, of women with a lot of their body on show. This is also seen in the Guns 'N' Roses video 'Welcome to the Jungle' suggesting that male gaze is a common aspect of rock genre videos. Also with the use of p.o.v shots the band members are shown to be 'checking out' girls from their van as they drive by.