Guns 'N' Roses - 'Welcome To The Jungle'

This Guns 'N' Roses video is set in Los Angeles, the city which Axl is metaphorically referring to as a 'jungle'.
This is a concept video, as the visual narrative relates to the lyrics indirectly. The narrative focuses on Axl as he goes from a small town into a big city. The opening shot uses narrative enigma as he gets off the bus as the shot is framed so he is facing away from the camera so the audience can't see who it is, the straw in his mouth signifies his small town background, but it becomes clear as he turns to face the camera.

As the front man Axl is the main focus in the majority of the shots, his appearance is stereotypical of the heavy metal subgenre, glam metal: Long hair, tattoos, leather trousers. He is also wearing his staple baseball cap worn back to front.

The target audience for this genre would be teenage males, they are targeted imediately in this video, less than 30 seconds into the opening there is an example of the male gaze, as a close up of axl's face looking toward something, is cut to his point of view, panning up the legs of a young woman wearing stockings and high heels, nothing above the waist or from the front is visable in shot which is an example of how this genre encourages the objectification of women, spreading the message that her face is irrelevant if she has a 'hot' body.

The next character to appear on screen is the lead guitarist, drinking on the pavement under some television screens. This could signify they lead a rock and roll lifestyle which typically involves abuse on substances such as drugs and alcohol.

From this the shots zoom closer and closer in on axl's face on the television screen, then cuts to a close-up of him with the same tortured facial expression whilst singing on stage. From here the video becomes a performance video and follows many of the codes and conventions of performance videos. [see blog post]
Cut into the performance scenes is footage from various sources on television which are relevant to whichever lyric is being sung at the time