Bulls in the Bronx, Pierce the Veil Music Video Analysis

"Bulls in the Bronx" music video by Pierce the Veil's contains several conventions of music videos in general as well as many conventions of post hard core rock videos

 

Firstly, it can be seen that there are many quick cuts to the beat of the song. This is conventional to music videos as it prevents the song from sounding disjointed. Moreover, in this music video there are constantly quick cuts to the beat, specifically in the beginning instrumental section and chorus. In fact the quick cuts are specifically noticeable during the performance elements of the song. This rymthmic editing, however, is seen throughout the video.

  

Furthermore, a convention of rock music videos is having a performance element and a narrative element. For this video, the narrative is that a boy sneaks into a girls house behind her father's back. They're in love and want to spend time together. He climbs up the side of her house and climbs through her window. They kiss and it fades to white and into a dream universe. They dance together in the dream wearing typical Spanish attire to match the use of Spanish guitar in the song. The girl pins her hair clip onto his shirt and then the 'bull' enters the dream and comes charging towards him. The bull is a metaphor for the girls father as the dream fades as the father enters the room and pushes the boy away from his daughter and starts shouting at him. Her father then chases the boy out of her room and down the stairs and through the house until he is out of the house completely. The girl gets angry at her father for chasing the boy out and shouts at him on the front porch. When the boy is running down the street away from the house he realises under his coat, the hair pin remains attached to his shirt. The video then fades to black as the song comes to a finish. 

Additional to this narrative element, there is also a performance element. This performance element mainly focuses on the instruments the band members are playing as well as the band members themselves. This shows that Pierce the Veil are and organic act because not only do they play their own instruments, but they're not being sold on their looks overall as the focus is on the music rather than their looks.

At the beginning of the video, there is a shot that fades from black of the boy riding his bike. 'Pierce the Veil', the name of the band fades in. There is then a cut to a shot of some flowers and the words 'starring in' fade in. The next shot is a shot of the girls house that pans down and the song title, 'Bulls in the Bronx', fades in. The song then starts as there is a cross-cut to the band playing their instruments. This shows that the band potentially sells themselves on their name as well as their music.

The genre of this song is post-hardcore rock, and it can be seen that the music video reflects that. This is because the performance element focuses equally on the lead singer as it does on the guitarist, bassist and drummer. Moreover, the performance element also focuses more on the instruments than the faces of the band members. This shows that the band is an organic act and fits with the genre of the song. Furthermore, the Spanish section of the song is reflected by the visuals with the use of the traditional Spanish dress as well as the traditional Spanish dance.

The star image of Pierce the Veil is emitted through this video. By this I mean that Pierce the Veil are being shown in a certain way to promote themselves and seem desirable to their audience. One example of this is that Tony Perry (guitarist) is wearing a 'Key Street' tank top. Key Street is Perry's self-owned clothing line and so through this video, he is promoting himself and his clothes. Furthermore, the tank tops that Tony Perry and drummer Mike Fuentes are wearing reveals their sleeve tattoos on their arms. It's very common for those in rock bands to have piercings and tattoos and so by revealing their tattoos allows the viewer to identify the genre and image the band are trying to project. Moreover, all the band members have some kind of piercing. Vic Fuentes, the lead singer, has a nose ring; Tony Perry has stretched ears and Mike Fuentes has also got stretched ears as well as a lip piercing.