Friday 11 October 2013
Goodwin Analysis.
Genre Characteristics
This music video is exactly what one would expect from a stereotypical punk rock music video. One element of this is the live performance, which, like in most punk rock music videos, is not conducted on a stage, but rather in the midst of a large number of fans, who are cheering (0:21), dancing (2:56) and fist-pounding (0:50), and in some cases, headbanging (1:33 - take note of the red haired female in the background).
Another common sight in punk rock music videos which we also find in this particular video is the stance. The performer, in this case Lead singer/ Rhythm guitarist Deryck Whibley, is in a slightly slouched yet upright position, with legs spread apart in an unequal manner, and the feet facing forwards. The guitar is almost level with the knees, and the microphone is placed slightly below the performers chin, which is what the slight slouch is compensating for. Although this is clearly a stereotypical genre characteristic, one could argue that is is also an intertextual reference to several other punk rock artists, notably the band 'Blink-182' in the song 'All the small things'.
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Tom DeLonge (Centre right) and Mark Hoppus (Centre left) of Blink-182.Notice the position of the feet in comparison to the position of Delonge's torso. |
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Tom DeLonge in the video "All the small things"by Blink-182, displaying the stereotypical 'slumped shoulders' stance. |
Another genre characteristic demonstrated in this music video is the age of the artists involved. As you may or may not know, a vast majority of punk rock icons have either started out, or been most successful in their teenage years to early twenties. Examples of this include: 'Green Day', 'Busted', 'Simple Plan', 'Blink-182', among others. It can clearly be seen that the performers in this video, the members of Sum 41, are very young, and I happen to know that lead singer Deryck Whibley was 21 years old at the time this music video was released.
Relationship Between Lyrics and Visuals
at the point in which the lyrics "Seems like each time I'm with you I lose my mind, because I'm bending over backwards to relate" occur (at 1.09), lead singer Deryck Whibley is seen performing multiple backward flips on a diving board before leaping into the swimming pool below. The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of this music video are easy to spot, given that they are fairly apparent to me, the audience, therefore some more examples are stated below.
At 2.15 to 2.21 we can observe bassist Jason McCaslin on the diving board and shortly after he is embraced by Deryck Whibley, and together they fall off of the board. the lyrics directly after said embrace read "You can't hide it you might as well embrace it", which as you will notice is a fairly blatant link between the lyrics and the visuals.
Now, although the lyrics are based upon a relationship that's not quite working out as either had hoped, the visuals are well structured to fit in with said lyrics. This therefore means that the relationship between the lyrics and visuals of this song are mostly illustrative, meaning they are not always literal.
Relationship Between Music and Visuals
For the most part, the video does not cut to the beat of the song. there could be two possible reasons for this. The first of which is the fact that the beat is constantly changing, with so many different elements going on at once, such as the rhythm and lead guitars, the bass, the vocals and the drums, it would be foolish to try to match the editing to the beat of the music. the second and perhaps more likely of the two possibilities is the fact that the music video was created by a punk rock band. punk rockers are known for their high disregard for any form of rules or conventions and so the unmatched cutting of the video could have been a more subtle approach to defying convention.
Demands Of The Record Label
there are a large number of close ups of the band members, with a main focus on the bands vocalist and frontman Deryck Whibley, which is typical of not only the Punk Rock genre, but all music videos categorised in the Rock, Indie and Metal genres, as well as all of their subgenres. From Alternative rock to Metalcore, Britpop to Industrial Metal and so on. Most of Sum 41's music videos incorporate the band performing in a fairly spacious area, with large crowds surrounding them, dancing and cheering, as well as including various gimmicks which are littered throughout the majority of the music videos. two good examples of this are the music videos for the songs "Underclass Hero" and "Fatlip".
Intertextuality
There is one main intertextual reference in this video, which is the small section of a different song playing before the actual song begins. This section of song is part of another one of Sum 41's songs, entitled Fat Lip. I think this is a method of self advertisement, effectively advertising one song on the music video for another, and many musicians do this, across multiple genres.
Friday 4 October 2013
Genre
It is difficult to define my chosen song in just one genre, as it contains elements of a variety of different genre's, including Electronica, Alternative Hip Hop and Synthpop. each of these genres ads certain elements to the music, which allows said music to move away from the common genre stereotypes. the artists in question, Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege, and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin are known for using musical samples from a wide variety of artists, across multiple genres, including the band MGMT (psychedelic rock), singer Ellie Goulding (Indie Pop), and Rapper Tinie Tampah (Grime).
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