Sunday, 13 September 2009

Influential Music Video's And Artists

These artists below are significant to my research as they are all musical influences of 'Smaller than You', and have generic ska videos of having a comedic based narrative intergated with some sort of perfromance narative. They also have generic costume and band appearcnce to the genre which will be useful in my productions.


LESS THAN JAKE:

‘Less Than Jake’ are an American ska band from Florida and are a big musical influence of ‘Smaller Than you’. They are renowned for third-wave ska, ska-punk, and other hybrids of ska and underground music. There music video - ‘Does this lion City Still Roar?’ is significant in establishing the band in urban scenes in America, which is what my group wants to do with our music video but with Britain. These scenes in this video portray a desolate and unglamorous location full of fences, dumps and litter which is referenced through there lyrics, for example “The city feels like a cage“, along with references to “drugs“, “crime“ and lyrics connected to the deterioration of the city. Ironically this music video still manages to create and connote an upbeat, pessimistic and humorous atmosphere within the video, due to the pace of the music and mise-en-scene and engaging narrative. The location of New York is obvious through the visuals of art deco apartments and the lyrics of “There’s an overdose on 8th“, which is significant as according to Andrew Goodwin‘s theory there should be a distinct link between the lyrics and the visuals conveyed. This video is effective in promoting the band in the video humorously and vividly for the audience to see the band and engage with the music video. This band will be extremely useful in ideas for my production and how to promote a third wave ska band, whilst targeting a young audience.





SUM 41:
Are a Canadian punk rock band who fuse elements of ska-punk into their music. However, their predominant genre has been hard to determine by critics as they fuse complex combinations of different musical genres an styles together. They are significant to my research as there costume and video's are quite generic to the signifiers of ska music. This image below is extremely effective and could be a potential idea for my print productions. I think they have been marketed well here through their costume, image and the location they are being presented in. I really love the black and white graffiti background and think it conveys their rebellious teen image well.
Their costume is key to their music and image as it is a signifier of the genre and the young grunge/rock/punk audience they are targeting. Etnies and Vans shoes are extremely fundamental to the genre as they are worn by most underground musical artists, as seen here. The lead singer too the far left is extremely key to their image as he is the lead singer. Youth and punk/rock is reinforced through their costume, with the use of the tie, the cropped shorts, gelled colourful hair, sweat bands and simplistic t-shirts and band merchandise.


This video below: 'In Too Deep' by Sum 41- this music video contains dominant youth and punk signifiers through it's mise en scene, which is useful for my research into the genre. The narrative is interesting as it is humorous, engaging the audience as well as performance based, but still contained in one narrative and one location. The location is a signifier of the USA; a deserted swimming centre, surrounded by a crowd of high school teenagers holding up signs saying 'Jocks' with a line crossed over the top, connoting youth and America into this music video. This is significant as this band are dominantly targeting their music and this music video to young American teenagers, who are able to relate with the music video. The costume conveys a punk image due to the Iron Maiden band tops (referencing other renowned rock acts) and, again, the significant Etnies and Vans shoes amplifying the underground genre.






CATCH 22:
Are an American third-wave-ska band who are significant to my research into the genre and music videos as they are ska-punk, like, ‘Smaller Than You’. They have toured with other renowned third-wave-ska acts such as ‘Reel Big Fish’ and ‘Mustard Plug‘.

This video below is an example of a ska-punk band (catch 22) utilising costume, movement (skanking- type of dance associated with the genre), and the appearance of the band/cast members to establish and use the genre significantly. This video also effectively focuses on a humorous narrative as well as the band performing which is dominant in most ska-punk music videos. This video has a clear and simple edit which complements the many different and effective camera angles keeping the audience active and engaged. I particularly like this video, as well as Sum 41’s ‘In Too Deep’, as their grading is vivid and vibrant connoting an optimistic atmosphere.

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