Sum41 In Too Deep Research

The music video was directed by Marc Klasfeld and premiered in September 2001. It is a parody of the diving competition from the Rodney Dangerfield classic, Back to School. Sum 41 face another dive team, represented as stereotypical high school "jocks" with muscular bodies and red Speedos.

Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Kid Rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael Buble', Nelly, Foo Fighters, Jewel, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne, Aerosmith and many others with multiple MTV award wins and nominations.

Music Video Analysis

 

Blink182 Music Video Analysis

This video is of the pop punk genre that I have chosen. This is by a similar band to Sum41, Blink182. This song was released in 1999.

Camera

There is a variety of different shots including: long shots, mid shots, close ups, extreme close ups, tracking shots and panning shots. These are used to convey the reality and starkness of what they are doing, running around naked. This links with the lyrics of 'What's My Age Again?' as they are playing a prank on society and being immature. This links with Goodwin's theory is the lyrics are linking to what we see on screen. The video begins with a close up of the bassist Mark Hoppus. This is done deliberately to immediately gain focus and make the audience wonder what they are doing. This zooms out to a long shot of the band running.

 

The shots don't change often to enforce the shocking image of them being naked. This furthers the idea of them being immature. The shots are also mainly mid or long shots to make sure that the audience can see what the band is doing.
 
Editing

The editing has continuity and includes sharp cuts. This is to give the idea of verisimilitude. The idea of the band being cheeky is furthered by this and is seen as to be the truth. The cheekiness of the band is a convention of the pop punk genre. Other videos that I have watched include teenagers playing pranks and being rebellious. For example, the video for the Sum41 song 'Fat Lip' includes groups of teenagers 'messing about'. As the band are naked in the video, blurred boxes and guitars are used to cover their genitals. This because the band may get a bad image if the boxes were not present. The video also probably would not be aired or gain popularity with the masses. The end shot however, features the band members bums. This was done deliberately to be edgy at the time and shock audiences, gaining popularity. Nudity was not something normal to see in music videos. 

 

Mise en scene

 

The locations and props used are quite typical to American life. This contrasts with the not normal thing that they are doing, being naked. This furthers the idea of them being cheeky and rebellious as they are seen to disturb the peace of the normal setting. The performance aspects are set in a plain white room. This does not take the focus away from the band, their music or their message of rebellion that they are trying to convey. Costume isn't used in this video as the nakedness adds interest.

 

CD cover

The cover is a typical pop punk CD cover. It is fairly simple and colourful. This one features the band. They do not always feature them unless they have star power. As Blink 182 are one of the biggest pop punk bands of all time, their star power added extra popularity to their products, especially with the band featuring on the front. The cheeky naked theme links to the video and the song lyrics again. Even though they are in their underwear, an audience can still identify the genre of their music with their cheekiness, tattoos and punk hairstyles. The logo and style of writing that the band have adopted remains the same as on their other albums and singles, allowing the audience to make connections to immediately see which band the CD belongs to. 

Music Piracy Research

What is music piracy?

Music piracy is when tracks that are copyrighted are stolen (released without owner consent, sold without owners consent, copied, used without owners consent.) This infringes copyright laws.

The Digital Economy Act 2010

1.       ISP’s music regulate illegal file sharing and downloading files by slowing down accesses to internet, sending letters to the offenders and issuing strikes

2.       ISP’s must tell police

3.       Websites can be blocked if there is a threat of copyright infringement

4.       Fines up to £50,000 can be issued- considered to be proportionate to the harm caused to the UK industry’s

Criticisms of the Digital Economy Act

1.       Public Wi-Fi?

2.       What should happen to people who illegally download material? Criminal record? Fine?

3.       One person or group?

4.       Can it ever be proven?

5.       Do the public want/agree with this law?

6.       BBC found that 87% of people thought that internet access should be a human right

7.       TalkTalk has claimed that 80% of youngsters will continue to download music

8.       TalkTalk – don’t disconnect us , 2009 , shouldn’t be everyone that gets punished

9.       Can it ever be stopped?

10.   Why is it the ISP responsibility?

11.   How have other countries done it?

 

Case Studies

Lime Wire (2010)

1.       Four-year legal battle with the US music industry.

2.       Platform intentionally caused a "massive scale of infringement" by permitting the sharing of thousands of copyrighted works by its 50 million monthly users.

3.       Founded in 2000 by Mark Gorton

4.       US recorded music sales fell to $7.7bn in 2009 from $14.5bn in 1999.

5.       LimeWire planned to release a service called Spoon, which would allow users to legally purchase copyrighted tracks. The deal fell through, however, when record labels were told that the site would need at least a year to migrate illicit filesharers to the new service.

The Pirate Bay (2006)

1.       The Pirate Bay was launched in 2003 and has established itself as the world's most high-profile file-sharing site.

2.       The Pirate Bay's fame became too much for Swedish authorities, and in March 2006 the site's offices were raided by police investigating allegations of copyright violations.

TV shack

1.       A British student can be extradited to the United States for running a website linking to sites carrying pirated TV shows and films, a court has ruled.

2.       Richard O'Dwyer, a 23-year-old student at Sheffield Hallam University,  judge Quentin Purdy ruled that there were no valid reasons why he could not be sent to New York state for trial.

3.       US customs agents are seeking his prosecution over a website O'Dwyer set up when he was 19 called TVShack, and ran until his arrest last year.

4.       This provided links to other sites hosting pirated versions of TV shows and film.

5.       so popular that the student earned £15,000 per month in advertising revenue, US prosecutors claim.

 

 

 

I wanted to make sure that we were aware of the piracy that happens in the music industry as this could be potentially damaging to the products that our chosen artists produce.

 

 

Video Analysis

 

 

Camera

This music video uses a range of shots such as long shots and close ups. However, there is a correlation between the type of shot used and when. There tends to be a use of the close up shot, mid shot or extreme close up when lip syncing is being used by the artists. This could be to make it clear for the audience who the singer is if they have never been seen before. The artists also look into the camera which would suggest confidence to the audience. This may make the audience want to be like the artists as they may idolise them.

Long shots and angled shots are used when there are other people acting, this could be because the extra’s in the video are not as important therefore the audience do not need to know who they are. This could also be relatable to this particular song as its about having a night out therefore it could be showing that a lot of people are out and that the artists are the most important people out. This could also relate to the personal identity aspect of the gratifications theory as the audience may be subconsciously thinking that they want to be part of that.

 

Mise en scene

This song has an element of country music, therefore the video include iconography of that genre of music and element of the culture as well. For example, they are in a saloon, which is quite a key element and iconic symbol of American culture. The props and locations use are typical of that aspect of America. It is also easily identifiable by the cow boy boots and hats. This shows that the director of the music video also chose the outfits for the actors very carefully. Both artists also look typical of this aspect , however they both have garments on that are typical In the pop genre to create a unique take on the country riff used , although both artists specialise in the pop genre.

Editing

All of the cuts used are quick and sharp. This could be reflective of the tempo that is used in this song as it has an element of dance music in the chorus. This quick cutting could also reflect the lyrics as it is talking about having an amazing night and drinking a lot therefore may want to give the illusion of time going fast and everyone having fun. The editing on the lighting also makes the scenes in the saloon look dark and have a red hue. The dark red effect that this creates could be relatable to the sexual suggestions that this song has as red is often related to love and passion and sex is often the main focus of a pop song.

Lyrical Analysis

How we would tackle music piracy and restrictions in our company

Questionnaire Feedback and Company Ideas

Storyboarding

After spending a while storyboarding our ideas for our music video, we have finished. We have included lots of detail including the lyrics that go with the visual, what shot type we intend to use, the angles we want to try for the shots and any other notes that we feel we will need to take into consideration when filming our music video.

Ancillary Task Questionnaire Feedback

We have devised a questionnaire to see whether my target audience will enjoy and want to watch my music video. It includes questions concerning when and where they watch music videos so we would know where to distribute it. We also made one for the ancillary tasks to see when and where my target audience view CD covers and posters. From our feedback we will know what to include on the cover and the kind of things they like to see. If our feedback does not fit with what we plan to create, it allows for changes to be made. This ensures our products will be successful. 

We asked 25 people from our target audience of teenagers (13-20) my questionnaire. 

These are screen shots of each questionnaire. They are one choice answers to make our results clear.

 



1. Do you tend to take notice of album release posters and CD cover images?

2. Do you buy CD's?

3. Do you buy magazines?

  4. If so, what type of magazines do you buy? (You can choose more than one)

5. Where do you notice adverts the most? (You can choose more than one)

  6. What type of genre of adverts do you prefer?

  7. Do you prefer to see the artists or images on CD covers?

8. Do you prefer bright colours/images or darker colours/images?

Music Video Questionnaire Feedback

We have devised a questionnaire to see whether my target audience will enjoy and want to watch my music video. It includes questions concerning when and where they watch music videos so we would know where to distribute it. We also made one for the ancillary tasks to see when and where my target audience view CD covers and posters. From our feedback we will know what to include on the cover and the kind of things they like to see. If our feedback does not fit with what we plan to create, it allows for changes to be made. This ensures our products will be successful. 

We asked 25 people from our target audience of teenagers (13-20) my questionnaire. 

These are screen shots of each questionnaire. They are one choice answers to make our results clear.

 

1. Do you watch music videos often? (more than once a week)

2. Where do you watch them?

3. If on Tv- where?

4. If online-where?

5. What do you watch them on the most?

6. Which music genre is your favourite?

7. Do you prefer music videos that include a narrative or purely performance based?

8. Do you like to see the artists or actors in a music video?
9. What kind of narrative do you most like to see in a music video?

 

Theory

This is my illustration of McQuail's usues and gratification theory. McQuail developed Blumler and Katz theory of what the audience receives from the media. When constructing our video we have to consider what our product is offering to our target audience and also what music videos in general offer the audience.

Seeking Permission

Due to potential copyright infringement's we have chosen to attempt to contact Sum41 and ask permission to use their song in our music video.

Ancillary Task Questionnaire

Overall Choice 

We have designed a logo for our production company that we feel embodies the genre of our music video. We originally thought that we would use our logo from last year so that it appeared as a subsidiary company to TEKPRODUCTIONS. However, upon reflection, we decided to use the ‘TEK’ but replace production with ‘RECORDS’. We felt that records fit with the genre of music we are concentrating on because records are viewed as unique and individual these days, just like our target audience.

Font

The reason why we chose the font is that it looks like American school lettering that is often used on school merchandise. This will help our audience relate to our record label as the age group we are aiming at (13-20). Also the fact that the logo font looks as though it was draw also fits in with our intended audience. Stereotypically, our alternative target audience, are portrayed as artsy and also rebellious, therefore we thought the fact the font looks academic but scribbly fits in with the target audience.

Image

The image we chose is a pair of ‘can’ headphones. We chose these particular headphones as they are in fashion in the alternative crowd, with brands such as ‘skullcandy’ and ‘beatz’ recreating the older style of headphones known as can’s. We chose to put red on the headphones as red could suggest anarchy which could be associated stereotypically with our audience and our genre of music. A lot of pop punk artists use the values of anarchy to promote their band and image.