Newspaper collage for music video

This short video will be put into the music video probably towards the end. It demonstrates the main characters pursuit to find information, and at the end of the video the main character has gathered all of this information, and is "pinning" it up on the wall.

This was created using a DSLR Olympus camera, using the simple stop motion idea, I then processed the images on photoshop in order to make all the images have the same white balence, contrast and brightness, etc, this was done so the video runs smoothly together, and doesn't appear tacky or cheap.

Discuss the role of tribes and subcultures in youth identity

The term tribes can be defined as a specific group of people who share the same norms and values as each other, subcultures can be seen as a group of people in one culture for example, Goths, who have created a different style of fashion or taste in music or behaviour that can be still drawn back to the Goth style, an example of a subculture could be emos, who have originated from Goths and have grown out to form their own norms and values.

Youth identity is when young people, from young teenagers to 25, identify themselves with a certain tribe or subculture, they do this to make themselves safe and secure as they can relate to people who are like themselves, once this is group has been formed, it grows into a subculture, and is seen as part of the youth identity, tribes which attract the youth identity can be emos, Goths, hipsters, mods, teddy boys, etc.

Cultures used to be very homogenous and there used to be one significant culture, like in the19th century, the style was very much large dresses, three piece suits, tweed and the like. Music would be classical and dancing would be in partners etc, so overall then, the culture was very enclosed and private.

Now due to the rise in globalisation and the proliferation of music genres, there has been a significant rise in cultures and tribes, and from these cultures there has been a rise in subcultures, like from Goths there has the rise in emos. Evidence that the pick ‘n’ mix approach can be seen in what cultures wear, for example, the big boots that emos wear can be seen in the punk fashion. Maffasoli believes in this and suggests that there has been a proliferation of subcultures, which there has, and this can be supported with the idea that mainstream cultures has bricolaged, mainstream culture has broken off into different cultures, which it has.

There are many cultures and subcultures which the youth identify with, Goths for example, wear black, have piercings, large boots, wear black makeup, have unique hair styles and act differently to the rest of society, also Chavs, which are a unique subculture to Britain, often wear sports clothing, act in an anti-social behaviour, smoke and drink.

Before the large rise in subcultures, there were defined cultures, like the Teddy Boys, or the Mods, or the Punks, which wore clothing that associated them to that particular group, also they had meanings behind what they wore or how they behaved, for example, Punks would be very aggressive often and this would be reflected in what they wore, as they would wear very apparent clothing that looked aggressive, like metal studs, or metal spiked bracelets.

Now though, the well defined cultures have proliferated into many smaller, niche cultures, like Goths and emos, and the meanings behind them have been lost, leading to an easy and quick rise in subcultures.

Hebdige argues that the youths can be “read” from what they wear, and to some extent this is true, from what Punks wear, for example, you can see they are aggressive and want to stand out in society. But this also can be untrue, for example, due to the pick ‘n’ mix approach to tribes, meanings behind these tribes have been lost and the only reason the tribe wears what it wears is because it’s had that style of clothing since it started, it’s become a norm for the people within the tribe to wear what signifies their culture. This overall suggests a loss of meaning to the cultures.

Belonging to a tribe reinforces many youths norms and values, giving members a sense of security, as the members are surrounded by other people like themselves, this also shows collective identity. Many people express themselves through what tribe they join, as the individuals have norms and values similar to the tribes, but they’ve yet to discover this tribe, once they’ve discovered it, they join and feel a sense of belonging and identity, they are then shaped into what the tribe sees as the correct norms and values for the tribe.

In conclusion, subcultures and tribes play a massive role in youth identity, its forms the basis of how we interact when we’re in that tribe and also how we act to a member of that tribe. It defines who are , what we believe in, how we act, and most of all our life choices. Subcultures continue to proliferate and grow in size, despite the meanings behind the cultures being lost, it doesn’t deter the increase in subcultures and tribes giving young people an identity, sense of belonging and collective identity.  

Costume

The costume in music videos often relate to the genre or the meanings behind the music or lyrics, in our case, the costume used doesn't play a great part in the music video, the genre and the meanings behind them.

The main character that is seen in the shots of cut in between Brian singing remains anonymous, this is to add a sense of mystery and uncertainity to the music video. Also the use of the bag suggests this character is moving from one place to another, and that life for him, is always changing, and in the song, Brian sings of things changing and having to make decisions. This is reflected in just one item of the costume.

The use of the hood up represents that this character is a private, possible insecure person, also this will hopefully add a sense of mystery to the video, as this character remains anonymous, suggesting that they could be unpredictable and do rash actions, as the audience can't "read" the character, they cant' understand the characters emotions from just how they walk or the actions they perform. The use of the jeans represents this character as someone who doesn't need designer and expensive clothes, also the popularity of jeans is constant, it never goes out of fashion, and jeans are extremely common, this reveals that this character, again, is trying to remain anonymous and blend in with modern society.

Brians costume isn't linked to the music at all, we asked him to wear a black top which would go with the black background, an intertexual reference to Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2U, when the filming took place Brians top and the black background didn't go blend together very well. But this was sorted out in editing, as seen below.

Brians footage

In this post will be what we filmed of Brian, singing "Information"

I can't seem to add more than one video to a post, so in order to add all the videos I will have to add them once I'm at home. Once one video is inserted, I click on the video icon, to add a new video, and it just freezes, this only occurs on school computers. This goes the same way for my other post, the footage of the main character, I will update my blog with the footage asap.

Footage of Brian

This one is similar, we hoped, to Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2U, as she faces the camera with a black background, and sings to the camera, but as Brian's face isn't as "active" as Sineads, this wasn't the only reason we were going to inter-cut Brian singing with a journey that a  anonymous person was making, the other reason was we needed to add some narrative to the music video, add something that will keep the audience interested in the video. Below is an example of something that will be used to inter-cut Brian.

We've filmed more of this person making a journey, making decisions on which way to go, referencing what is being sung in the film. Which is about change, and information. I will make a seperate post about this.

Goodwins Music Video Analysis

This song was written and played by the band called Greenday, it was released in 2005 in the album "American Idiot", it got into the top ten in the charts in over nine countries.

The video focuses on a very loving couple. The boyfriend promises never to leave his girlfriend but they later argue when the boyfriend enlists in the United States Army Corp. The boyfriend interprets his actions as a way to show her that he loves her so much that he would put his life on the line to keep her safe; the girlfriend, however, is heartbroken, as he broke his vow to never leave her, and terrified at the thought that he might die in battle. The video then shows the boyfriend in battle in Iraq being ambushed by insurgents. This scene is intercut with scenes of the girlfriend tearfully mourning in a quiet field.

This music video genre is alternative rock, other alternative rock songs include, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nivana, "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand and thousands more, click here for the 100 greatest alternative rock songs.

Alternative rocks can be characterised as being different to rock songs, being slightly more punk than rock, it includes heavy guitar and drums, and often music usually influenced by punk, grudge, goth, indie, as well as classic rock, sometimes called Modern Rock.

 It’s not designed specifically to be popular, usually doesn’t include any synthesizers or mixed music, and is usually less “harsh” than what one would classify as Hard Rock.
“When September Ends” can be characterised into this, the song alone, fits into this genre, as it includes heavy use of the guitar  and drums, also it can be seen similar to other alternative songs, like “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand. 

When the band is seen in the video performing, it reveals the genre again. The image below shows the band performing, the background colour adds to the character of the genre, as red is often associated with rock and punk, the dark edges and dimly lit stage also goes with the genre, as its often seen as a dark genre, it also picks out the performers, especially since they are on pedestals.  

But the actual music video, with the boyfriend and girlfriend, also when he is in the army, doesn't seem to demonstrate the genre characteristics, this may be because the heavy music, like the chorus, used with the muted video, makes the audience sympathise and feel the sorrow and pain that both parties must be going through. If you were to look at the video without the music it doesn't seem like it would be associated with a alternative rock music video, this could be due to the fact it is a sad and heart felt video and the fact that this song is quite heavy and loud, wouldn't seem like it would accompany a film like seen in this video. 

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are very minor, there aren't many relationships between it, as this song was written about Billie Joe's father (Billie Joe is the lead vocalist, main songwriter, and guitarist), who died of cancer when he was 10, and he writes this song about how hard it was recovering from his fathers death who died on September 10th and he says "Here comes the rain again." This is saying he is crying again, as he's remembering what he has lost and how much his father meant to him. The video however is how the Director Samual Bayer saw it and Billie Joe agreed it would be good to do that, as including his father would be too personal to him, also it gave thousands of people something to relate to during hard times, as this video adds to the American Idiot anti-war sentiment of the U.S. war in Iraq. Due to the sorrow in the song and possible the video that was released with it, changing the mindsets of people when they came to understand the song, it eventually became a tribute song to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and sound bites were added from various news coverages to the song. 

The one connection that can be made to the video and lyrics, which can be seen as quite important is that it`s  a song about losing a person you really loved, there's the connection to the video where the girl loses her boyfriend in war. But in order to understand this connection, you had to understand the reason behind the creation of the song. 

I think this summarises both the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals and the relationship between the music and the video.  

During this music video, there are shots of the band performing seen left, this would mainly be used to sell the music video. The close up shots of Billie Joe (Lead singer) and the arrangement of him on the stage, also note the heavier spot light on him, this reveals to the audience that this song is being lead by him and the song refers to Billie’s life.

There may be a more emphasis on the performers if this was a different song, for example see 21 Guns, but as this song was written about Billie Joe's loss of his father, and his grievances for him, to make it more understandable to the audience Billie may of put it into a video that people could relate to, and in order to do this, Billie had to give up some of the bands "camera time" in order to get this message across. 

Billie Joe’s use of makeup and costume refers to the punk genre, this may give the idea that Green Day try and edge toward the punk genre rather than rock, it also perceives the band as a punk rock band, which some of their songs can be classed as punk rock like Christy Road. The use of make up on Billie Joe and the punk style of fashion in the band, seems to be the only recurring motif in their work. 

There doesn't seem to be a great deal of intertexual references to this music video, again possible because Billie Joe did this song about his dad, and was a song in reaction to his pain that he endured in recovering from his dads death.

Whether this can be seen as a intertexual reference or not, but this song can be seen in rejection to the Iraq war that was occurring at the time of release, as it depicts American forces coming under attack by insurgents, rather than the American Army, for example, freeing an Taliban occupied town. So rather it showing American forces saving everyone’s life and happy faces, it shows American soldiers coming under attack and being injured, portraying the Iraq war as negative and despite years and years of control by the U.S, nothing has changed. (Seen below)