The music video I have chosen to analyse is the song Dammit by pop punk group, Blink 182. As my chosen genre of music for my music video is punk, I wanted to familiarise myself with the common conventions of these music videos. This particular music video is a narrative based music video containing the artists: Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Scott Raynor which shows how Mark dealt with a previous break-up and how it feels when he sees her. The director Darren Doane allowed the band to improvise during the video to give a more realistic and comedic feature.
Thought Beats- Where you 'see' in the sound.
Immediately when the song begins you can tell it is a Blink 182 song. The scratchy guitar riff by DeLonge has a unique and rugged feel to the song which structures it well, this was at a point in Blink's career where well structured music was not a common feature of their music with songs such as 'The Party Song' and 'Josie' having little to no structure. But the Blink 182 that is regarded for songs such as 'All the Small Things' and 'What's my age again' is known for having a clear structure to their songs and this song follows that pattern. In this video the directors's attempt to connect the audience with the lyrics has been blown out the window with an energetic and comedic performance from the band in the narrative. This would attract a wider target audience as comedy and punk are not necessarily two genres which are commonly associated together so having two completely different genres can perhaps connect two different audiences together, expanding the overall viewing.
Narrative and Performance-
In this music video we do not receive the full narrative as a story has to be told in a short space of time, in this instance 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The narrative mainly shows the three band members clowning around in a music hall to find one of their ex-girlfriends turn up with her new boyfriend and spirals into the other two comforting the dumped. Which works effectively with the lyrics about how he got dumped showing how he is not over the situation and is complimented through various cuts of Hoppus crying in Raynor and DeLonge's arms. Also shows a performance from the band to accompany the narrative to show a storytelling mode from the band. This would attract a target audience because getting dumped is quite a relatable subject and for something to happen to a celebrity makes them seem more human and down to earth increasing the fan base for the group.
Star Image-
In Blink 182's music videos, for the band to feature as the protagonists in the music video is not unheard of in a narrative situation as other songs such as First Date, Adam's Song and Feeling This all follow this style of music video. Although they may not be natural born actors, this plays off in their advantage as it creates a humorous, light-hearted feel to the video which would better engage the audience. This is because not only do they have a well structured fast paced punk song, they also have a humorous, exciting video containing the band members to compliment this.
Relation of Visuals to Song-
In some instances in the song the visuals relate directly to the lyrics however they sometimes do but are not shown synchronously to the lyrics at that point in the song. An example of this is where the lyrics say "Maybe, I'll see you at a movie, sneak preview" as it is sung at 1 minute 30 seconds when visuals show this in an establishing shot of the music hall. This creates a storytelling approach from the visuals as although the audience have already seen it we are being told again through the perspective on Mark. Another example of where in the music video the visuals relate to the song is when Mark is crying over his ex-girlfriend meanwhile the lyrics "Well I guess this is growing up." This indirectly relates to the visuals as perhaps you have to have your heart broken to grow up and become a stronger person. |
| "Well I guess this is growing up" |
Technical Aspects of music video-
A lot of the shots of the narrative are track and pan shots, track shots are great in keeping the subject in frame which is exactly what was done here to boost the star image as in many shots such as the tickets being ripped and it panning onto them walking into the music hall they are always in frame suggesting they are the main selling point that people want to see in the music video so they keep them in it as much as possible. Another way technical aspects are used in this music video in camera work is with the use of pans. This is used because the narrative is on the topic of relationships which almost everybody will experience in their lifetime at some point, and the use of pans is to show the reaction to some event by the protagonist in this case when Mark Hoppus's ex-girlfriend appears, therefore creating a relationship with the audience as they can empathise with Mark and feel sorry for him because of his reaction to the event.
A lot of the shots of the narrative are track and pan shots, track shots are great in keeping the subject in frame which is exactly what was done here to boost the star image as in many shots such as the tickets being ripped and it panning onto them walking into the music hall they are always in frame suggesting they are the main selling point that people want to see in the music video so they keep them in it as much as possible. Another way technical aspects are used in this music video in camera work is with the use of pans. This is used because the narrative is on the topic of relationships which almost everybody will experience in their lifetime at some point, and the use of pans is to show the reaction to some event by the protagonist in this case when Mark Hoppus's ex-girlfriend appears, therefore creating a relationship with the audience as they can empathise with Mark and feel sorry for him because of his reaction to the event.
