Summer Homework Revised

Activity One: Music Video Analysis. 
PART ONE: GENRE

What elements does your artist use to identify themselves in their videos?
In more recent times, Blink-182 have made themselves identifiable through the use of their logo, which is very recognisable. They have always seemed to keep with an image that is genre specific, wearing punky, dark clothing that conforms to the conventions of the pop-punk genre. In the same vein, however, they wear clothes that are fairly normal, meaning their look can be related to and imitated. I feel this use of styling and image makes them recognisable and identifiable within their videos. In the earlier, more immature days of Blink, they used less traditional and sometimes amusing methods to be recognised, which often went with their music and promoted the ideas of punk and youth. For example, in their earliest days they sported dyed hair and fooled around in their videos. Similarly, even later on into their career, Blink-182 used humorous visual aids to identify them i.e. parodical costumes, nudity and profanities.

Dark Clothing                                                   Use of Logo                                         Immaturity

How has your artist changed over time? As mentioned briefly before, Blink-182 started off slightly juvenile and immature. This fitted well with their genre of pop-punk and made them a relatable and likeable band, as shown with their video for “Dammit”. Their music at the time reflected this view on life and consequently their videos followed suit. As they began to grow up a little and evolve as a band when finding success, they started to approach more serious subject matter in their songs which understandably lead to music videos that were more serious and meaningful, for example with “Stay Together For The Kids” or “Adam’s Song” . Saying this however, even in amongst their serious songs, there remained the comical side as from the same album as “Stay Together...” came the music video for “First Date” which is both an amusing narrative and a parody of the Bee Gees.

 Dammit                                                             Stay Together For The Kids                First Date

What generic conventions are evident from their videos? With the genre of pop-punk comes the ethos that life shouldn’t always be taken so seriously and therefore, Blink-182 tends to use this convention on several occasions. This idea of rebellion (as seen in “Feeling This” and the general punk outlook on things is often displayed too, for example in their video for “Rock Show” they take the money given to them from the production company to make their video and use it in any way they see fit. There are displays of irresponsibility and disrespect, which is a clear convention of the genre punk and consequently the sub-genre, pop punk. Dull and neutral colours and dark settings are used in their videos which is also generic of punk/pop-punk videos i.e. in “Adam’s Song”

Feeling This                                       Rock Show                                       Adam’s Song

Has the film style changed over time? If so, why? I don’t believe their film style has changed considerable over time. If you compare their videos based on content, you can see that over the past 20 years, their style hasn’t changed much. For example, if you take the video for “Josie” or “Dammit” from their second album and compare it to “First Date” from their fourth, you can see that when they wish to be humorous, their videos are made in the same sort of way. In this case, narrative and performance are of about an equal split and have the purpose to amuse and entertain the audience. Similarly, when you take into consideration their newest video from their sixth album, “Up All Night” which is a more serious song and compare it to songs from their third such as “Adam’s Song” you can once again see that their film style is once again very similar, including both performance and narrative and using the appropriate genre conventions.

PART TWO: VISUAL STYLE AND IMAGE.

“Josie” & “Up All Night” Here we have two very different concepts for a music video, which fit into the context of the songs they are promoting. “Josie” is a song that is light-hearted and fun. Within the video, we get a mix of both performance and narrative and it is not at all conceptual. There is humour in the form of visual gags and acting whilst the narrative involved is also fairly humorous in itself. On the other hand, the video for most recent release “Up All Night” has a concept that is not at all humorous, which displays acts of rebellion and destruction. Once again, as is common in most (if not all) of Blink-182’s videos, the video is pretty much a 50/50 split of narrative and performance. It is rare that conceptual ideas are used in Blink-182 videos, however it is seen in the video for “Always” where there is a simultaneous, 3 way narrative occurring in a split screen. With regards to genre conventions, I’d argue that “Up All Night” holds the most, with a dark, run down, destructive setting and visual elements such as fire. “Josie” attracts a youthful audience with the use of a familiar setting (in the form of a movie theatre) whereas this is not strictly a convention of their genre. The humorous side to it, however, is a genre convention of pop-punk which makes it recognisable to an audience exactly what genre it belongs to. The costume choices in “Up All Night” also help to really emphasise the genre, as there are clear punks and skaters alike in the video.

Activity Two: CD Covers
PART ONE: Analysis

Blink-182 - Neighborhoods 

Sum 41 – All Killer, No FIller
New Found Glory - Catalyst
Fall Out Boy – Take This To Your Grave

Each of these artists come from within the same/a similar genre to Blink-182, and therefore I thought it would be interesting to compare their choice of album cover. The first – Neighborhoods by Blink-182 – is a fairly simple cover that has relevance to its title. Emphasis lies on the band name and there is no inclusion of the band themselves in the cover art. The dark and contrasting colours fit with the genre conventions of pop punk and the image of an urban setting is the sort of detail that makes the band seem relatable. The Sum 41 cover takes your more conventional humorous, juvenile approach with several amusing pictures. Once again, there is a large emphasis on the band name. Similarly, the New Found Glory cover also takes a less serious, more comical approach as there is a cartoon style image that takes up the entirety of the cover. The band name is once again highlighted and I think this is a feature that may be present in most album covers of pop-punk bands. Lastly, the Fall Out Boy once again boasts a noticeable band name which is probably the main focus. Strangely, this is the only cover of the bunch that shows a portrait of the band themselves which is odd, yet effective. The cold and dark colours once again fit with genre conventions.