Saturday, 22 January 2011

Sum 41 - Underclass Hero (Music video review)


The mise en scene is the main focus of this music video. It seems as though the band are playing right in the middle of a high school/college bonfire party. The large amount of extras and dances help to give the video a party feel, and give than band a "fun" image. Punk clothing and the punk - schoolboy image also help to do this, whilst also connotating rock.

I feel that the mide-en-scene is designed to make the viewer think "Wow, i wish I was there!" This obviously keeps them watching. This can relate to Richard Dyer's utopian soloutions theory, where we try and fill voids in our own life with the media.

Toilet paper is thrown, Balls are hit of peoples heads with baseball bats etc.. this helps add to the party feel. The stage, amps, fire and fire all help add to the mise-en-scene. When the baseball is struck from one of the party goer's head's, the video goes into slow motion. This is designed to impress the viewer and keep their attention.

The flames in the darkness connotate an image of power.

The band are playing normally during the intro, focusing on the drums as they are the most prominant unstrument during this part of the song, but start playing with lots of energy when music kicks in. This intrests the viewer and emphasises the fast and aggressive punk style that the band play.

Medium paced edits are used as the band are playing with such energy that they are not needed as much.

Cheerleaders are perfect for the video as they match the mise-en-scene by being related to school, and can provide the high energy dance moves needed for the video.

The focus switches beteween the two singers, concentrating on the frontman as most music video conventions state.

During the solo slow motion fireworks, and impressive dancing (bhackflips by cheerleaders etc). A low angle shot is used to show height of cheerleader throw. These things are designed to really try an make the viewer go "Wow!" with things we find visually impressive.

The singer jumps into crowd gets involves with narrative towards the end, and characters from narrative sing the lyrics at the beggining. This is a theme designed to intrest the viewer.

Close ups of the singer are used when music concentrates in vocals, following general music video conventions.

To sum up, the video focuses heavily on the mise-en-scene and keeps the viewer entertained with impressive visuals.

Yet another inspiring video that will help our own!

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