I'm not Okay- My Chemical Romance
The single was released on the 7th December 2004 as the second single from My Chemical Romance’s second studio album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. It reached number 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. It was then re-released on the 17th January 2005. The song was included in the
EA Trax listing for a racing game Burnout 3: Take down, which was very well-received by critics, with an average score of 93% on metacritic.com (a
website that gives reviews from respected critics and
publications for media products).
The music video of I’m Not Okay, is set in a typical American prep school and shows the everyday issues in the form of a fake movie trailer. The bands
image comes across to us from an earlier time in their lives and we see what they may have been like when they were in high school, their image is a slightly exaggerated group of outcast, dorky students, which a typical characteristic of the rock
genre, who are picked on from the opposite
clique the ‘jocks’. Their image now stands out from a lot of other bands that are in the same
genre which creates the ‘outcast’
effect - their hair, the way they dress and their actions suggests the ‘dorky’ part we see in the video.
The video begins with a preview rating card, which is shown at the beginning of trailers to tell the audience the rating and that it has been approved. This immediately says we will be watching a trailer, and there is more to the story than we will actually see. The rating we are given is ‘R – Revenge’, you soon realise this is the plot of the music video. Whilst this is shown we hear a
voice over of a boy talking, the frame then changes to a frame of their
motif their album cover – a cartoon of a boy and girl, the camera moves through them and the title ‘MCR Productions’
fades onto the screen; a sign that the band have participated in the making of the video, giving them credibility for creativity. It then cuts to a
medium close up of two school boys lounging on some stairs, the boys are infact the lead singer of the band (Gerard Way) and the guitarist (Ray Toro). The voice we hear is matched to the guitarist, making the sound now
diegetic. The guitarist tells the singer that he should ‘face it, you’re never gunna make it’ because he likes all the wrong things. We don’t know what the right things are but by the
representation of the boys its is obvious they mean popularity because they are the opposite of a typical ‘popular’ person – dressed in a scruffy uniform and long hair covering parts of the faces. Whilst this happens a
non-diegetic guitar plays a rocky intro, when Gerard replies “I don’t wonna make it, I just wonna…” the song begins properly.
Throughout the video there is repetition of titles - a black background with white writing, except they do not display names but tell the story of the song. This is the first thing we see after the
cut from the band members, it says ‘If you ever felt’, this first line was put at the beginning of the video so the audience know you have to read them and by leaving the sentence unfinished, you want to carry on watching to see what comes next. It cuts to an
establishing shot of a swimming pool where it is obvious there is a race about to take place, the camera then
tracks behind the bare legs of the swimmers warming up to a pair of legs that are still in school trousers. The next title appears, saying ‘alone’ linking in with the action on screen. It cuts back to the establishing shot
zooming out and we see the race begin but the boy still in uniform (Gerard the lead singer) still stood at the start, alone. Already there is a different feel about certain characters.
The third title we see repeats the first with ‘If you ever felt’ which cuts to a medium shot of a group of ‘jocks’ laughing and pointing, giving a sense of teasing. A
quick cut to a close up of another student, a smart looking boy (who again is a band member, guitarist Frank Lero) and his reaction to the jeering. Next title tells us ‘rejected’ and we see the teasing being taken to a different level as a medium close up of the jocks shows one of them throwing a sandwich at Frank Lero. As the note being played by the guitar gets gradually octaves higher there is a sequence of quick cuts, varying close ups, two shot with different foregrounds and backgrounds and
crab left, of a mix of different boys that have been ‘rejected’ for different reasons, this is reflected in the variation of the
camera angles which each shot shows their response and emotion to what just happened to the guitarist; each boy is a different member of the band.
As the guitar notes still creep higher, the quick cut sequence carries on but with
extreme close ups of parts of instruments being plugged in, tuned in and turned on or up. The continuing of the sequence shows there is a relationship between the boys being picked on and the music instruments, the quick cuts are then stopped by a close up of the lead singer singing the first words of the song, and a few moving shots of the band playing behind him in an room that could be a garage that has a few lights hanging on the back wall and had been what looks like sound proofed, this suggests a retreat for the ‘rejects’ which they have spent a lot of time doing up to get away from those bullies and here they have the confidence to say what they would really think to them, in the form of song.
The
narrative storylines of the band members begin again the a title saying ‘If you ever felt confused’ followed by a crab left of the guitarist Frank Lero putting on swimming goggles rather than lab goggles, obviously confused, and the rest of the frame shows the new setting of a science lab. A crab left was to make the audience subconsciously take the whole frame in and see the change of
setting, so we recognise it in the frames that we see next but make us notice the importance of Frank putting on the goggles.
The repeated cut away of the next title says, ‘If you ever felt lost’ and the cut back takes us to the lab again to a close up then medium shot of the other guitarist Ray Toro spinning around child-like on a chair, oblivious to what is going on around him. The second phase of the bands performance comes in when the lyrics claim “It’s better off this way”, to remind the audience of the rebelling words they sing when not being confronted by the bullies.
‘If you ever felt anxious’ describes the next shot of the bassist Mikey Way as he takes a inhaler which is commonly used for asthma, a breathing problem and can be linked with anxiety. A slight
match on action happens as Mikey goes from central screen taking his inhaler to central screen of the bands performance playing his bass, to emphasise that it is him and the bands image. This edit is followed by another series of busy, moving shots of the band playing the song.
The characteristic
cutaway titles of the video responds ‘If you ever felt wrong’, it cuts back to a close up of a hand putting down a piece of paper marked with a red F which denotates fail and we witness Gerard Way putting down the piece of paper and celebrating, happy that he failed until a fist comes from the side of the frame and punches him; when watched carefully you can see he doesn’t actually get punched but the
high angle frame after showing him recoiling from the blow adds to the effect that he has been punched and the high angle makes him look small which is the bully putting him back in his place, the title frame next explains this by repeating the one before ‘If you ever felt wrong’ but fading in ‘ed’ at the end of wrong. The next few frames jump from the performance back to the lab again as the lyrics break into the chorus of “I’m not okay, I’m not okay, I’m not okay, You wear me out” we see the lead singer getting angry and throwing his mic stand to the floor and close ups of his pleading look with his strange trade mark make up (which he used to wear in the early days of the band, not so much once they had a make over for their second studio album) giving him a distressed facial expression after having just been punch and his character in the narrative sitting up clutching his face. We also observe the band members in the lab eating chalk and drinking an unknown substance in a glass jar whilst the frames still alternate back and forth from performance to narrative.
After we witness the band getting angry and appearing to be taking a stand against the bullying, all the titles of ‘If you ever…’ make a change and start to relate to their peers rather than them, as if they’re trying to reassure themselves that its not just them it happens too.
When the next verse comes in there is a
notion-of-looking as the setting changes to a cubicle in the toilets, only close up of body parts are seen in this section as we see from a shot on the floor that there is a pair of feet stood in a cubicle, which cuts to a boy undoing his flies. The title here suggests time has passed and something has happened as the title says ‘If you ever felt unclean’, to which it cuts back and we now see girls feet in the cubicle to, the
narrative is broken up with
shots of the performance of the band.
As the chorus comes in for the second time, the story line moves on to the title ‘If you ever felt angry’ and we view from the side a girl opening her locker and band member Frank Lero jumping out and onto the screen with a close up quick cut of him from the front as he scares the girl who opened the locker. Again this narrative is separated with shots of the band starting to get more confident in what they’re singing about.
The next title we look at is ‘If you ever felt ashamed’ and the next sub story we catch a glimpse of is a happy looking make student again opening his locker and a crab right shows on left pill pots falling out of his locker and his expression of embarrassment on the right, the next frame shows a close up of the pots falling to the floor and bouncing in
slow motion as the cut back to crab right shows him slamming his locker door shut, humiliated.
Setting for the next ‘If you ever felt’ is in a locker room with two shot of a couple of naked boys facing away from each other in the frame from the torso up, the title tells us ‘If you ever felt curious’ and the cut back shows one of the boys scrutinizing the others body while he is unaware.
As the song comes to a halt, we see a cheerleader sitting on a bench in the locker room, with the guitarist Frank Lero – breaking the
convention of cliques not getting on and
stereotypically the ‘rejects’ not being very good talkers with pretty girls. The shot is from behind them with their faces towards each other, giving the notion-of-looking also as there is no other sound just the talking “Y’know, you have something in your eye…” the camera stays steady as they lean towards each other, but he stays true to the convention and gets that something out of her eye and wipes it on her. When the impact hits that they don’t kiss the music starts abrupt with a guitar solo. The shot changes to a wide shot as he stands up and walks out of the frame leaving her alone.
The titles start again, but like they did at the beginning as we only see ‘If you ever felt’ and cutaway to a medium shot of a female teacher coming out of a small cupboard, a cut back to the next title which says ‘Used’ followed by a cutaway to a male teacher following her out of the room, not looking pleased. This is the last of the sub stories about ‘If you ever felt’.
There is then an
establishing shot of the school as the bassist, Mikey Way, pops his head up into the frame – not all of his face is shown, which could suggest there is something else about to go on - and looks to the left and right of the frame then runs off. A sequence of shots from the band playing the song still interrupts the narrative as the emotion in their playing and Gerards’ voice gets more intense, like they’re waiting for something. We pursue after Mikey as he turns up in an office, a close up shows him putting a tape in a player and connecting it to an announcement microphone. There is then a cut to a speaker so we understand that the tape is now playing.
The setting switches to a library, and the music decreases drastically in volume, keeps the same tune but plays it classically with a piano instead of the conventional guitars. A crab right shows Ray Toro reading a book while behind him there are students dancing to the music which we presume is being played through the speakers. A
wide shot reveals all of the students who had taken part in the narrative sub storylines dancing in partners around the band who are sat in arm chairs, quite relaxed but look like they are waiting for something, in the middle of them is a globe which could symbolise that everything revolves around them and secretly quiet like the music they are secretly in control of what is happening to them. While this is happening the lead singer whispers the chorus “I’m okay, I’m okay”. As he shouts the last okay, the music explodes to its original rock state and the plan they have been building comes to life as there is an extreme close up of Gerards face and we see more of the bands performance.
Setting changes again to outside the school and a
medium wide shot shows cheerleaders cheering in slow motion, and a wide shot shows the band playing croquet which at the beginning was said to be wrong, when a jock runs into Gerard on purpose and they fall to the floor – the bullying being taken from jeering to more physical. The lyrics and the delivery of them gets heated as he shouts “But you really didn’t listen to me, Because I’m telling you the truth, I mean this, I’m okay!” The rest of the band look fed up as the jock walks away. The pace of the cuts gets to a sequence of
quick cuts and a new title is shown saying ‘Be prepared to feel’. The camera goes back to the cheerleaders and behind their happy smiles, dramatic irony and comedy steps in and we see Gerard run into the team mascot. ‘Revenge’ is then shown in the next title frame as it cuts back to the band all jumping the mascot in slow motion and we see a quick shot of someone urinating into a locker that has sports clothes still in it – revenge. A title shows ‘Feel the romance’, cuts back to a tracking shot of the band as they walk down a school corridor holding croquet bats in their hands menacingly. This
symbolises violence and the audience can predicted that there will be a fight. ‘My brutal romance’ is followed by a cutback to a track of the jocks walking down the corridor, also with weapons.
Then there is a montage of the band playing and ‘My beautiful romance’ and ‘My miserable romance’. A wide shot shows the two rivals meeting head to head ready to fight, a pause is made by another
montage of the band playing and different titles such as ‘My x-rated romance’ and ‘My harlequin romance’ then back to the wide shot where the two sides run at each other, ending with a series of
quick cuts beginning with a title ‘My chemical romance’, a close up of Gerard finishing the song, then a zoom out of the garage the band were originally playing in and them all walking out.
To finish the trailer style music video there is titles at the end stating the song title, starring, assistant director, production manager, production designer, costumes, editor, director of photography, key grip, graphics, commissioner, executive producers, producer and who it was written and directed by.
Fall Out Boy - Thanks for the Memories
Fall Out Boy is a Grammy-nominated pop punk band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of Patrick Stump (vocals and guitar), Joe Trohman (guitar and vocals), Pete Wentz (bass guitar and vocals), and Andy Hurley (drums and percussion). With Pete Wentz as the band's primary lyricist, and Patrick Stump as the primary composer, Fall Out Boy reached mainstream success with its major label debut,
From Under the Cork Tree. Released in 2005, the album won several awards and has achieved double platinum status after selling more than 2.5 million albums in the United States alone.
"Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" (pronounced "thanks for the memories") is the third 2007 single released by Fall Out Boy. It is featured on their 2007 release Infinity on High. The song, according to bassist Pete Wentz refers to a romantic relationship which has ended, but both lovers continue to "sleep with each other" to please their physical and mental desires. The title, "Thnks fr th Mmrs" is the words "thanks for the memories" after having the vowels removed, much like it would be written as part of a text message. Another reason for the song title's lack of vowels comes as a joke towards Fall Out Boy's record company, who have asked them to shorten their often long song titles.The line that appears near the end of each chorus, "He tastes like you, only sweeter,"
is a line from the movie Closer.
The video takes the form of a
performance based routine, like a few bands so, especially rock and indie bands. It shows how a band wants to be original when an
industry is trying to tell you how to do it. It starts with the and performing and being filmed, when they are made to cut, monkeys then run in and tell the band how useless they are and that they should have hired fellow indie rock band
'Panic! At The Disco'. The monkey then brings out a mobile phone and texts someone claiming "Yo! This band is whack!" This is all to show the relationship between the music industry (monkeys) and bands. Of course music industries are always trying to make bands and musicians act, look and perform, but Fall Out Boy want to show their not like everyone else, wanting to be individual with their own look and sound.
The video begins with the band
smartly dressed in shirts and smart trousers entering the stage, first of all Pete praises the monkeys saying "this guy is a visionary". They begin playing but are soon cut and the monkey runs on shouting insults at them for the way they play. A
wide shot shows the whole band looking pretty annoyed at the comments but carrying on playing never-the0less. This is when the mobile is pulled out and the slating text is sent. The text is using a mocking tone, and is
stereotypical 'chav' speak, as though it is appealing to all groups of people.
There are quite a few close ups used as the band are playing but also wide angled shots to show the whole band plus the 'FOB' sign in the background. The camera moves around quite a lot too, barely keeping still. It pans around the set a number of times, showing the filming equipment being used to capture the performance giving the audience the feeling that they are the director, a notion-of-looking.
The way in which Pete and various other band members play their instruments is seen in many other bands performance based videos, especially the way Pete spins his guitar around is similar to AC/DC's guitarists, showing that they have done their research and know the history of bands and what can get a crowd going.
There is a scene in which Pete Wentz (an obvious eye candy figure for this film) is looking in the mirror, topless. and hands fun all over his boys, and then he is on a bed with a girl who is dressed in skimpy clothing and they begin to kiss, to put an emphasis on Pete's attractiveness and fitness (an easy way to get yourself noticed in a looks obsessed market).
Overall, the video is used to subconsciously tell the audience that the band doesn't want to be just like every other band, it wants to stand out and rebel, to show that they are different. Rebellion is shown by the set smash up with a guitar at the end. This is to show that they have had enough of being told what to do. And the breakage is a metaphore of them breaking the rules and also breaking the stereotype. The video uses a performance to show what the band has to offer, and show they want to be recognised by their faces (more personal) but also there performance and music skills.
Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow
The Black Eyed Peas (BEP) is an American hip hop group based in Los Angeles. The group is composed of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie. Since their breakout album Elephunk in 2003, the group's hip hop/dance-oriented style has sold an estimated 18 million albums worldwide and 9 million singles. Their latest studio album, The E.N.D., was released in June 2009. This is full of mixed genre music as the band don't genuinelly stick to the 'one trick pony' rule.
"Boom Boom Pow" is a single by the Black Eyed Peas released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, The E.N.D. The song uses the auto-tune vocal effect, and blends the genres of dance pop, electro-hop and hip hop. The song also attempts a futuristic quality, with Fergie rapping the lyric "I'm so three thousand and eight, you're so two thousand and late.", and when apl.de.ap says "I'm a beast when you turn me on, into the future cybertron." Will.i.am stated that the lyric helped inspire the futuristic concept of the video. Will.i.am also stated on the Merrick and Rosso breakfast show (Nova 96.9) that the song was heavily influenced by the electro sounds he heard in the nightclubs in Sydney, Australia, which again links to the mixing genres. In an interview to MTV, it was said that "the concept of the video is the Black Eyed Peas' birth into the digital afterlife," Fergie said. "So the transformation is us going into a sort of cocoon and coming out the other end as forms of energy. It's a parallel to the music industry. Now everything is downloaded." Group member will.i.am stated the video was inspired by how digital the world has become and hopes the video portrays "what it would be like if we were actually in the computer, if art was fused in it," he said. This is also a link to media and the music industry as it is all about technology and being intertextual.
The video starts with Taboo flicking through pictures on a HP TouchSmart, which is obviously a way in which they show the range of digital technology. He selects the image of an explosion. As the singing starts, images of computer icons and random computer codes are flashing in the background, as if the computer was loading up as the song 'loads'. The Black Eyed Peas are then seen singing their verses of the song. While this is happening, dancers are seen in striped suits, dancing to the song, and negative images are turned into positive images. e.g. the explosion turns into a tree swing, the grenade into a microphone, a gun into a trumpet and a digital combination of the four members, this is almost a message being sent as though everything can be solved by music, because all these disasterous things happening then change into musical instruments. The digital combination is of the four members genetic makeup of their faces and fused them digitally. If they all fused together in one body that is what their face would look like, this shows the band are so close that it could be as if they are one person connected by their love of music. The use of positive to negative is a way for the group to show there concern with what is going on in the world, mainly war. This shows they are a little less selfish, as the whole video isn't just focusing on them, even though they are included. This is mixing performance and narrative to show their talents as an artists and almost futuristic characters, to show they can do more than just perform, making them stand out in a competitive industry.
There is a wide range of quick cuts between each separate artist and then dancers, providing the audience with a personal introduction to all of them, especially as they all have there own choruses. This is also links to the fast pace of the song, and its upbeat tune. This is a simple way for artists to re-publish themselves, as it seems they have came back with a very different sound and style, so this is almost a way to introduce themselves all over again, as this new style may win them a whole new group of fans. There is very minimal camera angles in this video they are mostly wide angled or just basic, this is to show the simplisty of the video, they want the focus to just be on them, without adding too much confusion or movement. The lighting is also very simple too, it's quite bright but also some coloured lighting too, mainly greens again linking to the futurism and money aspect but also there is some red used which is usually linked to danger or passion which could signify their passion for music. The relationship between visuals and lyrics is pretty simple. Everything is fitted together perfectly. What the song is saying the images are showing, this again can show their meaning simply without the confusion of trying to work out why they are showing it a certain way, this also shows how they want to get there message across as they say it with words and with imagery. The dancers used in this film are all very conventional to most music videos brought out, they are dressed in very tight clothing and of a slim physique, but this time they are not on show, the clothes they are wearing completely covers them up, face also. All of this is a link to the futuristic appeal of the video, so there is a special edge to their dancers, making them stand out that little bit more whilst representing them as the 'sexy' models used in most music videos in this current time. Another hint to to futuristic is the lasers used, there is a lot used throughout the whole thing, some even covering members faces, lasers are a very stereotypical object when thinking of the future. All these lasers are the colour green, this could merely be just because lasers are usually this colour, or it could be representing money, as they are in a very money oriented industry, and money is the sole purpose of music videos, they are made to make money.
This is use of futurism could also have a underlining message behind it, saying that Black Eyed Peas will still be around and just as (if not more) popular as they are in the current days, but they are showing this subconsciously. Boom Boom Pow is Black Eyed Peas step from R'n'B in to the new genre; electro funk!
Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me
The lyrics in this music video generally set the plot for the narrative and the
title “You belong with me” is the last line of the chorus so is repeated throughout the song, this
emphasises the words and as an
audience we see deeper into the lyrics and feel ourselves what is it like.
The
opening shows the
relationships of the characters and tells the audience how we should feel towards each character, sorry for the bleacher, dislike for the popular and a bit of mixed emotion of the jock by their clothing and
body language.
The video is
narrative based with Taylor Swift playing two of the main girl characters, the
stereotypical geeky or bleacher one and popular one, whilst both of the girls love interest is a jock. The
audience knows this because of their
clothing and relate to this as they are guaranteed to know people who are like this; the bleacher wears casual, comfortable clothing with big black rimmed glasses while the popular Taylor wears fashionable, revealing clothing. This changes at the end setting of a school prom and the geek Taylor is seen wearing a long white dress which represents innocence and purity which makes her stand out, this is
dramatic irony because we as an audience know it will finish with a happy ending – like most of Taylor Swifts other songs do such as
Love Story. The popular character wears a red dress which is quite revealing, this could show that she is revealing her true colours – a danger. This
subconsciously warns the audience that they shouldn’t feel sorry for her as she is the bad one.
The
jock character is played by Lucas Till who is an up and coming new Hollywood actor who starred as a young Jonny Cash in
Walk the Line 2005 and
Hannah Montana: The Movie 2009. Both of these films are very different target audiences and by using Lucas in a music video broadens even more his acting filmography and associates Taylor Swift with him.
The
settings are all typical places teenagers should be – bedrooms, park bench, rugby pitch and the stands and school. The
audience feels more involved as they will understand what it is like to be in those places and the atmosphere of them. The privacy of a bedroom, the intimacy of a park bench, the hype of a pitch and the stands and the excitement and romance of a school prom.
There is no
sound apart from the single that is being played in conjunction to
visuals, occasionally Taylor mimes to parts of the song that are related to storyline such as “You belong with me” and “She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers”, this shows that its from Taylor’s bleacher characters’
point of view and that we should sympathise with her.
At the
beginning there is a
zoom establishing shot of two houses, one being the jocks house and the other Taylors’ bleacher characters house, with a star lit sky which sets a romantic feel to the shot. We know that the “you belong with me” is from the bleacher Taylors’ point of view aimed at the jock, we understand this by there being
multiple 2 shots of them together and the zoom from the establishing shot
represents the closeness of the two. We also know this because there are a lot of
over the shoulder shots, when we see them communicating through their bedroom windows which shows a
notion-of-looking into a private relationship. Other
camera angles that are used throughout are
close ups to capture emotion and especially on the artist Taylor Swift as a
motif.
During the scenes with the
over the shoulder shot through bedroom windows, a
shot reverse shot is used to create a conversation between them as they hold up signs to eachother instead of talking. This
mise-en-scene shows privacy and special memories between them and
emphasises the words exchanged.
Blurs are used to focus our attention and emotions on what action or emotion the
stereotypical characters are feeling or doing at the moment. At the moment of the bleacher Taylors’ change from unnoticed to noticed a fade in and fade out to show the
audience a change in time and a change in feelings or emotions.
The
props used during the video usually represent and
emphasise the cliques that are stereotyped, things like a fancy car driven by the popular Taylor are
in your face and can’t be unnoticed much like the bleacher Taylors’ thick framed glasses. This shows the
audience how important it is that they understand the difference in the represented characters to the narrative.
As the video finishes, the characters get a happy ending where finally the bleacher Taylor and the jock get together and the
audience feel satisfied as Taylor repeats the last line of the chorus “You belong with me”.
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