The music video I'm going to look at that can be associated with my Youth Sub-Culture presentation is The Offspring's 'You're Gonna Go Far Kid'. Unlike the 4 music videos I previously analysed on this blog where I applied Andrew Goodwin's and Joe Gow's concepts to the videos. For this one I will be looking at the codes and conventions of the piece.
Props: The main prop that the music video director has decided to focus on is an acoustic guitar. This is rather strange given that the song is actually performed on electric guitars. At the beginning of the music video, the star can be seen cutting things down and out of his way with a scythe. Indicating he is on a path of destruction before the lady hands him a guitar which turns out to be his saviour. After he is handed said guitar he is never seen in any shot without it until it is taken off him at the end, the star even clutches it tightly when travelling through a dodgy looking neighbourhood. Implying that he fears without the instrument he will lose all respect that has been gained from various people.
Costume:
At the beginning of the video, the man's costume conveys the man as being poor or and/or irrelevant to society. As the song progresses, the guitarists clothing gets more formal as he gets increasingly recognised for his skill. The different audiences he performs to dress as if they are in different places on the socio-demographic model, because when he gets richer, the onlookers appear to become better dressed as well.
Stock Characters:
There are only 2 stock characters in 'You're Gonna Go Far Kid'. There is the guitar player and the woman that appears to be an angel. Through the entirety of the video, it appears that it is the male is in control, however going against stereotypes, the woman has the true source of dominance in the video as she possesses the ability to take away everything that made the guitarist so important.
Stock Events:
The primary stock event of the video is a man finds fame through learning how to play the guitar. It turns out that everyone seems to love his music, and it is because of this that he starts to become increasingly egotistical.Over the music video we have seen the man progress from bringing other people joy for the fun of it to expecting riches for the music he makes. The woman takes away the guitar from him because he abused his power too much. After this he gets taken away from the social gathering as he now has nothing to offer the people.
SFX:
In this shot we see the star of the video surrounded by darkness. The guitar is acting as a beacon of light, and of happiness and hope. The people in the background start to surround the guitarist as if they want to listen to the music in order to be happy. This shot in particular connotes that in even the darkest of times, music does not fail to bring joy to those playing it and the onlookers that are merely listening.
Lighting:
In the early stages of the music video when the star is playing his guitar as he walks through the town, the lighting is very dim. This darkness personifies fear, treachery, and terror of the unknown. When the video gets to the stage where the guitarist has found fame, the lighting has gradually gone from dim to bright. It is generally understood that light stands for purity, hope, and new beginnings and from what the video suggests the star has all 3 of these things.
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