video documentary Part 1

Audience Profile from Findings

Questionnaire

A Guide to: The Punk Rock genre.

A Guide to: The Punk Rock genre.

Genre -Denis McQuail ‘The genre may be considered as a practical for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers’.

Punk Rock – Punk rock derives from rock music it developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia. The punk rock genre abstained from the typical codes and conventions of mainstream rock during the 1970’s. Instead the genre focused on creating fast, hard-edged music with often political or anti-establishment lyrics. The punk rock genre also embraces a DIY concept.

Notable Punk Artists- The Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Who, The Clash, The Ramones.

(Note: most of the above artists name begins with ‘The’)

Punk ideology- The punk subculture primarily focuses on ideas such as rebellion, individualism, free thought and rebellion. Many punks involved in the punk movement also showed their ideologies through use of hand me down/DIY clothing, and punk art.

Narrative- The punk rock genre tends to feature conflict in the narrative of music videos. The conflict often derives from this anti-societal views and their rebellious nature. It can also be interpreted those who do not share the views within the punk rock genre are classed as villains, whereas they are hero’s.

Storyline themes: serious, light-hearted, humorous and dark.

Character Representations- Women in the punk rock genre are often portrayed to be highly rebellious and sexualised, whereas men are seen as having a chip on their shoulder therefore making them rebellious and individualised. Also, from research we have found the lead vocalist in a band is portrayed similar to a hero/leader because they champion the remainder of the group in their march to individualism.

Stereotypes- The main stereotypes in the punk rock genre are those who involved in the movement are associated with drugs because they commonly mention it along with sex and politics. In addition, the common stereotype of women is that they are scantily clad and aggressive looking whilst men are shown messy and unkempt.

Countertypes- Punk rock artists/bands who are shown to be not anti-government and society and care for the environment and the world we live in.

Punk rock genre and audience- Many punk artists’ audiences listen to their music because they want to rebel or because they agree with the message the artist are trying to give. The audience for the punk genre is typically young people who use music as an escape route and have had a hard life.

Punk rock genre and producers- Producers know who to target punk artists’ music at because of the stereotypes of punks; this makes it easier to get the music to the right people to make profit. Punk music is typically shown on specific channels or programs as it isn’t targeted at as many people as other genres are.

Music videos- In order to address an audience producers post music videos of the punk rock genre on popular music sites like YouTube Greenday  ’21 Guns’ official music video is posted on the band’s official YouTube account and this enables the video to have a wide demographic. By appealing to a mass audience it brings attention to the punk rock genre.

From our research we have found dark lightning is commonly used in music videos, because darkness connotes mystery and power. By this association the audience can vividly interpret those of the punk rock genre portray themselves to be mysterious because they fall into a sub-genre between punk and rock. Therefore, this makes their identity less established and mysterious, it is suggestive ‘The Who’ focus on identity in ‘Who are you?’

Mode of address- Many punk artists write songs to give a message to their audience to help them make a change. Their music often makes the audience feel that they can relate to the band because they have the same thoughts and ideas as them.

Editing- Music videos of the punk rock genre tend to generally use straight cuts in order to aid continuity and pace.  In ‘Who are you?’ by the Who straight cuts are used effectively in creating a high energy because the transition between frames are fast. It is also suggestive straights cuts are used in this genre in order to convey a sense of unpredictability, which is common in this genre.

Iconography- Live instrumentation, leather jackets, DIY sense of fashion, cigarettes, microphone stands, recognizable landmarks, anti-authoritarian symbols, Dr.Martins, badges, safety pin costumes, inner personal conflict, metal studded jewellery, tattoos, piercings, skin heads and edgy haircuts are likely to be founded in this genre.