Brian Watts Task 2 VMA Award Report

In this report I am going to explain what music video I feel deserves to win the VMA award, I will also explain why I have chosen the video, target audience and what makes the video appeal to me. The music video I have chosen is smack my bitch up by The Prodigy. The research methods that I am going to use, show evidence of secondary research, along with qualitative research. The music video is about a person who wakes up to a messy house and is a bit of a slob. After getting ready they leave the house, its night time they go on a binge drinking session going into strip clubs and taking drugs along the way, also groping women. This all gives you the sense of the FPV actor being a man, but after taking a prostitute home with them the video ends on seeing a the actor naked and a messed up girl in the mirror. I believe this is to symbolise that women are just like men on the inside and that everyone is capable of misdeeds, or possibly to put the shoe on the other foot as it were. This music video was directed by Swedish Jonas Akerlund who is a very established and nationally awarded director spanning his talents from commercials to music videos, art and feature films. He has directed for every famous singer, actor and artist at some point, some of his more famous videos always tend to be about the darker, more criminalistics side of society. In my research I found that he had also directed for Maroon 5 in their new hit moves like jagger amongst countless others. The genre for the music video is debated, but looking into it is depicted as Break beat Hardcore/synth punk being a more upbeat style of music along with mixed sci-fi sounds and heavy hitting bass. During my research into these genres I discovered that synthpunk also known as electro punk is the combination of electronic music and punk rock. This term was formed by Damien Ramsey in 1999 to give name to and identify the new sub-genre that escalated from 1977 to 1984 it involved substituting electric guitars with synthesisers. I also found out that Break beat hard-core evolved from the 1970s and early 1980s DJs doing turntable mixes. They began to use several breaks in a row to form the rhythmic base. DJ Hercs a good early example, in the early 90s acid house artists started using break beat styles to form break beat hard-core (rave music). This moved on to form drum and bass and jungle, these styles tend to be a darker sound accompanied with bass and complex drum sounds. I feel the target audience for my music video would be between the ages of 18 to late 20s I think this because of the music videos content, example going out on a night on the town tends to be within the age range stated above. I believe this video would appeal to any gender but is mainly aimed at women to show that its not just men that do these things.

Brian Watts Task 2

Brian Watts Task 2

And also symbolises equality and that were all the same on the inside. Its mainly aimed at a UK based location due to the excessive night club scene that we have. The skilled class and working class would be the main social classification aimed at here due to them having the disposable income and time to go out. Sexual orientation wise this video appeals to gay and straight people. Lesbians, nudity, drinking, strip club and the strong usage of drugs its all common ground the viewers can relate and be pulled in from the many camera effects and sexual content.

The director of this music video Jonas Akerlund as previously mentioned is a very talented director and has produced many awards and masterpieces in his time. I have never heard of him before but after doing some research have found him to be both an influence and an inspiration, and that he is still directing some of the most popular music videos and films to date such as Lady Gaga and Beyonc telephone. Had I have known this director beforehand he would have most definitely influenced my decision for the VMA award. This music video has many strengths from appealing to most stereo types and backgrounds along with giving an insight into a night out which most know the feeling of to the very catchy music. Having smack my bitch up as the only lyrics throughout the song makes it appeal further due to it being very catchy and easy to follow along with if you were at a party etc. Some of the weaknesses of the video would have to be the strong use of violence and nudity, along with the promotion of heroin usage these things maybe censored on TV when shown but you can still see the wrong message coming across. Even so I personally think they touched on an interesting subject and that I along with countless others can relate to this video. The camera effects and focus angles to show drowsiness ounce intoxicated along with the FPV shots makes it very realistic and makes you see within their shoes. The video can send the wrong message and the fact it could have appealed to so much more and made more profit would be the only downfall in my eyes. The research methods and techniques that I used are secondary and qualitative research, meaning pre done work and based research such as blogs etc., along with peoples feeling and thoughts towards the music video which I felt would be better than placing it on numbers and facts because that would have been lifeless and wouldnt give you enough understanding and good enough feel for the videos outlook and effect on viewers. You can see the information sources through the separate information trail attached. I have used these methods of research to their full and most effective potential and I am happy with the outcome and quality that I have produced through my research techniques. The information that I found was at times vague and brief but still gave me the right feel for the effect of the music video and what its about. Being a big fan of the music video and the prodigy myself helped piece most things together and make connections, a weakness of my research would have been the lack of data found and that you cannot always rely on peoples feeling towards something and evaluate on it without hard evidence first. In the future I think I will
Brian Watts Task 2

Brian Watts Task 2

try to use all variations of research to maximise understanding for the subject and to reinsure the accuracy of giving information. I now hope that you can see the music video through my eyes and see that its the right choice for the VMA award.

A warped focus angle, this is to effectively show the effects of being intoxicated, drowsiness and the feeling of being uneasy, also to give the viewer a sense of understanding. The colour red to be associated with love lust and sex with danger.

Here you see a the beginning of the night out with the first person view and male shaving foam to make you think and associate it with male behaviour later fining out its a woman.

Brian Watts Task 2

Brian Watts Task 2

More stereo-typical male behaviour of inappropriate touching of a female whom obviously doesnt like it, again the red colours to represent lust etc.

Vomiting in a public toilet sink in a night club automatically makes you think of being drunk, along with distorted music and blurred focuses with camera wobble to again show intoxication, a dark colour to show discomfort and possibly a crap night.

Brian Watts Task 2

Brian Watts Task 2

Brian Watts Task 2