Sum 41- In Too Deep
This used to be my favourite song a long time ago and brings back many good memories. In Too Deep is a perfect example of the boyish and laid-back style of Sum 41. The genre is punk, going to rock and as we see this video goes against some of the general assumptions we have made for this style, mainly dark colours, performance based, gothic look, and acts of aggression. Surprisingly, the video contains bright colours and is set up around a pool, probably summer time, which makes the video have a cheerful vibe. On the other hand, we would expect acts of rebellion, going against the norms of society, which is exactly what we witness.
The relationship between lyrics and visuals is not very strong, but noticeable. The words speak about a love story where the guy (members of the band) doesn't want to fall In Too Deep in love with a girl. In the video we see something else- the band is performing in an empty swimming pool and parallel taking part in a ''high jump into the pool'' competition. The lyrics could be taken literally, where ''in too deep'' means - in the water:
'''Couse I'm in too deep and I'm trying to keep
up above in my head instead of going under'',
which is also indicated by the scenes when they jump in but always come out of the water. The part where they sing ''Just as things were looking up, you said i wasn't good enough'', is represented by the jury giving them scores and even when they weren't very high, the band members didn't give up and tried again, bringing humour and silliness to the situation, which is supposedly the message they want to send across- that although we all have our sad and maybe painful moments, we should always take them with a smile and humour, and make the most out of them. There are links to ''attraction'' (love would be too strong in this case) between two people, linking to the lyrics. For example, when one of the band members is about to jump, a girl from the crowd winks at him and shows interest, he responds and then jumps. The same references to the love story are found in the actions of the other members of the swimming team, which are represented as being gay and receiving attention from other men, of course in a funny, not offensive way.
The relationship between the music and the visuals is mainly contradictive because of the style of the editing. Although the video cuts to the beat most of the times there is one moment at the end of the video, for example, when the last member of the band is jumping, the cuts are off beat because the narrative is more important and shouldn't be divided by these cuts in order to get the message across. Also the music is quite dynamic, whereas in the editing we see a lot of shots put in slow motion, to emphasise the funny movements and people's reactions. The solo instruments are well illustrated: before the guitar solo, one of the members jumps (not making a very good impression) but then come out of the water fully clothed, playing on the guitar (the solo), the crowd goes wild and everybody is fascinated. There are a lot of shots emphasising on the instruments, the most frequent sync between the music and visuals is made with the drums, which boosts up the energy of the video.
The notion of looking is presented in two ways. The first one is putting the other swimming team on a sexual display, wearing tight red swimsuits and using gestures like slapping each other on the back side as a sign of encouragement (which is one of the very first scenes). The other one is using the crowd( which is watching the jump competition) to make us feel part of them, making us watch. Same effect has the role of the judges.
This music video is a combination between performance and narrative based. Performance, because the band is playing in an empty swimming pool, surrounded by a crowd and this contains all the expected features- close ups of the lead singer and the musical instruments (mainly drums), a lot of jumping and a tilt camera shot, plus there is an emphasis on the girls in the crowd and some of their body parts. Narrative, because the rest of the video is based on a, silly looking, trampoline jumping competition and how the band members manage to win, going against the rules and norms of society (which is meant to be their image).
Overall, the video could be considered to represent the PUNK spirit of rebellion in a comic and appealing to the audience way. As we assumed, there are general features of a punk video: the close ups of artists and musical instruments as well as the references to the notion of looking, represented both by putting actors on sexual display and by using the crowd, which is watching both the performance and the narrative part. There were not many dark colours, but this is because of the more cheerful style of the band more than the genre features.
Kalina
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