Music Video Analysis By Connor Davidson

Comment on the following aspects in relation to your music video choice. How will these techniques appeal to the target audience needs?

Target Audience & Needs

Kickapoo is by duo act Tenacious D. the majority of the music video is concept based, as there is a simple story line but also concept based scenes. It isn’t just a narrative video, there is a little story line but it stills falls into concept. The genre of the music is rock music, which is typically listened to by all ages and ethnicities in most countries. Rock music may be listened to more by the likes of teenagers and adults, rather than young children as there tends to be quite bad language, especially in Tenacious D songs. The song is probably most popular in the UK and USA rather than other countries as they aren’t so well known. There is some humour within this video however it isn’t family humour, it is quite rude and mature. There is a lot of explicit language within the song, which would make it unsuitable for younger people. The video also has some performance based scenes within it as the camera shows him singing to his parents. The main character is also holding a guitar whilst singing. The whole music video is basic and would interest a big group of people. The lyrics are quite humorous, but as I said, explicit too. This song may appeal to teenagers if they are fed up with their parents not letting them do what they want or being too strict.

Lyrics (Meaning Implied?)

Lyrically, the song is about rebelling from his parents and doing what he really wants to do. He is really interested in rock music, however he is being brought up into a Christian family who obviously don’t agree with it. They don’t like him swearing and talking about drugs/alcohol. A lyric saying “His name was young JB and he refused to step in line”. This explains that there was one member of the family who didn’t abide by the rules and do what his parents wanted him to do. There is also a line of the song which says “But yes there was a black sheep and he knew just what to do”. This means, he is different from the rest of the family and he knows what he wants to do to rebel. All of these lyrics are centred on the main character not being able to do what he loves because his family don’t agree with it. He wants to leave the house and make his own way through life. There are also lyrics from when the father sings which say “You become a mindless puppet, Beelzebub will pull the strings”. This means if he carries on listening to rock music and following that path, then he will lose his mind and go to hell, being the devils puppet. This shows how much the family he lives with don’t accept his choices. These are some examples of the lyrics used within this song.

Music Video Analysis By Connor Davidson

Tempo The tempo of this song changes numerous times throughout the video, depending on what is happening on screen. For example, the start of the song is fast paced and upbeat and becomes even quicker when he creates his own song. Once he realises his parents are angry with him, the tempo of the song alters, especially after he’s been told off and is sitting alone in his bedroom. The tempo of the song then goes down to slow to try and create a sad atmosphere. However after that, the tempo quickly becomes high paced again. The tempo often dictates the rate of editing.

Genre The genre of Kickapoo is rock music. You can see the genre reflecting on the music video with the style and performance the characters make. They wear baggy jeans and baggy tops, also holding a guitar with messy hair. This is the stereotype of a rocker. The song is mostly upbeat, with some humour also added which makes it less serious than the majority of rock songs. During part of the music video the main character talks to a poster he has of a famous rock star called Ronnie James Dio. The poster ‘comes to life’ and responds to the main character, giving him advice on what to do. This could be seen as a treat and also quite funny to the audience. There isn’t much choreography within the music video as you would expect with a rock song.

Camera Technique The camera technique for this music video is quite basic and there isn’t anything unique used. Most of the camera angles are used over and over and just show the room where the characters are. There are a few close ups and long shots include too, but nothing out of the ordinary. As there is no choreography used, there isn’t anything difficult to do for the characters or the camera crew. Overall, there isn’t anything spectacular used in this music video, which to be honest you’d probably expect within a rock song.

Editing The editing isn’t too difficult either as there isn’t much used within the actual shots. All of the scenes are joined together by just straight cuts. There is some editing to be done though as there are things added in which aren’t real. For example when the poster comes alive, that is CGI, as obviously we know it isn’t real. This will be created on the computer and then added afterwards. This is the most editing involved within the music video though, as the rest of it doesn’t involve much. The editing matches the tempo of the song, so obviously the editing is quite fast paced as the music is upbeat.

Music Video Analysis By Connor Davidson

Use of Digital Effects There aren’t loads of digital effects used within the music video, but there are some. For example, when the poster of Dio comes to life, that is a digital effect that has been added in after the video was shot. This is the main use of digital effects within the video. There are no sounds added in after the video was shot apart from the actual music for the lyrics. There are no extra noises used for anything. There is use of a green screen for a short part of the video, but apart from these things there is no other use of digital effects. The video is relying on the lyrics of the song to tell the story, which it does. There aren’t many bright colours either, just the traditional red and black colours you expect to see in rock videos.