Teenage Dirtbag Film

The folllowing sample essay on Teenage Dirtbag Film discusses it in detail, offering basic facts and pros and cons associated with it. To read the essay’s introduction, body and conclusion, scroll down.

“Teenage Dirtbag” is a song by Wheatus. The video is used in two ways: as a trailer for the film “Loser” and as a music video for “Teenage Dirtbag”. The song and accompanying video could be a partly autobiographical account of the lead vocalist’s (Brendan Brown) childhood because we can see in the video that he has a turned eye, making him different from his peers.

He may have been bullied or excluded from certain social groups because of this. The director of both the music video and the film “Loser” is Jeff Gordon, of whom there are references to throughout the video. The music video is representative of what many high schools are like in the USA today.Making any video is complicated, and music video is no exception.

Because it is shorter than a television programme or film, every shot is significant so it can portray its message effectively within the time given. The first stage to making a video is an idea or concept, and then the target audience has to be decided. The video and how information and ideas are portrayed will vary a lot depending on the age of the viewers. Older generations prefer a stronger narrative, whilst conversely teenagers and younger children prefer more action.A variety of shots is used to give different effects in films; close up shots show emotion and mid shots show action.

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Extreme close ups are used to show a specific part of an object or to exclude the background. Long shots show the background and relative location of the subjects and are often used as establishing shots.There are many stereotypes employed in the video including that of a jock. They are often used as antagonists in films set in the USA. The traits of this subculture are: being good at sports (the word jock is sometimes considered synonymous with athlete); not being particularly intelligent; often perceived as getting preferential treatment due to their athletic ability and being very popular among girls and classmates of a similar clique. They are also portrayed to be despised by non-jock boys as they are often seen being unpleasant to the “geeks”. This stereotypical relationship between two subcultures is clearly seen in the “Teenage Dirtbag” video: Noelle’s (Mena Suvari) boyfriend is constantly putting the protagonist (Jason Biggs) down because of his nerdish tendencies.A somewhat specialised shot in film is a top shot. This is when the camera is placed directly overhead the actor and may zoom out to give the idea of the subject being isolated. This shot is used in the beginning of “Teenage Dirtbag” as part of a clich� framing device used – Jason Biggs (Jason Biggs) is seen falling asleep on some stairs, indicating that the whole of the following video is a dream. A ripple effect is used on the video to indicate that that it is a dream. Throughout the video, both the visual and audio narratives complement each other to portray the message and plot. The dream sequence is split into two parts – the first represents reality and is a true representation of what we assume life is like for Biggs and the second is fantasy and what he would like his life to be like.In the opening scene Biggs is the riding a bike to school. He is the only one riding a bike as it is cars that hold a higher status among students in high schools and are often portrayed as attracting girls; they are owned by a stereotypical jock. Biggs is apparently unaware that he stands out, even though he is wearing three layers of shirts and a Fargo hat whilst other students are wearing thinner, lighter clothes due to the hot weather. We can clearly see that he stands out when he arrives at the bike rack to lock up his bike and there is only one other bike there – a small pink bike that looks like it belongs to a small girl.As Biggs bends down to tie his laces, a car knocks over his bike. A low angle shot is used here to show that the car is bigger than the bike and therefore superior; it represents an allegorical link with the relationship between Jason Biggs and Noelle’s boyfriend. There is no complaint from Biggs; he simply looks on in mild shock as Noelle (Mena Suvari) steps out of the car. This shows he has no authority and respect from other students. At this point Wheatus start singing and introduce her as Noelle in the lyrics: “Her name is Noelle; I have a dream about her”.The band are then shown singing in the gym – this associates them with the lyrics and they are therefore not isolated from the events in the video, but included in them when they sing “I got gym class in half an hour”. The gym is however empty at the beginning, further reinforcing the idea that the video could be autobiographical because Brendan Brown is alone with only his band. On the scoreboard the score shows that the home team is losing badly – this displays the theme of the song and perhaps gives the message that losers never win.Point of view (POV) shots are used frequently in the “Teenage Dirtbag” video because we are seeing life through the eyes of the “loser”. We see through Biggs’ eyes that Suvari is moving gracefully. Effects have been added to the video to make her look almost angelic: a diffuse glow has been applied to make the whites appear brighter and it has been slowed down. Showing video in slow motion is a common technique used to make a shot look more romantic. Suvari also appears to be gliding forward rather than walking. She is not outwardly unpleasant to Biggs, but does not pay him any attention either. This is demonstrated with a wide shot of her walking past him and his bike on its side. The lyrics follow this: “She doesn’t know who I am, and she doesn’t give a damn about me”.The video then cuts to a mid shot of Wheatus playing the chorus in a school corridor surrounded by a crowd who are jumping to the music. The addition of people matches the change in volume and intensity of the music and so compliments the soundtrack. This shot sets the scene for t