Assignment 3, Reflection

I chose ‘T.N.T’ by ACDC for two reasons. The first reason is that ‘T.N.T’ is a song which I have always enjoyed listening to. Dubbed the forefathers of hard rock and heavy metal, they are an influence to many of the musicians I frequently listen to and so I have a deep respect for them. Also, more thoughts for a possible music video came to mind when listening to this song than what did when I listened to the other songs available for this assignment. As a style of music I am quite familiar with, it was obvious to me what sort of music video a band such as ACDC would want as a client. Because of these two factors, I was very driven towards creating a music video for ‘T.N.T’ .

The identity I chose for this music video revolves very much around the “rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle. This lifestyle is one involving constantly playing gigs and partying, or “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” as many musicians have put it. The audience of bands such as ACDC are also very much, at least, interested in this lifestyle. With this in mind, my final decision was to use this identity for the music video. This then resulted in the music video transitioning between ACDC playing a live show and screwing around at a pub.
Portraying an identity such as this one, I set a primary target audience for males in their mid teens to mid twenties. This is because it is this age group that often looks up to rock stars such as ACDC and fantasise or dream about a life such as theirs. With the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle being supportive of mischief, mayhem, women and partying, and these audiences being at the age in which they seek some sort of rebellion, the two go hand in hand. Also, a secondary audience of males in their forties and fifties is aimed at. This is because it is people in this age group that grew up with ACDC (and the song ‘T.N.T’) topping the charts. As many males of this age are likely to still listen to ACDC as they may have when they were younger, it is vital to keep them interested in the band. The music video consists of much of ACDC’s classic style and identity and so hopefully it will keep an appeal with this secondary audience.

Many of ACDC’s music videos consist mostly of themselves performing the song, occasionally with some sort of other narrative between. Also, many of their music videos involve very dark (sometime greyscale) colours, even music videos from the post-black and white television era. Also, ‘T.N.T’ is itself, quite an old song, coming out from the 1970s. Because of these factors, I believed it would be a good idea to keep ACDC’s darkened colours within the live performance areas of the music video, even with some film grain and greyscale colouring to give a vintage type of feeling to the video. Colourful lightning bolts from some of ACDC’s band logos also appear within these scenes, in tune with the instruments in focus on the screen. This was done to give the live footage sequences a more unique feel to other ACDC music videos and also to emphasise the beat and rhythm of the song.
Also, due to it being more modern time and needing to capture the attention of the current musical market, while still keeping ACDC’s own style alive, scenes involving the band partying it up in a pub were done with a very cartoonish style. These cartoonish depictions of the band members having a good time are very effective as, with cartoons being a popular medium at this present time, and mixed with live footage of the band, they catch viewers’ attention. To keep in synch with this cartoony style, the actions of the band members within these scenes is quite comical, while, at the same time, depicting a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

I used a few different symbols within the music video to assist in giving the message of the video across to it viewers. The symbols first visible in the composition are the various lightning bolts that come out of the instruments used by the band members in the live performance areas of the video. These lightning bolts are there to give emphasis on the beats and rhythm of the song, and to give a feeling of the power in ACDC performances with their loud, fierce guitar riffs, drumming and vocals.
Other symbols of the music video are all included within the cartoony, static areas of the video. These symbols include the bar environment, beer bottles, women and drunken or passed out members of the band. All of these symbols are there to represent the “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle mentioned earlier, that is, a life of non-stop fun and mischief.
As well as these symbols in the cartoons sequences of the music video, there is one other symbol involving the, at first seemingly surly, mad, muscle bound psychopath who ends up just wanting an autograph from Brian Johnson (the lead singer). This is a symbol of ACDCs devotion to and love for their fans, all finally depicted with the huge, muscle bound man partying it up with all of the members of ACDC.

I only really have one particular problem with my final composition. This is that some areas of the live performance footage of ACDC seem a bit bland. This is because in some of these areas, I wasn’t sure what techniques I could use to make them as interesting as the other edited parts of the live performance. The lightning effects and such I had used on other live performance parts of the music video, in my opinion, worked quite well, but didn’t suit some of these other areas which mainly consisted of a camera focus on Brian Johnson (the lead singer). As he didn’t make too many big body movements of anything of that kind, I wasn’t sure how to enhance these areas with any sorts of effects. If I had more time to work on this problem I believe I would have been able to resolve it with something.