shinedown ‘bully’

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Shinedown ‘Bully’ - inspiration for our music video production: ‘We, The Broken’ by SilverbySkyline. By Thomas Cutmore

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Andrew Goodwin's theory on Shinedown's 'Bully' and why it is inspirational to the production of our music video.

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Shinedown Bully - inspiration for our music video production: We, The Broken by SilverbySkyline.

Shinedown Bully - inspiration for our music video production: We, The Broken by SilverbySkyline.By Thomas CutmoreBackground information about the bandShinedownis an Americanhard rockband fromJacksonville, Florida, formed in 2001 and founded by members Brent Smith(vocals),Brad Stewart(bass), Jasin Todd (guitar), andBarry Kerch(drums).The song Bully was first released as a single of their forthcoming album Amaryllis. The song itself was released as a single on the 3rd of January 2012. The song reflects the personal experience of the band members, especially Brent Smith who suffered from bullying and alienation in high school and outside in his social life, which in the end he fought back to stand his ground against the alienation and the bullying. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine he explained that the song meant: - "about not feeling like you can't stand up for yourself and take back your self respect if you feel as if someone is belittling you or trying to push you around. The song is not condoning violence. What it is condoning is survival. I don't think that anyone should ever have their self-respect or their dignity taken from them." The music video

Why this music video is inspirationalThe music itself is inspirational to us as it emphasises the constant fear that the victim suffers when they are bullied as it uses short and sharp shots of the victims along with what they are afraid of. It also helps bring up the feeling of fear as the victims are scared even though they are on their own, showing the mental suffering that bullying and alienation could bring as well. The music video also shows the idea of society rejecting you, treating you as if you were invisible. This is shown through how the victim is being bullied and abused, where everyone around them just watches and/or ignores and refuses to help. Screenshots of this

Ignorance showing alienation/the lack of care of society for the individualBullying taking place The individual (society) ignoring itBullying taking place The individual (society) ignoring itDemonstration of genre characteristicsThe song itself has a post grunge, alternative metal, hard rock genre towards it.The band themselves are enforcing their music genre as their fashion emphasises the alternative genre to their music as they are seen mostly in black and gothic attire. The scene itself and the colour used in the edit also creates a darker genre and atmosphere as the colour which is mostly used for the band uses a lot of only black and white colouring, emphasising the darkness of the genre and theme of the song. There are also a lot of aggressive shots of the band, especially close ups of the lead singer Brent where as he sings into the camera the camera shakes, emphasising the hard rock and the power of the song. Screenshots of the demonstration of genre characteristics

The use of shadowing upon band membersClose up aggressive shots of Brent, - emphasising the power of the musicThe dark, gothic clothing The relationship between lyrics and visualsThere is a strong relationship between lyrics and visuals in this music video as some of the lyrics which are mentioned then link with the visual picture straight after or during the singing. An example of this would be Make another joke/While they hang another rope, and at the same time these lyrics are mentioned there is footage of a rope hanging.There is also another strong relationship with the lyrics and visuals as in the music video and the lyrics it mentions; - Whenever I see black and blue/I feel the past/I share the bruise, the visuals show the bully who is dressed in black (black) beating the victim (bruise) in a blue lit mise en scene, which the women who is focused upon is also wearing blue (blue). Screenshots of the relationship between lyrics and visuals

Whenever I see black and blue/I feel the past/I share the bruiseblue blue clothingblue blue mise-en sceneblack the bullys clothingMake another joke/While they hang another rope as these lyrics are mentioned it cuts to this rope scene indicating the relationship of the lyrics and visuals. The editing and camera work along with the mise-en scene gives the rope a sinister and unpleasant feel towards it.The relationship between the music and visualsThe music and visuals itself also link as the music has a fast paced beat to it, which is matched with the quick cuts and edits of the music videos visuals. There is also another relationship with the music and visuals as during the opening 6-8 seconds of the music video, the music itself builds up during the opening titles, until then when it moves to the performance it shows the bullies beating someone but as their stick they are using to beat drops, the drums and guitar kick in, giving the music and visuals synchronisation. There are also synchronisations with the chorus and the visuals as when the music first kicks into chorus beat, the victims shown are all attacked according to the tune of the guitar, i.e. as the chorus kicks in, the victims are all attacked by the bullies who cover their faces with bags. Screenshots of the relationship between music and visuals

As the chorus kicks in the victims get attacked in almost a blink of an eye movement showing relationships between the pace of the music and the visuals of the video0.04 0.05/6As the song starts, the visuals of the beating kicks in the drum and guitar as when the sticks drop so do the drummersDemands of the record label/The Creation of Visual StyleThe music video does touch on demands of the record with aspects such as close ups. These close ups both focus upon the lead singer Brent and also the actors/actresses in the scenes that they act. In terms of the lead singer, the close ups bring about the power of the music and the meaning of the lyrics. It emphasises the strength in the lead singer and how strongly he (and the band) feel against this issue of alienation in society.The close ups on the actors and actresses show the true emotion of how they feel, emphasising the fear, regret, shame and Screenshots of close ups

Intertextual referencesAs well as the music video reflecting a more personal experience of the band members, the music video also has intertextual references with other media texts such as The Suicide Room (film), and also a documentary film entitled BULLY. Both of these films intertextually link to the song as they both show the mental and physical abuse that bullying causes, which is also what is shown in the music video by the victims and the audience who are placed in their shoes, feeling the paranoia that bullying bringsHowever though BULLY also links well, intertextually, with the music video as it shows how people can stand up towards bullying and make a change, in an individual and a group unity, which is also the meaning and inspiration of Shinedowns song as Brent stood up and fought the bullies who were oppressing him. Screenshots and examples of intertextual referencesBULLY plot summary: -

This year, over 13 million American kids will be bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the streets of their towns, making it the most common form of violence young people in this country experience. BULLY is the first feature documentary film to show how we've all been affected by bullying, whether we've been victims, perpetrators or stood silent witness. The world we inhabit as adults begins on the playground. BULLY opens on the first day of school. For the more than 13 million kids who'll be bullied this year in the United States, it's a day filled with more anxiety and foreboding than excitement. As the sun rises and school busses across the country overflow with backpacks, brass instruments and the rambunctious sounds of raging hormones, this is a ride into the unknown. For a lot of kids, the only thing that's certain is that this year, like every other, bullying will be a big part of whatever meets them at their school's front doors.... (source - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682181/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2)The meaning behind Shinedowns Bully In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine he explained that the song meant: - "about not feeling like you can't stand up for yourself and take back your self respect if you feel as if someone is belittling you or trying to push you around. The song is not condoning violence. What it is condoning is survival. I don't think that anyone should ever have their self-respect or their dignity taken from them."

Both media texts show how bullying can be devastating towards the victim. The two texts also show how the victims are not alone and that they can stand and fight against itThe narrative of the music videoThe music video has a closed narrative as it reflects and enforces a strong and straight forward meaning as it shows the impacts, physical and mental impacts of bullying. It shows this visually through abuse, mental suffering of fear and social alienation. It also shows it through the lyrics of the song. In the lyrics it reflects that the lead singer and yet others could have gone through, such as: Make another joke/While they hang another rope, and; Push him to the dirt/Til the words dont hurt. The lyrics reflect a rather aggressive yet dark nature as they tell real life sufferings and abuse that people could be put under from bullies.