The video for In too Deep is very much typical of Modern Punk Rock. It hybrid video- but both the bands performance and the story is at the same location- A diving centre. The video focuses on Punk’s own style of “F**k you we’re not going to be how society wants us to be”. It features the members of the band in a diving competition with the “Jocks” of the diving world. The jocks signify how teenagers are manipulated to think they should be like- but as this is a punk video, the jocks get very much humiliated.
The start of the video is the 4 members of the band walking from their van to the diving centre- the first shot is a long shot with the members walking towards the camera, along with the stereo of their van playing another track from the album- “Fat Lip”. The members are dressed relatively normally, perhaps indicating they are normal teenagers, the camera pans the opposite way to the direction they are walking- and when they re-appear they are wearing gown with “Sum 41” on the back of them. This could be trying to empower the “normal teenager” by making them almost look like a boxer before a match.
When the vocals come in- the shot changes from the band walking towards the centre- to them standing in an empty swimming pool surrounded by hundreds of cheering people. The first shot of the vocals part of the video is a close up of the lead singer’s face leaning into the camera with a microphone- it’s reminiscent of the lyrics and style of singing in punk. In your face- aggressive singing. The video then focuses on the band walking in front of a large crowd who are cheering them, and occasionally going back to the shot of the band standing in the empty swimming pool performing the song.
After a while it becomes obvious that the video is focusing on a diving competition between the band, and four “jocks”, this is portrayed by the huddled team talks that the band have. The jocks are portrayed as vaguely homosexual- this could be part of the punk band “taking the mick” out of what society and the media tells them they should be like. You can see the homosexual portrayal by things like the members of the jocks group spanking each other. All through this video shots of the band performing are still being flashed every 5-10 seconds or so.
The beginning sequence of the video clearly is supposed to make you believe that the jocks are going to defeat the “normal” people, as the band aren’t taking the competition very seriously, so when the lead singer gets up to the diving board to do his dive, the viewer is surprised when he uses acrobatics to launch himself of the board, and complete a good dive. This could be a statement that people that rebel against the media, and their portrayal of the ideal teenager/person are just as capable, if not more so than those sequatious few that, for example, spend all day at the gym because calvin klein says they should.
It soon becomes apparent that the crowd, that could represent society, is backing the rebellious ones. They are holding up pickets that have “jocks” crossed out, and when the members of the band step up to dive, such as the guitar player, good looking women blow them kisses and what not. Towards the end of the video the crowd start to jump into the empty swimming pool during the performance shots, and the members of the band start to win the competition with the help of the crowd, this could connote a “call to arms” from punk- saying, go punk, say no to the government and media, and you will WIN!
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