HSM:"What time is it?"

I thought it was important that I explored genres that appeal to a younger audience. The songs featured in the musical film ‘High School Musical’ are pop songs in there prime. The song I have chosen to analyse ‘What Time is it?’ is particularly upbeat and energetic. Its target audience falls between the ages of 6 and twelve and age known as ‘tweens’. Regardless of the specific age, it is where they’re just beginning to form stronger social bonds with their peers and desiring more independence from their families, usually in the form of wanting to be more “grown up”. However they are still holding onto their innocence. The whole film noir has a very bright, energetic and fun style to it. It has involves no complex meanings or symbolism as the audience would not appreciate this. The song is referring to the break up for the summer holidays, something which school children often look very forward to and get excited.

As the video begins it is set in a class-room, this is made clear props such as the chalkboard in the background and students sat at desks. Moreover there is a teacher’s voice made distinct in the background. Through controlling these elements it helps the audience to accept the video more readily as it ties in with the school theme. A pan of the classroom introduces all the characters to the audience at a close-up shot to convey emotion in the face which is happiness; this makes the environment feel warm and welcoming to the viewer.

The students are waiting for the bell to ring signifying the end of school. They are chanting the word ‘summer’, this builds up tension for the start of the song. An extreme close up of a giant clock represents the song in itself and we hear the diegetic sound of the ticking which is time with the chanting. It indicates a countdown like a bomb waiting to go off, the past paced editing and the growing pace of chanting represents the tension growing as the excitement becomes unbearable. The clock strikes twelve and the students burst into a wave of screams of excitement. A long shot is used to show, papers being flung into the air, like a bomb explosion at the end of a countdown. Students appear excited as they begin dancing around. The lighting is very warm and the colours are very bright and attractive giving out a positive and alive vibe. They are represented in a way which should be shared by the target audience, carefree without a worry, focusing on friendships and having fun. This has established the narrative for the audience so that their better understanding can allow them to experience greater voyeuristic pleasure from the video. And the singing begins.

Throughout the song we have moments where the visuals represent the lyrics, this helps the audience to have a better understanding of the song, i.e. the chalkboard is brought out reading, ‘schools out’ simultaneously with the lyrics. The video represents a number of stereotypical cliques which might be expected in American High Schools especially; Firstly we see the stereotypical ‘hot couple’ this is clichéd as the most popular girl, and most popular guy (usually star of a sports team). Within the lyrics there is a strong semantic field of romance, this is reinforced with the use of shot reverse shots to display the interaction between one another. The body language has to be kept PG in the sense of how they portray themselves. They must avoid conveying sex appeal as this is not be appropriate for the audience, so feelings are portrayed through things such as hand holding, her outfit reveals no inappropriate flesh etc. The scene ends with a two shot of Troy and Gabriella which suggests their unity.

Within the next seen we see the conventional ‘popular crowd’, Sharpay and Ryan they are established as the attention seekers and crave the famous lifestyle. Everyone seems to look up to them and wants to be like them, this is represented through low angle shots are used to frame them at the top of stairs to illustrate their authority in the social ladder. They are dressed very glamorous and are shot with hordes of people flocking around them taking pictures and holding out books for her to sign indicating the stereotypical lifestyle of a celeb; fan base, paparazzi and autograph signing, this is reinforced by camera flashes and the stairs appearing as a red carpet.
Amongst other ‘cliques’ we see stereotypes such as cheerleaders, again wearing red and white and boasting pom-poms and the basket ball team who all possess a basketball of their own. These props are used creatively by intertwining them into their dance routines. There is very much a dance theme within the video, this is a conventional norm in music videos and is what might be expected especially of the genre. However the dancing is not portrayed as sexy or provocative, it adapts a more ‘in unison’ approach and is more flamboyant and eccentric. For example the tracking shot which navigates us through a line of people acting as if they were on a roller-coaster, this illustrates their energy and hyped-up manner. As this music video is featured in a musical, it takes on a much more theatrical approach then other genres of music I have done research into. There are a lot less establishing shots as the audience are more aware of the school surroundings already and are comfortable with this. It uses editing techniques and shots that establish character reactions as there a multiple singers compared to the norm so it is essential they are established as a group.

I’ve noticed as I have been enduring my research journey that artists tend to have a reference to ‘you’, this is as though they are singing to the audience and including them within their music. At the end of the sequence an extreme close-up is used to establish the kiss mark that she has left on boy’s year book. An extreme close-up is used to frame the yearbook allowing the audience to pick up on the page on which it lies; the ‘wild cats school play’, reinforces the diegtic world with authenticity and verisimilitude.

There are a number of elements which help to bring a sense of realism for the audience. Unlike productions aimed at an adult audience where the viewer is allowed to get caught up in fine line between fantasy and reality. But as we are targeting a much younger audience it is important that reality is not mixed up but established at the stereotypes are portrayed in positive light. This video banishes the idea of cliques by illustrating each kind on its own and then showing everyone coming together to form as one.

Bright lights, colours and costumes help to set up the film noir. The colours represent the colours of summer which is iconic to the song lyrics. Also there is a dominant colour scheme of reds and white which are the school’s colours. Sound is a very important feature of music videos, besides the actual song, sounds that are part of the diegetic world helps to understand narrative and convey emotion, mood or tone. In this video a school bell is used to signify the beginning of the song. As the video comes to an end a second bell is sounded this this defines closure.

The whole style of the video is very positive. For example ‘an education vacation’ has positive connotations instead of encouraging people to treat the summer holiday as a ‘bum off’ period. This is in important factor because the ages at which the video is targeted are at the stage where they are starting to take into account things they see in the media and copy them as a sense of ‘fitting in’. It is therefore important the song and its video employ a positive style and outlook.