How my music video for Smaller Than You creates a subculture.

The artist chosen for our video is a band called Smaller Than You. Smaller Than You's music falls under the genre ska/punk.

Reggae/ska subculture

Ska as a subculture is one that isn't seen as widely as emo's or goths but has been around since the 1970's when Jerry Dammers formed '2 tone records' where bands such as The Specials and Madness thus making ska a subculture.

This subculture consisted of the 'two tone' style which was the black suit, trilby hat and black ray ban sunglasses. To this day when someone is seen wearing this style of outfit it is clear to even a young generation that this is classic ska style which The Specials and Madness would always incorporate into their image.

Although the band we are using for our music video doesn't fall under this particular style of ska the roots of where ska began needs to be considered as without it ska wouldn't be as sucessful. This is a link to how we are going to pay tribute to reggae ska within our video.

http://izzismusicblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/intertextual-references-of-ska-genre-in.html

punk/ska subculture

More modern day ska incorporates a punk edge to the music to allow it to appeal to the young target audience but still keep the roots of ska alive. The punk/ska subculture is a subculture which like reggae/ska isn't as mainstream as emo's or goths but could still be seen to be just as popular. This subculture is our target audience for our music video. When researching our target audience to find out more about this subculture a stereotypical image was still made before we had even handed out questionnaires on our music video. For example based on the band and the fan base at their gig, there style seems to have a laid back casual look. (see link for audience profile http://izzismusicblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/audience-profile-for-band-smaller-than.html)

When researching other ska/punk bands I found that most of the bands who are signed where american such as the band Less Than Jake and the aqauabats. This shows how this subculture appears to be more sucessful in America than in the UK. This could be due to the higher demand for RnB artists from music producers as they know how large the subculture is that they are supplying to and therefore know that the artist they are going to sign will make profit.

As it is the ska/punk subculture isn't as large or considered to be as popular as these other subcultures but this could be a sign that like the sudden popularity of RnB with artists such as Rihanna and Jason Derulo having complete success with the release of one single, ska will once again make a comeback and create the same history as the 'two tone' subculture of the 1970's