Sk8er Boi - Avril Lavigne

Cinematography/Editing

• Opens showing cans - rebellion
• Low angle showing boy coming in by rope - rebellion, presenting him as strong
• Shaky camera pans to boy - indicates chaos and emphasises punk nature
• Handheld camera - chaos, rebellion
• Low angle on Avril - strength, not stereotypical girl
• High angle on girl - stereotypes, she is vulnerable and feminine - opposite of Avril, possible antagonist in the narrative
• Close up shots on Avril - emphasises that she is the protagonist/main character (not common for girls)
• Close up to show Avril’s facial expressions - protesting against society’s standards (e.g: scrunched face)
• Low angle with Avril at the centre - further establishes her importance - possibly the ringleader of the rebellion
• Halo - created to present Avril as a goddess/role model despite her rebellious nature

Sound

• Diegetic - cans - indicates rebellion
• Diegetic - rope - rebellion
• Lyric - ‘he was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it any more obvious’ - stereotypical narrative, attracts teen audiences
• Helicopter and sirens become more prominent - closure, rebellion, drama

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Audience

• Punks - genre of song is pop-punk hybrid, rebellious themes throughout the music video, twist in narrative
• Young people - heavily encourages rebellion throughout, has a theme of youth/generational gap, stereotypical romantic narrative at the start
• Girls - see Avril as a role model as she is an atypical girl, shows that girls don’t have to be feminine to be popular etc

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Mise en Scene

• Dressed in scruffy, casual clothing (punk style), in typically masculine way with darker colours - rebellion, gender
• Star graffitied - devil connotations, vandalism links to rebellion
• Technology - current to the time - youth, generational gap (something elders won’t understand)
• Tie loose - possible parody of the sexualisation of young women at the time (schoolgirl), Avril isn’t a stereotypical girl, rebellion, youth (new fashion)
• Girl - wears light colours juxtaposing Avril/the other teens, possible antagonist, she’s feminine and a stereotypical girl
• Instruments - attract fans of live performances, shows that she plays her own instruments (different from any mainstream pop artist as they just sing)
• Bikes vs cars - Avril and friends ride bikes to show that they possibly come from less privileged backgrounds therefore are passionate about the state of society. Whereas the girl drives a car, implying privilege
• Rock hand sign - rebellion, punk genre, devilish connotations
• Police entering - rebellion
• The fact that the police sirens/lights are not prominent emphasises Avril and friend’s dominance
• Crowd - dominance, passion, youth, Avril’s popularity despite being an atypical girl
• Smashed window - rebellion

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Other

• Avril jumps into frame - youth, energetic
• Smashing guitar - prominent in rock

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Themes

• Rebellion
• Gender
• Youth

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