Cough Syrup

Before creating my music video, I initially decided that I wanted to take on an interesting and relevant topic within society, which affects my target audience of teenagers, ages 14 to 20. My idea that I had chosen was to create a powerful music video with a narrative based on the affects of bullying on teenagers, as well as the negative affects of being a bystander. I hoped that this subject would provide a compelling and awakening illustration to my audience of how extensive bullying can impact teenagers, deeply affecting not only the victim targeted, but also those who witness the bullying and do nothing to stop it, known as the bystanders.

The song choice is a song by Young The Giant titled "Cough Syrup". The songs powerful lyrics and it's metaphorical use of taking "cough syrup" symbolizes some sort of coping mechanism to escape ones own problems. Within my Video, my subject uses self-harm as a way of getting by, which leads to a negative outcome.

With my video I provided an insight to the troubled mind of a 16-year-old male victim of full-scale bullying, displaying their inner fears and anxiety. My style of a narrative video required a teenager protagonist, so I could better adhere to my target audience, representing a typical teenager and their values of wanting to have good friends and to also fit in. The narrative of a teenage boy, who is bullied and decides to end his life, shows my audience how extensive bullying is that it can drive someone to end their own life. This ideology can relate to the lives of the target audience of teenagers, as the subcultural group are most vulnerable to bullying during adolescence and high school.

My overall theme and character pays homage to the short film “Imagine a World Where Being “Gay” is the Norm” by collecting shot choices and scenes from the film to be incorporated in my own production, such as the bathroom scene, where the targeted adolescent decides to end his own life to escape the bullies.

By using relatable characters and also presenting a plot, which many teenagers can relate to, I hoped to assimilate specific relatable themes and characters, enabling my narrative video to directly put forth the important societal subject of bullying in a tasteful and powerful representation.