‘She Came Along’ by Sharam and Kid Cudi.
Genre
The genre of the video is an inspiring hip hop type song, I say inspiring because the beat is very uplifting and encourages dreams to be fulfilled. It’s quite unconventional because it has a very positive motive and influence and that goes against the more negative and controversial themes behind original hip hop videos. The video itself does not have as much flash jewellery and cars, it focuses more on inspirations and going back in time to when they didn’t have what they do now. That is a more conventional message of the previous hip hop genres when artists use to speak about what they didn’t have and what they inspired to be.
Narrative
The narrative is Kanye going on a ship to do a dare devil like stunt to fly over the canyon. The video takes places in the build up to that and eventually his demise when the rocket crashes in spectacular fashion. This theme is quite unconventional because it features a short 30 second break in which Kanye’s ex girlfriend confronts him about him leaving her for a white woman (Pamela Anderson), this becomes more and more comical after they show a 5 second graphic of ‘Technical Problems’. The video is light hearted and gives an impression of a less serious topic which doesn’t affect political or cultural issues in a deeper sense then a light hearted one.
Issues of Representation
The age of the artists does not concern the narrative because it is more about an individual setting out to do what he feels he needs to do. There is a comical representation of African American woman against white woman, during the 30 second break from the song when Kanye’s ex girlfriend confronts him, her friend says ‘I told you he would leave you for a white girl, You just want some tits, what about the ass?’. It then cuts into the graphic. This in itself shows the cultural differences between the two races and how some African American males prefer dating women of other races rather then dating one of their own.
Audience
The audience targeted for the song is quite a broad because of the light heartedness behind it; there aren’t any major issues that would restrict the aging of the target audience. The understanding of the text is up for interpretation because Kanye talks about some of the girls he has been with and cheated on. The relationship between the audience and the song becomes similar because of the literal message of the video, it encourages rather than discourages. The artists himself however tends to cause controversy himself and distances himself from his fans, but within his songs he conveys multiple messages that can be positive and negative.
Media Language
The symbolism behind the song is mainly about achieving your dreams and confronting your fears. It also confronts the issue of white vs. black women without being racist or discriminating the races, it stays light hearted throughout. The technical symbolism is also very funny and comical because of the rocket crash, it is quite obvious that they used a toy rocket in order to create the affect of a real crashing rocket and they only used camera angles in order to create that illusion, together with graphics and open atmosphere, it creates a positive impression and influence that is quite unconventional of the genre as well as the artist.
‘Touch the Sky’ by Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco.
Genre
The genre of the video is an inspiring hip hop type song, I say inspiring because the beat is very uplifting and encourages dreams to be fulfilled. It’s quite unconventional because it has a very positive motive and influence and that goes against the more negative and controversial themes behind original hip hop videos. The video itself does not have as much flash jewellery and cars, it focuses more on inspirations and going back in time to when they didn’t have what they do now. That is a more conventional message of the previous hip hop genres when artists use to speak about what they didn’t have and what they inspired to be.
Narrative
The narrative is Kanye going on a ship to do a dare devil like stunt to fly over the canyon. The video takes places in the build up to that and eventually his demise when the rocket crashes in spectacular fashion. This theme is quite unconventional because it features a short 30 second break in which Kanye’s ex girlfriend confronts him about him leaving her for a white woman (Pamela Anderson), this becomes more and more comical after they show a 5 second graphic of ‘Technical Problems’. The video is light hearted and gives an impression of a less serious topic which doesn’t affect political or cultural issues in a deeper sense then a light hearted one.
Issues of Representation
The age of the artists does not concern the narrative because it is more about an individual setting out to do what he feels he needs to do. There is a comical representation of African American woman against white woman, during the 30 second break from the song when Kanye’s ex girlfriend confronts him, her friend says ‘I told you he would leave you for a white girl, You just want some tits, what about the ass?’. It then cuts into the graphic. This in itself shows the cultural differences between the two races and how some African American males prefer dating women of other races rather then dating one of their own.
Audience
The audience targeted for the song is quite a broad because of the light heartedness behind it; there aren’t any major issues that would restrict the aging of the target audience. The understanding of the text is up for interpretation because Kanye talks about some of the girls he has been with and cheated on. The relationship between the audience and the song becomes similar because of the literal message of the video, it encourages rather than discourages. The artists himself however tends to cause controversy himself and distances himself from his fans, but within his songs he conveys multiple messages that can be positive and negative.
Media Language
The symbolism behind the song is mainly about achieving your dreams and confronting your fears. It also confronts the issue of white vs. black women without being racist or discriminating the races, it stays light hearted throughout. The technical symbolism is also very funny and comical because of the rocket crash, it is quite obvious that they used a toy rocket in order to create the affect of a real crashing rocket and they only used camera angles in order to create that illusion, together with graphics and open atmosphere, it creates a positive impression and influence that is quite unconventional of the genre as well as the artist.
Sky’s the limit (Notorious B.I.G) & U Remind Me (Usher)
Usher - U remind me video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvIhigDkY_I
Camerawork
In Sky’s the limit there are a lot of mid ranged shots to show off the housing and close ups on the bling to show off the luxuries of his life.
In U Remind Me, there are a lot of close ups of the characters to portray the emotion that is trying to be given off which creates a mood for the song.
Editing
In Sky’s the limit, some of the shots are slightly distorted to make it seem like they are in a dream.
In the dancing sequence of the U Remind Me, you can hear the footsteps and the brushing of clothes while Usher dances; this creates a sense of realism to show that he is doing it.
Mise-en Scene
The female dancers have a lot of make up on which make them look a lot more grown up, the male characters in the video are all wearing expensive clothes and living expensive lives to resemble the real characters of the video.
In U Remind Me, there are numerous locations where the video takes place which vary from a bright building to the street, which leads to a club.
The main points of the two videos is that they both revolve around male characters, as in most hip hop videos there is a lot of bling and flash cars and houses. Sky’s the limit is very stereotypical in that sense but then breaks the conventions by having children to play the characters instead of the real people. However in U Remind Me the conventions remain intact because of the riches being portrayed but having the real characters. His story is supposed to be sad but the background music delivers a different mood.
Analysis based on Andrew Goodwin’s theory
1 – Seeing the Sound in your Head
Sky’s the limit uses a lot of base within the song which adds to the intensity to the song, the way the lyrics flow through the song show that they are living in a dream world, it has a joyous tune.
In U Remind Me, the lyrics and the beat flow in a very beautiful way even though if you analyse the lyrics word for word, it goes against the grain so to speak.
2 – Narrative and Performance
The story in Sky’s The Limit is about little kids playing adult roles in a dream world, they have money, cars and fame. The story never really ends but shows a glimpse of what is to come for the characters they are supposed to be playing such as Biggie Smalls and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The story in U Remind Me is about how Usher meets different girls that he reminds him of a girl that he use to know, that girl treated him badly but the last girl he meets, he settles with even though the chorus continues with “This is why I can’t get with you”.
3 – The Star image
Biggie Smalls and Sean Combs are portrayed in a very rich manner in the video and are shown of to be superstars, they are flaunted off in the cars and swimming pool, often having shots that portray the house as being so big that they couldn’t use every room.
Usher is portrayed slightly different in U Remind Me; he does however manage to seduce every girl in the music video but also tells tales of how even he got hurt by a girl previously. They show the stereotypical thing with the jewellery and the flash cars.
4 – Three Ways in which Music Videos Relate Visuals to the Song
Sky’s the Limit illustrated the meaning of the lyrics, it is very straight forward and tells the story through the words of the song as well as the video itself, in U Remind Me it is exactly the same because both lyrics involves with either riches or heartbreak, in Sky’s the Limit as the lyrics carry on, there are sequences of cars and the large house. In U Remind Me, Usher tells stories about how he use to love his old girlfriend and treats the girl he’s talking to the same way, but then the chorus comes in and he walks away from her.
5 – Technical Aspects of Music Video
In Sky’s the Limit, the Speed of the shots are quite slow and timid. They have many close ups of the singers face even though the singer is only a child resembling the singer. The beat itself goes along with what is going on on-screen, the lighting is very bright and a lot of white is used in certain shots to portray a dream world. As for Mise-en-scene, the video has many props and the location shows what kind of video it is.
In U Remind Me, the speed of the shots are a bit quicker because the story unfolds quicker as well, the singers face a lot because that is the kind of self obsessed image that Usher portrays himself in. The beat itself does go along with the video but the lyrics do not, the lighting is quite dark and uses a lot of strange colours such as orange and silver. As for the Mise-en-scene, the use of a flash car and several locations that are in the open, but slowly because a more closed environment inside the club shows visually how he feels with the girl he is with, he was in the open before not knowing what to do but then closed in on one girl and settled with her.
‘Make Her Say’ by Kid Cudi
Genre
The genre of the video is slow hip hop and features multiple stars of the genre and is produced by Kanye West who is a mainstream name in the music industry. The music video has many conventions because it features flash cars and jewellery, beautiful woman and admirable scenery such as an open road and big house. There are some unconventional themes in the video such as the use of college halls and nobody dancing in the video. The use of split screen during most of the video is also an unconventional editing technique and it very well done because shows different angles of the same person and it gives a different perspective of the characters and follows multiple characters at the same time. The overall performance of the artists is good because it suits the calming nature of the song, the beat and lyrics are calming and purposefully lack intensity; there is not a lot of movement but more lounging by the artists and the women in the video. This connotes a more calming influence about the storyline and narrative in the video.
Narrative
The narrative is about women and the artists meeting them and talking about what they are going to together in a sexual manner, the beat itself is very calm and the way the lyrics are said, is to in the same calmness that the entire song is conveyed. The song is very unconventional in this sense because although the theme of the song is stereotypical and very highly associated with in today’s modern culture, politically and in the community, the impression the song gives is that the artists can afford to have fun with it because the woman is co operating. You find out later on in the song that she is a stripper looking for a pay day. For most of the song, this is not known so it becomes more controversial in the sense that woman being objectified more and more and maybe without permission.
Issues of Representation
The ages of the artists are between 25-37 and the age of the woman they are talking about is 21, ‘Born in 88, how old is that? Old Enough’. The ethnicity of the entire music video is based around African American males and the a mix between races for the woman, differentiating between white and black. This is quite stereotypical of an American hip hop music video as most of the artists are African American.
Audience
The audience of the music video is fans of the hip hop genre, it isn’t aimed at a certain age in particular but does have adult themes within the song. The reception of the song was good concerning Kid Cudi and Kanye West who produced the song and it went on to be a decent Single and added onto Cudi’s album. The relationship of the fans towards the song and the artists is similar because there are verses in the song and video in which college students can relate to, by talking about sexual experiences within the library and having most of the video in open surroundings on a college Football field, it appeals to students of that age.
Media Language
The technical aspects of the video compromise of the shots and the editing of the video, this in itself was very good because of the split screen editing that occurred during the majority of the video, this combined with the different angled camerawork made for an excellent music video that worked with the song very well. There were many symbolic aspects of the video such as a woman sitting on top of a Football post behind the bleachers. This as well as balloons being shown at the start show the light hearted nature of the video and sets the scene for the rest of the video, the lyrics breaks away from that but the manner in which they are sung makes it more conventional within the video.
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