The bright and exciting music video potrays the fun and happiness you can have when you are rich hence the 'good life'. This video features Kanye West and T-Pain performing with animated backdrops and literally mouthing the words of the song lyrics, which show up in large letters and numbers. It uses special effects to draw attention to the audience as the backdrops constantly changes an entices the watcher. This music video won best special effects in the MTV VMA awards, so this is why I decided to pick this video to look at why it makes it so great.
This music video blends the animation and the rappers seamlessly so there isn't a point in the video where it seems out of place or overused. By looking at this at a different perspective, the white backdrop acts as a plain canvas. From here, its almost as if someone is drawing around the rappers like an artist. This is first shown in this shot here:
Colourful lines are drawn around the
rapper
'Good Life' is drawn behind the rapper
These two shots show the creative side to the video; the colorful lines run up him to add more effect. This shot is effective because the rapper is in 'grayscale' meaning that he has no colour to him. This contrasts with the colour lines and writting and shows that he has been injected with life. Also his body orientation shows that he is very confident because he is standing there quite calmly with his head held high to show his authority. Another shot which reinforces the authority is the shot shown here :
Kanye West 'throwing hands up'
In this shot, Kanye West has his hands up to the lyrics 'now throw your hands up to the sky' This reinforces the strerotype that rappers have a lot of power. This is shown by the 'clip art' hands being thrown up towards him. What I found quite interesting was the fact that the hands were from all racial backgrounds. This shows what kind of multicultural society we are living in today. Also notice that in this shot, there is a 'random' leg which is thrown up along with the hands.
The underlying meaning to this is that it reinforces the stereotype that rappers have a lot of power over women. In less subtle terms, Kanye West is so powerful that women throw their legs up at him because they want him. This is again shown by the somewhat 'random' clip art images of a model in the background a split second after. Finally, there are a few hands which are thrown up in the infamous triangle pose. This is Kanye West's and other assoicates (Such as Jay-Z for example) trademark pose. This pose again imposes power as the triangle pose has become associated with the rapper.
This video has a number of very creative effects and features to it. I have picked out a few of them and anaylsed the purpose of them, and how they would appeal to the audience.
This shot is one of the best transitions in the music video. It features a crane shot of Kanye West rapping to the camera then the white canvaas goes from white to black.
Transitions from white canvas to black canvas
This shot plays paticulary well because it is a very smooth transition and from the white canvas to the black canvas, it opens up new creative ideas which the video fulfills. Firstly, The different font writing is 'drawn' on the floor. Ive also noticed that most of the words in the floor are one syllable words like 'pow' and 'looks' and 'style'. From there, the words get 'brushed over' with black paint as it starts to fill the floor. From this point the rest of the video has a black canvas where they display new effects and features to display their lyrics.
'Colour glasses'
In this shot it displays Kanye West with glasses which appear to be animated. At this moment in time he says 'Where we like them girls who ain't on tv cause they got more ass than the models' This again shows the rapper-women phenomenon in which it looks like Kanye West is staring at a womens bottom. This stereotypically shows the respect rappers have for women; they look at them like they are a piece of meat.
'Colour screen'
In this shot, Kanye West and T-Pain have what it appears to be a 'colour screen' in which they put this over their heads and their face, hands and clothing change colour. You can see by the expression on their faces that they are having fun; this emphasises the meaning of the song and video, that they are happy and enjoying life.
Overall, I think that this music video is very effective in terms of utilising special effects; this video is easy on the eye. There isn't anything too complicated to it, its just a very vibarant, colourful video which appeals to its audience because the video goes so well with the song. It shows how fun, happy and wonderful the 'good life' can be.
Nas and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley assume the throne in the video Directed by NABIL, the intense visuals see the poetic artist traveling to ancient lands, with Damian Marley shrouded by a hooded cloak and Nas rocking a crown on the dome. The 3d layers build up a well told story of africa, life and existance and the connection between the earth and humans. This music video is very deep and there are many different meanings and connections behind the narrative. This includes the mainstream media trying to manipulate society, how man has destroyed and ruined everything it has touched, and they question whether science can be proven right.
The song and music video sync well together because of the slow, low tempo instrumental, conplements the slow zoom shots in this. This gives a very strong sense of calmness. Nas and Damian Marley are almost portrayed as ancient gods in this video; they are dressed in robes, with crowns and other jewellery.
Damian Marley sitting on a throne looking 'god like'
Every shot blends in very smoothly; they use a number of different techniques to do this. One of them is the 'smoke effect' where they blend in two shots by vanishing the first one with smoke. This is shown here:
Shot one becomes engulfed in smoke
Completely covered in smoke
Transitions to the next scene
The 3d layers are very effective in this music video; they give the video more depth as there are many different things going on at the same time. They use an african them throughout and this includes animals such as tigers and lions, statues and buildings like piramids and other ancient buildings. Another transition I quite like is when the camera focuses down and continues to shoot almost like it is doing filming under them and form this it switches to the next scene.
Shot 1 shown here
Camera moves down as banner breaks up the two different shots
Banner continues to move up as the camera moves down and reveals the next shot
This video has given me a lot of new ideas for what to include in my music video in terms of transitions and special effects. I am also thinking about the possibility of using a greenscreen for my backgrounds.
This music video tries to express the struggle of africa, to very deep, spiritual meanings, to the meaning of life. This video would appeal to the audience because these topics are quite complex and so is the video; there is so much going on at one time. I think the best effect used is the one shown here:
'Scholars teach in Universities and claim that they're smart and cunning
Tell them find a cure when we sneeze and that's when their nose start running'
Here we have Nas and Damian Marley walking on the 'flat earth' after the lyrics: 'Scholars teach in Universities and claim that they're smart and cunning, Tell them find a cure when we sneeze and that's when their nose start running' This shot is very artistic; it looks like a work of art. From the planets in the background to the african woman on the left hand side, I think this shot looks amazing. In this shot the earth is literally flat; hence why there is water falling off the side of this.
Overall, this music video depicts a very complex and deep song with a variety of different special effects and transitions to match the theme; without really going too over the top as the special effects are quite relative to the actual song and are not just thrown in there which will appeal to the audience a lot more.
This music video constructs an emotional montage of the relationship the rapper Eminem and Dr. Dre have. The story behind this video is about how Dr. Dre signed Eminem and believed in him in his early days and now Eminem is returning the favor. This music video starts with a montage of various footage of his music career. this includes when he was a member of the N.W.A and also the funk group World Class Wreckin' Cru. Also there is footage of Dr. Dre and his family, such as him hugging his daughter and son and getting married. Futhermore there is footage from past music videos which he has done. Many rappers such as 2Pac, Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem are included in this. As all this is happening, he is driving down on a road in a Ferrari with flashbacks interluding. When he crashes the car the song starts to play. This is where they fast forward ten years later where he is on life support.
When this music video starts there is a sense of calmness about it; this is shown through shots of the water and the stern look on Dr. Dre's face. During this they use splitscreen shots to show his music career past while showing the 'present'. Also you can tell that there is something on his mind and the audience anticipates that something is about to happen. The edits begin to pick up speed when he is driving and you can tell that he is concerned and there is literally something 'running on his mind'. This is shown by the quick flashbacks of music videos, interview and magazine covers.
Dr. Dre looks very anxious.
Split screen effect of the flashback on the right and the present time on the left.
Car crash in the music video.
From when Dr. Dre is hospitalized, the music video uses a combination of special effects and features to enhance it when Eminem is rapping. This is first seen of the 'ghostly' holagram image of the actress Estella Warren. She mouths the words to Skylar Grey's chorus in the song.
As eminem is rapping, the video focuses on the emotional side; he paces up and down infront of the lifeless body of Dr. Dre and you can see the passion and expression on his face when he is rapping.
Eminem rapping to the lifeless body of Dr. Dre
Eminem's expression in his face
The video as a whole is a like one big metaphor. The underlying meaning behind it is that Eminem is trying to inspire Dr. Dre to believe in himself again and this is portrayed by him being hospitalized (giving up) to him finally waking up from the car crash and becoming stronger (eventually arising and believing in himself).
A variery of special effects continue as Dr. Dre is put in an 'isolation tank' while Eminem continues to rap to him. I quite like the location because the scenery isn't at all like a modern hospital. The location looks very old fashioned and this is reinforced by the old, dull colours in this. Also small things such as the lights on the ceiling, the lit candles in the background and many more. However this contrasts with the modern technology in this, for example the media tablets and up to date phones.
Eminem rapping to Dr.Dre in the 'isolation tank'
This video continues to use metophorical references in the form of Dr.Dre finally waking up. This represents him waking back up in the form coming back to the hip-hop industry. This is reinforced by him lifting weights, so in a sense he is becoming a lot stronger and has his confidence back. The old location continues with old fashioned weights but yet it still has a modern feel to it. He continues to exercise as the video uses a variety of close up shots to show the pain on his face as he is lifting weights.
Long shot of Dr. Dre lifting weights
Audience
Ive notices that in this video, they advertise a variety of brands including Dr.Dre's Beats technology, Gatorade, Ferrari, HP Laptops, and G-Shock.
This follows the popular trend to advertise existing media products in a promotional video. Dr. Dre is in fact, promoting his own products which help them to get out there more.
Overall, this video is quite emotional and tries to make the audience feel how much of a connection Dr.Dre and Eminem have and how they inspire each other to keep on going. The video ends with a close up shot of the rapper Easy E's grave.
For any of the audience who knows Easy E, or N.W.A for that matter, this shot is a very emotional one as Dr.Dre stands over the grave of his felllow collegue and friend. This shot will touch many of the audience who has known and listened to hip-hop music of this era.
This black and white music video portrays life as a child in various aspects by mixing together videos of children participating in activties across America. This is intercut with scenes of Jay-Z and Mr Hudson performing the song, sometimes in concert. This heartwarming video is effective because it uses slow motion effects and blending techniques to give you a sense of happiness. It is a mild rework of Alphaville's 1984 song "Forever Young": the original melody is used, Mr Hudson sings the original lyrics and Jay-Z raps in place of the verses.
Before the song starts, you see a young boy playing in an empty swimming pool. At this point the song hasn't started yet, so this draws all you attention to him playing. There is a sense of freedom as he runs around the empty swimming pool without a care in the world. This alone represents youth.
Child playing in empty swimming pool
From here a shot blends into young children playing with cards. I think that this represents the working class youth of today in america; the day to day hustle of life and just about having enough to survive. Furthermore, this moves onto a shot of a boy dunking a basketball and this quickly transitions to a crowd screaming. I think this is used to represent how Jay-Z was a teenager; hanging on the streets when he was growing up, to becoming famous and everyone knowing his name.
There are various 'light' references within this intro. These references are quite quick but they are throughout the whole begining. This starts off as this shot here:
First person view of woman bending down and giving someone a flare; camera angle would suggest they are young.
Bright light shining from above into the crowd at the concert.
Skateboarder about to throw flare up in the air.
Jay-Z performing at concert with spot light on him.
I think that the light used in these images symbolises life in a sense; it represents something special. From growing up on the streets to performing for thousands, the light is used to emphasise how special he is; the light shines down on him almost as if he is holy.
The rest of the video represents youth culture; this is displayed through crime, sports and hobbies, and family.
We assume that in this shot, the teenager is running away from the police as you hear the sirens in the background; the youth of today are stereotypically portrayed to commit crimes.
In this shot there are young boys playing american football. This is used to represent and remind the audience what it was like to particpate in team activites; this helps you to reminise.
This shot includes a group of older teenagers breakdancing. This is used to represent the things you learn from the 'streets' when you are growing up, as opposed to being taught them professionally.
This video slowly blends in the clips to match the tempo and the mood of the song. I think that the black and white effect is effective because it gives the video a 'vintage' feel to it. Overall I think that this music video is very good in terms of getting its message across. As Jay-Z said in his last verse of this song: "Didn't you get the picture yet, i'm painting you a portrait of young" and thats what this video achives in my opinion.
Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 foot" video is one of the most literal videos I have seen. The video (directed by Hype Williams) was largely inspired by the film Inception; it consists of numerous shots and clips which visualize many of the metaphors and similies Lil wayne uses in the song. This music video is so literal in terms of displaying a visual image that every few seconds the shot changes to match almost every lyric he says. However you can see that the main theme within the video is Inception. There are dozens of shots and images which imitate the film, this is show in the first few seconds:
Rapper Lil Wayne falling in bathtub
Film character Cobb falling in bathtub
Here we see that the exact scene has been copied of 'Cobb' falling into the bathtub. This is used effectivey as from this scene the video jumps into a metephorical state where it shows Lil Wayne in a variety of shots, scenes and situations. I have picked out numerous shots and the underlying meaning behind them.
Lil Wayne is seen as the 'general'
This shot is quite interesting; it displays Lil Wayne in the forefront with the other artists in the background. This is because all the rappers in the shot are part of the group YMCMB; Lil Wayne is seen as the leader of this group so it makes sense for him to be in the forefront and this is reinforced by the 'general' jacket and hat to show that he is the leader or in charge.
'Syncronized swimmers'
During this shot Lil Wayne says the lyrics: 'two bitches at the same time, syncronised swimmers'. This is visually displayed by a shot of two twin females represented as 'bitches' in swimming costumes.
Young Money 'Running shit'
In this shot you see Lil Wayne running and beating female runners to get to the finish line. Again this relates to the lyrics as he says: 'Young Money running shit and you niggas just runners up'. Also the fact that the female runners are in the background shows the dominance of the opposing male in hip-hop videos. Also the slow motion technique is used to make the scene more dramatic but I think the overall affect they were trying to create was a lighthearted 'immation' of a slow motion race.
In this particular shot, this copies the inception theme again by immitating a scene from the film. They try to replicate this as close as they can by using slow motion effects to mimick the actual shot.
'Mind so sharp, turn around and cut my head off'
This was very effective as it combines clever and tricky special effects to literalize his lyrics: 'Mind so sharp, turn around and cut my head off'. They use a white background and darken out the shot of Lil Wayne to make it look more realistic. The editors would have properly of used programs like adobe after effects to give the realism of his head falling off.
This video is full of special effects; this looks like the same person is in the shot six times. This is done by filming differnt shots of him behind a greenscreen and then incorporating this in the scene. The inception theme continues as you can see in the background; they use the dream state theory to immitate and produce their own scene.
The video as a whole, is very unique and different as it is very literal. However I think that this music video can be tediuos because almost everything Lil Wayne raps about is in displayed on the screen. The audience might not apprieciate this style of music video.
Kid Cudi's music video constructs a artistic, visual image of the song; it cleverly builds up different perspectives by using a symetrical format to ilustrate the overall mood and feel to it.
Symetrical image of bloons
Firstly the video starts off with a smyetrical image of floating bloons. Throughout the video you get colourful, uplifting moving images which express and match the feel of the song. This video uses a vocal sample from the song "Lady Gaga - Pokerface" The video carries a minimal aesthetic; A lot of the scenes were shot in open and wide places. The artists included in the video; Kid Cudi, Kanye West, and Common all appear to have been in the shoot, however they were all in different locations at the time. This made me think more about my music video as I don't necessarily have to have everyone there at the same time. The music video enforces a split screen effect to create the illusion that the three artists were all filmed in the same location.
I think the overall theme this video is trying to produce is quite vibrant; this can be shown in the choice of colours and the slight film grain quality used to boost the colouful feel to the song. Also there are various perculiar shots for example an upside down shot shown here:
Upside down shot of car shown above; Front view of car driving below
When first watching this I noticed that the video is quite abstract compared to the song and didnt relate as much. After watching it a number of times I picked up underlaying factors which demostrate a stereotypical hip-hop video but in a more subtle way. Firstly behind all of the rappers there are females displayed which each of them, whether that be behind or above the rapper to show that they are more enforcing and powerful for example:
Rapper at the top of the screen; Female at the bottom
Rapper in forefront; Female in background
So you could argue and say that they still do follow a few of the stereotypes of hip-hop music videos but in a much more subtle way. Furthermore a variety of wide camera shots are used which blend into the split screen effect and this is reinforced by the shots changing few seconds to the tempo of the song. In addition this video was one of the first to advertise "DJ Hero Hardware" and advertising products and names are seen in many music videos today.
Audience
Overall I think that this video is quite effective in terms of translating the song to video; The splitscreen effect is very diverse and goes with the audio. The video uses a variety of visual images and wide camera angles to illustrate the lyrics. However, the shots have hidden conventions and meanings which might not be seen by the audience on first viewing. The video vaguely uses the conventions of hip-hop videos; however I think some audiences will appreiciate how different and diverse this music video is when compared to the hip-hop music videos of today.
