Music Video Analysis

Music Video 1 (within last 10 years): Kedrick Lamar - HUMBLE

Director: Dave Meyers and The Little Homies

Year: 2017

Category: Performace

Visual Techniques: Lots of fast editing, smoke machines. includes a large variety of shot types including wide shots and drone shots. Includes a scene of the artist sat at a large table and the video turns into sort of a very fast stop motion with the camera in slightly different places each time, creating a clip which is not very pleasant to look at. All of these shots and edits would have been very expensive. Includes a scene where is head is on fire too which is not expected and very abstract, most likely costing a lot of money to do. it includes scenes of women and cash being thrown around.

How these reflect the theme/meaning of the song: The scenes of beautiful women and lots of cash reflect the meaning of his song - he is very accomplished and successful which he is showing off in the lyrics and video. There are some very abstract clips which would most likely be very expensive to create, further showing his accomplishments that he can spend a lot of money with no impact.

Genre: HipHop, conventions of this genre in music videos often includes the artist rapping to the audience, dancers and usually women too - which this music video fits into.

This music video follows 1 of Andrew Goodwin's key conventions of music videos. This is the fact that there are lots of close ups of the artist. This has been included because the record label would have specified that there must be lots of close ups for promotion purposes and to create an 'icon' to increase listeners and spread of the music video.

Representation: Shows a very successful artist who has lots of money he can throw about, which attracts very beautiful women. This is deviant of the real world, the artist is basically trying to say it s his money and he can do whatever he wants with it. He is speaking to the audience, basically showing and saying 'look at me with all my money'. This implies that you can get whatever you want and dreamed of with money.

Music Video 2 (between the last 10 and 20 years): Snoop Dog - Drop It Like It's Hot ft. Pharrell Williams

Director: Norman Buckley, Michael Katleman

Year: 2004

Category: Performance

Visual Techniques: Black and white, slow motion clips, close ups of items and the artist, lots of dancing included too, as well as women.

How these reflect the theme/meaning of the song: There are a series of clips which shows Snoop or Pharell Williams next objects or doing an action which relates to the lyrics, for example taking about ice or a car. They are showing off their success with the fancy cars, 'ice' and women.

Genre: Hip Hop, usually shows dancing to the music and the artist performing, which is included in this music video.

This music video follows 3 of Andrew Goodwin's key conventions of music videos. The first is that the lyrics reflect the video to give an illustration and emphasise the lyrics, the second is that there are many closeups of the artist, for promotion purposes and to make sure that everyone knows who the artist is. Finally, the artist has his own star iconography in and out of the video. Snoop dog is always seen to be wearing baggy, casual clothes with lots of expensive jewellery. This has created his iconic look which would have helped create brand deals and overall, increased the profit.

Representation: Shows lots of money and large chains and jewellery with beautiful women surrounding the men. Shows their success which they want to show off their wealth and success. The beautiful women may be a symbol of if you are successful you can get whatever you want.

Music Video 3 (over 25 years ago): Busta Rhymes - Woo Ha! Got You All In Check

Director: Hype Williams

Year: 1996

Category: Performance

Visual Techniques: Filmed a lot with a fish eye lens, so when the artist is performing he is very close and very over the top with his actions. The movement is very exaggerated with fits with how the artist is rapping. There's a lot of dancing whilst performing the song and lots of bright, vibrant and distorted colours.

How these reflect the theme/meaning of the song: Some of the actions reflect the lyrics, however, majority of the time it is just performance and there is no correlation with the lyrics of the song.

Genre: Hip Hop, conventions of this genre's typical music videos are performance and dancing,  therefore, this video fits the style.

This music video follows 2 of Andrew Goodwin's key conventions of music videos. Firstly, there are many close ups of the artist. This will create brand deals and also kind of create a star iconography as we will be able to see him in different costumes in different clips. The close ups show who he is, overall increasing the income. Secondly, he has created his own star iconography as he is seen to wear very extravagant clothes and has lots of energy and is very over the top with his actions, which also describes him as a person out of the video.

Representation: Does not show women or jewellery in this video, going against the stereotypes of a rap music video. However, shows the artist in many different extravagant outfits which may be expensive and therefore show off his success. This video goes against classic representation in a rap music video.