For our A2 Music Promotion Package, my group has decided to create a music video with a Hip-Hop/Rap genre.
In order to have a better understanding of the codes and conventions of a Hip-Hop/Rap music video I researched two music videos in that genre.
My colleague and I helped each other with the analysis of the music video and my colleague will be writing about the conventions, the elements, and the audience.
(Yidi)
This is a rap music video which is a narrative interpretive which suggests that it tell the audience a story but the story does not have a strong link with the lyrics. There were many conventions in the music video, there was an allusion the whole music video is a reference to a film Get Out. At the beginning of the video, a nice neighborhood can refer to the film. They featured another artist, A$AP he sang part of the song and appeared in the music video on his part of the song. There are many elements in the music video the main character is in a blue shirt, blue usually represents freedom, this could connote that the character is in a stressful situation and he can not wait to be set free. This is also defined by the scene after where he was hiding from the police when the police cars came after his house got on fire. When he just got out of his house his shirt and shoes matched the mailbox and the flowers on the grass, there are nice gardens with a lot of flowers, this shows that the neighborhood is nice and peace which doesn't match with the character's situation right now. Around 1:10 at the video, there are two people walking slowly after the main character, this is a reference to the movie Get Out which they had a similar scene. At 1:42 we could see that the other character which was played by A$AP was sewing a face on the main character while the police are outside of their door trying to break in. It obviously shows that they were doing some illegal deals. At 2:00 they showed that that the main character has a new face which he just had surgery on. The face is white, this might connote racism, we are all the same but in the music video, the main character changed to a white face for some reason which might be because of the police. Especially at 2:30 the main character is in the car with his "white" face and a friend which is white. In my opinion, I think this connotes that he can assimilate the group better and maybe make friends with people that he wants with the people that he wants. At 2:50 is a scene with cars running on a long highway, this connotes that they are running from the town and set free. From 3:00 is a tailored video of another song by Tyler The Creator which is in the same album. It has the use of promoting his other songs. The audience for this video is mostly around the age of 17 up to 30, because there are many swear words in the song it's not very appropriate for kids. Both genders are the audience for this song. There might be more English speakers so they understand the lyrics better.
(Elin)
The genre presented in this music video done by Taylor the Creator is hip hop/rap, we can see this through the way the artist is dressed, he is dressed in colorful clothes which might not give it away for being a hip hop music video, but he is wearing chains and the artist featured on the song, ASAP Rocky is having golden bars on his teeth and jewelry in both gold and diamond on his wrist, this is shown at 1:35. These are prompts used in videos with the same genre since it gives an impression of wealth of the artist through the mise-en-scene.
There tend to be more men present in hip-hip / rap videos than women, In this music video there are only the two male artists present, and they are also of African American origin which also seen in rap videos.
Audiences might seek out to Taylor the creator and his music, especially this song since it shows that its okay to be different and that he chooses to go his own way and not follow the stream. I also think that they like the way he portrays problems in an artistic way in both his lyrics with the help of the authentic beat but also the way he decided to show it in his music videos.
when it comes to the question of whether I would any of the conventions used in the music video. I really liked the color theme and the lighting used throughout the whole video and it is definitely something I would like to use in our coming music video since it goes well in with the hip hop/rap theme.
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