Friday 30 September 2011

Rihanna - Umberella

- Rihanna's clothing signifies sex and nudity, she wears fishnet tights and all black leather-like clothing which even though carries connotations of masculinity is very tight fit clothing signifying sexual power. Although these clothing codes signify professionalism showing she could be in her workplace element carrying connotations of a strip club her hair style also signifies this as it is scraped back.
- She has provocative sexual dance moves in which she includes in most of her videos and performances such as S&M as well as Only girl in the world etc.
- The use of effects in the video is key, with the rain water falling on her and bouncing off her although i am unsure of how it has been done it's a great touch and make her seem like some unknown force and signifies power and supernaturalism
- She is often seen in an array of outfits in her videos, although all of which are mainly small with little material and tight signifying sexual acts and show off her Caribbean figure.

My Pitch

     My Pitch is going to be presented a week on Monday to my media class, we are all competing with each other to get somebody to work with us using the idea we have come up with.
     I have decided, after knowing I wanted to do a music video by a female solo artist, that i would do one of Madonna's music video's as she is behind the ideas of the likes of Lady Gaga's 'new and original' music videos releasing today which actually copy Madonna's concepts and ideas. At the moment I'm deciding which music video to do after looking at her music videos released in the 1980s because we are supposed to be pitching ideas from new up and coming artists that are unsigned, non single released tracks or old music video tracks.

Sean Kingston - Party all night Music video.

In the lesson today we have been looking at the 'Party all night (sleep all day)' music video although we only looked at the first minute of the video the class in general agreed we didn't think it was well special and unique as videos like this have been done repeatedly over and over again for example out of the fifteen i have deconstructed two of my boy band videos are very similar although we thought this video is particular was boring, there was little shot variation in the music video which were also repeated mainly two shots medium shots and medium close up close of his face, his body was avoided and though harsh, this is linked to weight and the shots used reflect this as usually male artist such as the likes of 50 cent in particular has the iconic male body. The representation 'fat people are jolly' is used which links to the tittle 'Party all night (sleep all day)' signifying stereotypes of the youth lifestyle as unhealthy.

There is little shot variation as I said mainly medium shots and medium close ups, the medium shots track across the room showing the people at the party. The artist is also centre framed in the shots which is repeated throughout.

There are a number of challenges we came up with if we were to do a remake:

  1.  The video is all fast paced editing therefor we would have to spend a long time editing the video.
  2. On screen at the beginning and centre of the video there is 3D comic like text that appears on screen.
  3. There are also a number of tracking shots that would be hard to replicate as in professionally shot music video the camera is on a track which is timed at a certain speed to capture the perfect tracking shot that doesn't shake and is accurate but unfortunately our school is not equipt with this kind of professional equipment.

Friday 23 September 2011

The Real Pitch.

We will be pitching our ideas for the final idea on Wednesday and I have been thinking about doing a female solo artists song since i started thinking about it, I would want to do probably a counter type video of one of which of the likes of Madonna/Nicki Minaj and more like the ones of Beyonce or Britney Spears' videos such as her 'Womanizer' video that empowers women. To do this more research needs to be done to build up my knowledge of this and understand conventions in further detail. 

The primary target audience for my video would obviously be, because of the female solo artist idea, a female teen audience and therefor a secondary audience of tweenagers (8-12) based on the idea that female young girls try to escape childhood which brings in sociological ideas of childhood. As well as this to broaden the audience the aspect of the male gaze which is almost always used in music videos or videos have more of an underlying message (for example the likes of some of Madonnas videos and Lady Gaga) Audience also links to the costume and clothing conventions that are used in female solo artists music videos for example artists such as Rihanna and Nicki Minaj use limited clothing to high heels all of which carry sexual connotations and to attract the male audience, tending to be more youth 16-24 although as well as this they use suggestive dance moves such as bump and grind to attract the male audience, famously banned Rihanna's music video S&M for using props such as gags and her being spanked are used. The final element that female solo artists use to attract male audiences are the lyrics themselves e.g. Rihanna S&M 'sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me' which carries strong sexual connotations of sexual acts and behaviour.

There are of course female solo artists behaviour that do not follow these 'rules' of female artists videos. For example, Adele who broke the US as a British artist took a totally different approach to the likes of Britney Spears, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and Madonna. Her image is totally different, she dresses in conservative clothing but also wears a lot of make up another characteristic of female artists, especially her signiture eye make up which some say was adopted from the late Amy Winehouse, who also didn't dress particularly provocativly as much as Rihanna but instead toned clothing codes down and had big head. All female artists tend to try and create their own signiture feature for example, Nicki Minaj and her bottom implants creating a 'ghetto' and Caribeean look, Rihanna went for bright red hair to show sex appeal, Britney Spears went for the cutesy but sexy school girl look giving off connotations of innocence, true or not. Amy Winehouse went for the beehive hair style and huge amount of eye make up which Adele later followed, as she wanted to be seen as all about the voice which helped her break the US.

Starting editing

   We have been put into groups of twos and threes to all edit the full video separately so we are all have more involvement in editing. There is Katie and George in my group although Katie is not here today. We have imported all the footage into one project now on Final cut so we are beginning editing, starting this we have noticed it more complicated then first thought to make the transition for using iMovie to Final cut express, everything is more difficult and so much more detailed than iMovie which will just be a case of getting used to. We also have to sync the lyrics in time with the lip syncing as well as choosing which shots we want to use because we took lots of footage so we had coverage for choice.
  We are still yet to shoot the random objects being thrown on the ground because we didn't have time to do it yesterday and wanted to get the more important shots, such as the sinarios completed but we will be doing it on Monday, which is frustrating to keep putting it back because it means our deadline is being put back, but at least we will have the experience of when it comes to the real thing. Still images of what we edit out using the program will be added in later editing posts.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Filming

We've just finished filming the birthday party scene at my house, we decided to do it outside in the garden. I dressed up as the child and we have got quite alot of shots as we were using both HD cameras to film the same shots. Aswell as filming this scene we also had time to film the resteraunt scene in which the protagonist (conor) pushes the table over in the resteraunt, it ended up making quite a mess! but it was really fun to film as props me and George set out mats on the table, knives and folks and bread and pasta aswell as the wine which was a key prop we needed as it allowed us to intoduce Harriet (the waitress) which we needed to do as everyone in the class has to be involved in the video, Faye was also supposed to be in it but she had to go so hopefully we'll be able to fit her into another scene when filming the cell phone sinario and the hotdog bit tomorrow. Conor (protagonist) will also be filming the dark room scenes at lunch in either P Hall or the Drama room; as they both have dark curtains around the stage tomorrow so all filiming will be completed by tomorrow and the editing should also be done ready to hand to Dave for the Birthday sinario and the energy drink scene.
Hopefully everything will run smoothly as it has when people film tomorrow. We took pictures of before filming which should be up tomorrow!

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Threw it on the ground filming plan.

In todays lesson we were split into two's and given a sinario from the video 'Threw it on the ground' I worked with Harriet and we were looking at the birthday cake sinario (which begins 1:32 minutes) we will be involved in filming this part tomorrow, we will be doing it tomorrow after school and will be using props such as a table in the background with balloons on it and the cake will be on it before its thrown on the ground we will also hopefully have a 'happy birthday' banner to make it as realistic as possible. We have planned for everyone who has props we are using to bring them in tomorrow so we can go to my house straight from school to film, we picked to film at my house to that we have the outside space also its quite close to school so would be easy to get there and to go back should we need more coverage later on.

The things we decided we will need tomorrow are my outfit (i'll be playing the child in the video whos birthday it is but instead a little girl) wearing a 'fairy' costume so wings, lots of pink to signify stereotypical gender connotations and a tiara which Faye is going to bring in. Conor who is playing the protagonist who in the video origionally wear three outfits will only be wearing one just to make it easier for us and outfit changes arnt really necessary in this case as its only for practice.

The shots we will need to shoot tomorrow for our section are:
- Medium frontal shot of Conor with the birthday banner behind him from shoulders up.
- Low angled shot of the kid (me) looking up at Conor with a party hat on, shot from the side of Conor by his arm looking down at me.
- A close up of the cake falling to the ground.
- Another close up but this time of the cake just before it hits the ground.
- Back to another medium shot of Conor lip syncing 'welcome to the real world jackass'

Friday 16 September 2011

Pitch decissions

After everyone had pitched in the class we all voted and reduced them down to two final ideas; Conor O'Loughlins, which was 'Threw it on the ground' by Long Island and Sam Boyes 'Numa numa' by origionally by Ozone.
Sams numa numa video (top) he showed was not the origional video but instead a fat american man who was lip syncing the words of the song, which all of us found funny, his idea was to a remake of that video but instead of having one person doing all the lipsyncing we would take it turns to do it ourselves per shot and add stupid dance moves to make the video funny.
Conors idea that he pitched was to do a similar remake to the Threw it on the ground video(bottom), which consists of one guy going around a city in the US and everyone is trying to be nice to him and do him a favour but instead of politly accepting, he instead takes what they are offering off him and 'throws it on the ground' although a silly idea it is quite funny. The class voted for Conors idea and over next week we will start to film the video in town in Ilkley and have decided since Sams idea didnt win he will be starring in Conors video as the main character who throws all the things on the ground. Although we did vote for this idea we will have to be careful not to throw anything that cant be cleaned up or we'll probably get in trouble with some angry pensioners around town.


Tuesday 13 September 2011

Ideas for music video pitch

We have been told to pitch an idea for a music video to the class and then everyone will vote on who's is the best idea as practice for the final task which will be for the coursework, so kind of a prelim task. 
There has been a lot of thought put into this of what would work and I've narrowed it down to either a band or video that features more then one artists as more people can be involved as we're doing it as a class. The idea I'm going to put forward was going to be 'Party Rock Anthem' (top) by LMFAO although this has already been suggested and thought through by afew people in the class so I thought I'd choose to do something different which is lighthearted an easy to do with a class such as 'We no speak  americano' (bottom).

I will upload a video of my pitch when ive done it although the main points I'm going to use will be:
- It will be easy to remake and we can base the location around town.
- It'll be fun for everyone to do who is involved in the video as the video is quite mischievous
- What we would need to make it a sucessful remake (eg. Outfits including a suit and wedding dress aswell as a waitors costume) which we should be able to get easily.
- Have fun with the video and trying to remake the scenes we can but also open to ideas for parts of it if people have their own ideas about how shots should be filmed as long as everyone agrees.

Sunday 11 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 15: Lose my Breath - Destinys child

Destinys child were an american R&B group consisting of lead singer Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland (who later went on to have huge solo careers, especially Beyonce) 'LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett' who were later replaced with Michelle Williams leaving them as a three peice band and signed to Columbia Records. The genre of the track, and most of their releases is R&B, the track was released in 2004 directed by Marc Klasfeld who has also directed the likes of artists such as: 'Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Kid Rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Jewel, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne and many others'

1. Opening shot is a high angled long 3 shot of the band all dressed quite 'ghetto' weave in their hair, big earrings and jewellry, with crop tops and skinny jeans and heels aswell as fur coats that has links to 'pimps and hoes' concept.
2. Cut to a medium shot of Kelly and Beyonce wearing crop tops and bras on show with chains signifying the street and carries connotations of them having pimps which then tracks left shwing michelle in the same attire.
3.There is then a long shot of the girls in more work like skirt suits which are very fitted and tight showing off their bodies and are all very low cut showing off their chests this then jumps to a medium slight high angled shot of the three band mates facing another set of girls making it a 6 shot, it looks like there is rivalry between the two groups as they look at eachother nastily which is then anchored by them starting to have a dance off against eachorther hence the lyrics 'cant you keep up?'
4. There is then a high angled shot focusing on the lead (Beyonce) and the girl she is competing against. There is then a medium shot of beyonce (high angle shot) the girls from the band get high angled shots as they are the main focus of the video. There is then a medium high angled shot facing the other girls and we see that the other girls are actually the band mates doubles so any shots showing them both will be overlays it then tracks round to show both of them before cutting to a close up of Kellys double.
5. There are then a variety of close ups of the band members followed by long shot of them in a row dancing which are mainly high angled shots and then the other girls/ clones have the same variety of shots now we have seen they are the same people they have the same amount of close ups as the 'origional' girls 
6. The guys then appear to bring in the idea of the female gaze some wearing no tops and baggy jeans to appear 'ghetto' and gangster aswell as wearing chains and baggy hoodies to appear 'youthlike' 
7. There is then long shot of Kelly grinding on the men which is also a high angled shot showing she is in power and a sexy woman taking advantage of them and she is in control of it making her dominant over the men. The other girls in the band are stood around them watching and dancing along with her, the guys are on one side of the pair and the girls on the other showing a challenge between the two sexes and a battle of who is in control. The girls win when Kelly pushes the guy onto the ground and starts dancing with another guy carrying intertexual links to the Britney videos such as 'Womanizer'
8. There are then shots of the 'origional' girls in the suits dancing mainly long shots but close ups aswell showing mainly the faces of the girls and the attitude shown competing with the other girls, so its like a two shot of the group with the camera giving equal coverage of both bands.
9. There is then an extreme long shot of loads of people outside what looks like some sort of club house which the youth audience can relate to, all the dancers and band mates walk into the shot from behind the camera and there are long shots of the group and arial shots from above to emphasise the amount of people there.
10. Close up of Beyonces double looking at the camera with attitude after medium shots of the men breakdancing and a long shot of people around them looking like they are cheering and there is some sort of rivalry between the two guys. 
11. Three groups of doubles then come in and they are all competing for shots in the video all dancing against eachother but the camera also keeps cutting back to the crowd and guys dancing around them.
12. The final shot is of the same as the opening shot of the girls just strutting in a 3 long shot which is high angled signifying that what happened in the video never happened although this could not be the preffered reading.

Music Video Deconstruction 14: The Lazy Song - Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars is an american song writer and singer from Hawaii although he moved to Los Angeles after he graduated to persue his dream, a music career and suceeded later signing with Atlantic Records in 2009 but is recognised from tracks he has released such as 'Just the Way you are' and 'Grenade' aswell writing lyrics for the songs such as 'Wavin Flag' 'Nothing on you' which he feautures in as well as 'Billionaire' and wrote 'Right Round' for Flo Rida. The video was released in Febuary 2011 has elements of R&B and pop, it was directed by Bruno Mars himself and Cameron Duddy.
 1. Opening shot is of Brunos face the rest of the screen is covered by his hands which then shuffle aroud the camera lense before coming away to reveal 5 men dressed up as monkeys surrounding him, everyone in the shot are wearing the same sunglasses and different colored checked shirts. The video has contextual links to The Pickies one shot video, which they did to go against the idea that one shot video are not accepted
2. At 0:07 seconds the track starts and the monkeys and Bruno all nod their heads in sync (medium shot), the use of monkeys is to attract a child and teenage audience appealing to both boys and girls and is origional as it hasnt been done before.Unlike most music videos there isnt fast paced editing on this and the shot is one lokng take because the people in it are moving around the camera instead of the camera moving around them signifying the director wants to make it look like a home video.
3. The monkeys push Bruno to the back and they compete for close ups like a boyband would althoguh this is just being done for a joke and to be different from other music videos to get more hits (tyhe idea worked as the origional video has over 189,000,000 hits on youtube.)
4. There is then a long shot of the monkeys as they act out the lyrics to the song. Before Bruno pushes his way through back to the front. This video is different to any other as it is all one long take and is a kind of performance video that is meant to look like it has been done very quickly although you can tell by the dancing and how in sync they all are that alot of thought and rehersal has gone into it.
5. At the whistling parts in the song all the monkeys and Bruno move there heads up from side to side at the same time.
6. The dance moves of the monkeys and use of the 'mum' coming into the room is just used for humour opening up the scale of the target audience as anyone can watch the video of gender and any age. 
7. The mise-en-scene in the room signifies a edroom with a bed, sofa and we can denote from the guitar and skateboard it is supposed to be a boys room played by Bruno in the video singing about how 'today I dont feel like doing anything' which is something that is associated with teens for their laziness, but also with everyone on some days.
8. At 1:30 in the video his hands cover the screen apart from his face, making it a close up in this kind of video, and as they come away we see there is a guy dressed up as an older woman signified by the voice that has been overlayed when he lip sync and dressing gown and slippers.
9. The video is made as a joke to be viewed by anyone and just all round fun there isnt much that can be generally picked out to deconstruct as it just dancing which has funny parts to it.

Music Video Deconstruction 13: Womanizer - Britney Spears

Britney Spears is a huge inspiration to young girls by just doing what she loved, from the age of 5 she was performing on stages and landed a recording contract with Jive Records before becoming the '8th top selling female solo artist of all time' and selling 'over 100 million records woldwide'. The track was released in September 2008 as a Pop song. The video was directed by Joeseph Kahn.


1.Opening shot is text on a black background which reads 'Britney Spears' revealed by lighting effects and then a transition to the same shot saying the tittle of the song 'Womanizer' before a long shot of smoke rising against a wall which they cuts to the same shot this time with Britney laid across a table naked although the smoke is cleverly used so you cant actually see anything, which brings in the idea of the male gaze, as Britney is a female artist the primary audience is females.
2. There is then a close up of her face, heavily made up and oil has been used to show sweat carrying connotations of sexual activity, the shot then jumps to a close up of her legs tracking slightly to the right which also look shiny making them look like plastic which could signify she is a barbie and a perfect example of a female, all these shots picked specifically to appeal to the male audience.
3. There is then a frontal close up of her face highlighting her hair is wet carrying sexual connotations aswell as her eye make up running. Before a highangled shot of the room tracking down to body before fading out to stop everything being revealed.
4. The lyrics come in here and there is a close up of a steamed up mirror signifying heat, which is wiped to reveal a close up of a man looking into it. There is then a medium shot of Britney in a very short robe in a kitchen (feminists wiould say a sexist image as males think women are only useful to look at a cook and clean and should not have the same proffessional jobs as men) which we guess she is cooking breakfast for the man.
5. The camera then jumps to an extreme long shot of the room showing her turning round with her chest on shot and taking the food over to the man who is sat at the table waiting. He also is only wearing his underwear highlighting the use of also the female gaze in the video aswell as signifying sex. There is then a medium POV shot from the male showing britneys chest as the robe is undone at the front.
6. As she puts the food down on the table there is a close up of it before the man puts his phone above it giving anchorage on the date (in this being the 20th April) There is then a close up of Britneys face and her biting her finger (sexual connotations given)
7. There is then a medium shot of the man getting up and turning round to face her as he does so his clothes are suddenyl on signifying the time period the video is baseed is in the future earlier signified by the moderness of the kitchen and the shape of the food she gave him being in a perfect square on the plate.
8. There is then a medium shot of the man sat at a desk in an office withother men doing te same around him but no women signifying an unbalanced work ratio is women to men.
9. Close up of your typical looking secretary drinking out of a water fountain, wearing glasses bright red lipstick and jewelry (all very feminime and carrying sexual connotations) two men turn round to look at the woman in a medium shot one of them being the man from previous shots, male gaze. She is then shown in mediim long shot with men around her walking down the middle if the office signifying dominance and power over them sexually which she embraces. She is then shown in a medium long shot being lifted up by the men showing her dominavce and control there is then a flash of the man getting up out of his chair before flashing back to her.
10. The camera follows the dominant female around the office showing she is at the centre of the video, there is a shot of her sitting on the man table which tracks in to her chest before a medium close up of Britney back in the sauna.
11. The dominant female in the office has now stopped all the men from doing work and they are all staring and dancing aorund her (anchoring the feminists theory that women are just there to be looked and leered at) although the woman still appears dominant, there are close up of the male starring at her ass and trying to grab her which she results in slapping him. There is then a long shot of him standing up and chasing after the woman a countertype of what he was doing before when she was running around after him making him breakfast etc and he follows her. There is then a long shot of her in the photo copy room.
12. There is then a close up of a hand filming her suggesting porn and sexual references before a medium shot of her from the side kicking him away form her and then showing a photocopy image of her ass which the photocopier has taken which he then holds up and looks at. There is then her POV of her breaking the photo and showing his shocked face by her doing so. She then grabs him and throws him onto the photocopier which signifies masculine strength questioning that men a stronger physically then females, which the camera tracks to follow and then her leaning on him to signify her power over him.
13. There is then a medium shot of him sitting back down at his desk before another close up of britneys face in the sauna smiling as if she knows whats happening to him. There is then a shot of a red headed waitress bringing drinks to the man (red heads often signify sexuality and  control for example intertexual links to Rihanna and her videos although often she is suggesting sexuality and anchors the male gaze theory to get more hits and play up to the male audience) we can see from the shot that it is a high rise office block and is based in a sky bar signifying upper class jobs. There is then a medium three shot of the man and two other males looking at the waitress (male gaze theory being used) also smoking cigars signifying pimps as they are also wearing suits.
14. There are then a range of medium shots showing her dancing on him and teasing him before a long shot of her dragging him by his tie up with her again signifying physical power of women that is often associated with men.
15. There is then a long shot of a group of people including the waitress and men all ripping eachothers clothes off carrying sexual activiry connotations before cutting back to Britney in the sauna standing up against the wall which cuts back to the waitress pushing the man onto one of the kitchen tops in a resteraunt and dancing on him there are then a shot form inside a car the door opens and he sits down in the car, before he sees the driver is also a female wearing little. There are close up shots of her teasing him and a medium shot of her legs steering the car before an ariel shot tracking down to show the car swerving all over the road.
16. There is then a shot of all three females uncovered behind a long shot of openign doors who when they spoin around turn into just Britney the origional from the first shot stood in her robe and underwear before a long shot of her pushing him onto the bed signifying sexual and physical dominance over him a countertype of how men see women. She then pushes him under the covers and makes then bed and he disappears, the final shot is of her face (close up) smiling.

Saturday 10 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 12: She makes me wana - JLS ft Dev

JLS origionally auditioned on The X Factor, and after beeing beaten in the final by Alexandra Burke scored a recording contract with Epic Records before later signing to Jive Records and have since had five number 1s (including Love You More, for comic relief, The club is Alive, She makes me wana, Everybody in Love and Beat Again) The track is a pop/dance genre released in July 2011 and was directed by Colin Tilley.

1.Opening shot is of the sky then tracks down to Aston one of the band members (long shot) then fades out and there is a close up of his face, orange tint has been applied to signify heat and carry maybe sexual connotations, looks like they are by a camp fire most likly on the beach. There is white text on top of the close up reading 'Colin Tilley presents' before jumping to a close up of another bandmate and text over the top reading 'JLS'
2. There is then a repeat of the shot of Dev reading 'ft. Dev' to signifying she is an even feature to the band in the video. Before jumping to another close up of one of the members of JLS and the same white text is overlayed reading the tittle of the song 'She makes me wana' which fades out to reveal behind it is a long shot of the band (four shot of all members) There is then a medium shot of Dev standing with her arm up and you can see behind her are palm trees with a building next to it signifying hollywood/american setting of the video which links to The Wanted's video 'Glad you came' as they both set in foreign 'party' locations anchoring the rumour JLS of trying to break the US.
3. A shot of Marvin, one of the member of the band, fades in to a full medium close up shot before a straightcut to an arial shot of the band tracking down to a frontal view with Dev flashing in every few seconds. There is then a frontal shot of the band which tracks out to show women dancing in front of them.
4. There is then a extreme long shot of the band mate Aston stood on a rock, which is also a high angled shot making him look dominant, much of the shots are similar to the 'Glad you came' video which then jumps to a medioum long shot of the band on the stage with loads of dancers behind them and girl wearing bikinis as it is also set on the beach. All the band are wearing bright colored clothes so they stand out in front of the audience/dancers beind them which makes it look like a half performance video.
5. As the boys are shown on screen there is some very fast ppaced editing of them from different angles before cutting back to Aston stood on the rocks dancing, he is topless, bringing in the theory of the 'female gaze' appealing to the tweenage and teenage audience which is why the band are so branded (JLS have there own clothing range, poster, calanders, condoms etc. a good choice for the band as they appear to be doing a good thing promoting safe sex)
6. The shot then tracks in and moves fast across his body before a close up of him singing. Then cut back to the performance stage of the band dancing and body popping (high angled long shot) sowing the audience in the background behind them which then moves left to show the buildings in the background ancoring the location to the US instaed of one of the greek part islands before another long shot of Aston on the rocks with the sea in the background, he gets the most shots because he has the best six pack to attract the female audience.
7. The main focus of the video is on the girl in their bikini and on the performance idea, the video is based on three kind of shot, close ups of mainly aston topless, performance shiots of the band and close up and medium shots of girls in bikinis and their chests.
8. The light begins to fade in the video which we see when there are close ups of band members around a camp fire like the beginning of the video. There is then a cut to an arial long shot of the band on platforms in the sea and showing the crowd on the beach all dancing and partying. The camera then zooms towards the crowd that are shown in little clothing with water pistols spraying eachother and hoola hooping carrying sexual connotations, briniging in the idea of the male gaze to bring in the male audience and showing close ups of girls jumping around with close ups of their bikinis.
9. There are then close ups of the boys, competing for close ups before a long shot of them all on their platforms in the sea and the crowd in the bottom corner of the screen making them the dominant ones signifying they are all there to see the band. Smoke effects are also used to signify the lateness that they are partying until (assosiated with teens) aswell as a slight blue tint in the sky to show it is being lit by the moon.
10. There is then an arial shot of dev which tracks down to a medium close up of her, she is leaning on a car to show power and kind of carries connotations of her being masculine which then quickly fades into a medium shot of a girl jumping up and down with her chest basically on shot (used to attract male audience) before going back to a medium close up of her with a blurred background of everyone behind her which could signify drugs and alcahol often associated with the party lifestyle.
11. There are flashing shots of dancers before the shot tracks back up into the air to make her look central and small whilst using the mist effects. The camera then goes back to a medium long shot of her leaning on the car, again with all the audience/crowd behind her making her cenre of attention and standing out from all the other girls behind her, which she is a countertype of your stereotypical girl as she has short hair, lots of tattoos and a kind of mohawk hairstyle. There a a variety of shots that shot this and medium and cloe ups show she also isnt wearing alot (being a cutout swimming costume) 
12. We are then taken back to JLS a long shot of one of the band members on the rocks with an airplane flying above and then long shots of the other band mates stood on the rocks with jet skis in the background on the sea highlighting again the party lifestyle and madness of it all. Previus shot of the part goers are repeated and close up of the band mates all of the video is fast paced editing and doesnt really slow down form when it begins early on in the video.

Thursday 8 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 11: Glad you came - The Wanted

The Wanted are a new popular boy band that got together in 2009 consisting of 5 boys, although they only released there debut single 'All time low' which reached number 1 as well as their new release 'Glad you came' being their second number. The band are signed to the UK label Geffen a subsiduary of Interscope records. The track was released in July 2011 as a pop/dance track and was directed by Director X.

1. Opening shot is an extreme long shot of the sun going down on the sea that then straight cuts into a long shot of the band sat on a cliff edge with the sea beneath them (side angle) 
2. Text appears on screen in the sky reading 'The Wanted' in bold capital font. The shot then cuts to a medium shot from the opposite side of the group showing all their faces in a life signifying togetherness and friendship a key characteristic of a boy band/group also in the sky again appears the tittle of the song in the same white bold font 'Glad you came'.
3. There is then another medium shot of all the band standing in a group together (frontal shot) in front of a mud/clay wall signifying a foreign maybe spanish or greek country and that they could be on holiday together. The band member Jay (who some would say is the lead singer) is central of the shot) there is then a close up of him after as he sings. 
4. Close up of one of the other band members anchoring the idea that the members compete for close ups although they are generally split equally in boy bands unless there is a dominant member for example Robbie Williams in Take That before they split up and he was the favourite (http://www.google.co.uk/#pq=geffen&hl=en&sugexp=gsis,i18n%3Dtrue&cp=8&gs_id=s&xhr=t&q=robbie+williams&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbm=vid&source=og&sa=N&tab=wv&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=2376e85787c677ed&biw=1280&bih=843) .
5. There is then close ups in a row of all of the members futhering anchoring my point. Before they all come together in a medium/long shot of the band.
6. There is then a long shot of the band from behind showing them sat down at the edge of a cliff looking out to the sun setting on the sea. The Director is shown in the same previous font in the shadowed section in the shot the shot the fades to black.
7. The track picks up from what seems like a slower song to more of a party song anchoring the idea of a holiday with a medium shot of a boat on the water where you can just see some of the band mates and a girl sat on the front deck of the boat before flashing images of the group walking towards the edge of some rocks like they are out to jump of which carry connotations of a 'lads holiday' which quickly changes to a mediu shot of the boys walking down a busy street giving away more signifiers of the typical lads party holiday.
8. There is then a deutch angle shot of max the main singer of the band in the sea with a girl sat on his knee in swimwear (male gaze theory) and then there is a long shot of the girl jumping off the rocks inot the sea topless which carries sexual connotations and a flash of a close up of a sign reading 'IBIZA' followed by another medium shot of the band walking in a line together highlighting togetherness of the bad aswell as signifying friendship. 
9. Because of the narrative that has been used when thinking of location there is a sudden burst of very fast paced editing of shots of people in Ibiza for example there are close ups of womens chest i bikinis and small clothing such as crop tops and short shorts, this nudity is stereotypical behaviour on party islands such as Ibiza, choosing this location is not random it has been picked specifically as there are many party islands in Europe. Ibiza is known for the most hardcore nightlife and clubbing which is idealic for the tween/teenage audience that everyone looks forward to doing when theyre older. 
10.There is then close ups of all the bandmembers sat on sunbeds on the beach before it zooms out and cuts to a 5 shot of the group sat together then starightcutting to a medium shot of the band in a club with the lighting effects of green lights and a slight blue tint making the club look more colourful.
11. The camera then goes back to the rocks where there are now lots of girls in their bikini which we predict the boys will go and hang out with. There are then a range of close ups of the members of the band and girls smiling signifying something will happen between them and the boys.
12. Straight cut, There are a range of shots of the boys with the girls at a pool party where there are medium shots of the band and long shots of the pool and loads of people around them. People are shown bombing in and behaving like teens and youths which is done purposly to appeal to the audience.
13. There are then close ups of each of the boys with 'their girl' from earlier shots getting closer, non of the girls are wearing much clothing other then bikinis and short dresses. One of the wboys is in the bathroom with the girls and they are shot in a close up of them looking into eachothers eyes. There is then a long shot of the couple getting very close and she puts her leg up and around him carrying sexual connotations.
14. The music slows down which signifies the party is over and didint last forever before a range of shots of people asleep on lilos and inflatable chairs in the pool which is a bit of a joke and the shots the fade out to one of the main charcater max looking and smiling at some girl signifying interest and that it wasnt just for one night.

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 10: Rehab - Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse 'was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was successful in the UK. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, three of which of the four best  Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year' unfortunatly her success ended this year when she was found dead in her apartment in London. The track was released in October 2006 as a soul track directed by Phil Griffin.

1. Opening shot is a Medium shot of Amy from the waist tracks up to her face of her lying down on a bed in what looks like a dressing gown. When the camera reaches her face the track begins. When she sits up there is a transition and the shot tracks across to her knee so her legs are on show signifying sexuality and nudity.
2. There is then a medium shot of her from the side then there is a straight cut from the side to a frontal shot of the singer.
3. Medium shot of a small man clapping his hands in time to the beat of the song and then a cut to a medium shot of amy sat on the bed again with a person behind her lying down whilst playing the trumpet, she wears her signiture heavy eye make up shown in all of her other music videos such as Back to Black, Love is a losing game & Valerie etc which then zooms out into a long shot showing musicians surrounding her playing the drums, trumpet and saxaphone before zooming in to the drum set into a close up which then tracks up to the man playing it and then slightly zooms out.
4. Long shot of Amy walking into a room, which looks old and has huge wooden french doors as she walks intot he shot there is a straight cut to a close up of her legs (side view) and expressions of the men playing the instrument is also captured as they are sat down, like they are all staring at her (male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey) a idea that is based on a Feminist theory developed to indicate and highlight the power imbalance between men and women showing the way men see women, the way women view themselves and judge other women on clothing codes and physical factors. 
5. There is then a medium shot of her leaning over a sink which then tracks upward to her face before again cutting to a medium/long shot of her in the same position from the side. 
6. There is then a long shot of the guys playing their instruments although they are all sat on strange objects for example one of them is sat in the bath, the other on a radiator and on a chair. We see from the style of the decor in the house its an 80's video, an older audience that the video is aimed at would have picked this up earlier, due to the patterned curtains and quirky picture hung on the wall aswell as the brightly colored orange chair.
7. Medium close up of Amy which quirkly cuts to a medium shot of one of the musicians before tracking down to reveal he is sat on the toilet and his feet are tapping to the beat of the track.
8. Previous shots are repeated before there is a medium shot of her sat down on some steps of what looks like outside the house, the musicians have also moved around her and she is in the middle of the screen as any artist would be in their video unless the idea of it is about vulnerability. There is then another medium/close up of the drums and then a close up of her face before an arial shot looking down on them from above.
9. Close up of someone tapping their feet while wearing what looks like pajamas and slippers, signifying the video is at night and Amy is about to go out which would relate to the song 'they tryna make me go to rehab but i wont go no no' and she is doing the opposite of what she has been told to do which cold be seen to help bring in the younger audience
10. Medium shot of her sat in another outfit (going out outfit) sat in a chair inside tracks out to a long shot showing she is sat at a desk with an 80s telephone give anchorage of the time period. Then there is a close up of her singing before a medium shot of her with her feet up on the desk giving connotations of youth and rebel like behaviour which is what the song is about shes been taking drugs, drinking alcahol and people are telling her to go to rehab but shes says 'no no no'
11. The camera then zooms in on amy from the front of her sat at the desk with her legs on the table, before moving to a medium shot from the side of her that then tracks backwards to show the musicians playing their intruments.
12. The group and Amy then seem to have changed location from the old fashioned house into a tiled white room that looks like a prison cell when each musician gets a close up like they would do in a boy band for example linking to my Blink 182 deconstruction earlier.
 

Music Video Deconstruction 9: Empire state of mind - Alicia Keys & Kanye West

The song 'Empire state of mind' was released in two different versions the origional featuring both Kanye West and Alicia Keys as well as Alicias own version 'Empire state of mmind part 2'. The track was released in october 2009 as a R&B/rap/soul and was directed by Hype Williams.


1. Opening shot low angled shot (extreme long) of New York city, Monochrome video (all colour is in black and white and colours inbetween)
2. Shot overlays are used and multiscreen shot of places and buildings in the city. Flashing effects are also used. Long shot down a busy street in New York shows the vastness and business of the city with cars and vans and lots of people.
3. Multi shots and more overlayed shots of sites in the city such as bridges, buildings, pedestrian signs and lights.
4. Medium long shot of Jay-Z on an avenue in the city which straight cuts into a close up of his face as he raps the opening lyrics.
5. Fast paced editing of a sign reading 'John D Rockfellar JR 1874-1960' (a graduate and business man who set up newly formed operations at 'Stabndard Oils headquarters 26 Broadway') and went on to be financially huge. Showing that there are success stories from the rough in New York city.
6. Medium mid angled shot of Jay-Z standing infront of a road in NY before again straight cutting to a close up. Before cutting back to the fading out shots of the city.
7. Jay-Z is then shown in a medium shot standing by the subway of '145th street' the camera then zooms in into a close up. Famous streets and venues are shown all still in monochrome.
8. Jay-Z is then shown outside the subway again dancing and then there is a straight cut of him continuing the move outside a hotel before the multiscreen appears again of close ups of hotels and sidewalks on different sides of the screen (2 shot of locations) which then fade out as more locations are overlayed.
9. A high angle shot of his face is then shown (he is wearing sunglasses even in bad weather so show hes 'hip-hop') a long shot of people walking down subway steps is then shown before also fading out. There are a variety of medium and close up shots after this of the bronx (one of 5 'boroughs' in NYC) which is associated with hip-hop and latin music because of the cultural mixes in the borough)
10. Monochrome long shots are shown of muisc venues and there is a long shot of Jaz-Z performing on stage aswell as then a long shot of his name on billboards in lights.
11. Previous shots are repeated of him infront of a busy street (medium close up) then fading in are long ariel shots of the city from above showing the vastness of the city and scale of building and architecture. During this the two artists Jay-Z and Alicia Keys fade in and out.
12. As the chorus comes in (sand by Alicia) she is shown in a long shot to be playing the piano on an outdoor stage on a busy street in New York with taxis and screen from the famous Times square in the background of the shot before a slight zoom out and a fade out to Jay-Z back in the bronx 'ghetto' then back to the same shot of Alicia and arial shot of the city is shown again.
13. Close up of Alicia singing (wearing big gold earings signifying the ghetto and hiphop) to a transition of a medium shot of her again playing the Piano and tracking around the piano to reveal a long shot of her standing while playing the piano and lip syncing the lyrics.
14. Straight cut to Jay-Z stood outside a huge building dancing (medium shot) which then cuts to an arial shot from the sky looking down on the Yankee stadium, which goes with the lyrics 'Catch me at the XPEO at a Yankee game' cutting then to a long shot of the stadium from the front entrance.
15. Cuts back to the streets of New York showing passers by, the sub way and grafeetied walls and three close up/medium shots of the yellow taxis signifying New York and the state typically as everyone in the world associates them with New York like they do with the English and Red telephone boxes.
16. Extreme long shot of the city, sligh deutch angle shot tracks over. Camera goes back to the city showing long shots of memorials and refers to Bob Marley 'Rest in peace Bob Marley' a rastafarian often associated with cannabis and the music he produced in the Carribeean aswell as movement and intergration of rastafarians worldwide.
17. There is then a medium 2 shot of the singers together for the first time in the vido 02:11 which fades out to shot the Brooklyn bridge and arial shots of the city. Straight cut to a medium shot of Jay-Z standing in a hotel room looking out at the empire state building, magazine styl pictures of girls in the city are shown in 2 and 3 shots and shows them smoking with lyrics such as 'city of sin' and 'good girls gone bad the citys full of them' signifying bad things happen t girls in the city they get caught up in life in the city. 
18. 'MDMA got you feeling like a champion cause the city never sleeps' denoting people take drugs to keep up and be able to live in a place like NY all the fast paced editing has signified the hustle and bustle of the city and how everyhting can change very quickly.
19. Extreme high angle shot of the singers stood on steps lit up by red UV lights (the first color in the video) signified their strength and power denoted from them having her arms in the air, slowly zooms in until reaching a medium shot with shots of the city inbetween and close ups of Alicia playing the Piano.
20. Final shot of Jay-Z putting his arm around her signifying they are together and hes her 'pimp' fades out onto a shot of the city with Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 8: Rolling in the deep - Adele

Adele released her first album 19 (after her age at the time) which debuted at number 1 and was later certified 4x platinum in the UK, she went on to release her second album 21 two years later which has been certified 10 times platinum and spent eleven weeks at number 1 album in the Uk beating Madonna in 1990. Her latest success 'Someone like you' held number one spot for four consecutive weeks in the UK. 'The Official Charts Company announced that Adele is the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since The Beatles' The track was released November 2010 with a soul/blues genre. It was directed by Sam Brown

 1. Opening shot is a medium shot of Adele sat in a vintage chair in what looks like an old living room or house she used to live in signified by the covers over the chair and darkness of the room (very slight track in)
2. Black and white shot of a figure standing in a big room with plastic sheeting against either side of the wall (again slight track in)
3. Back to first shot of her in the chair (medium) the track comes in at this point and zooms in to her face.
4. Change of angel she is now face on to the camera showing the rest of the room she is in mise-en-scene is plastic sheeting, bright white industrial looking lighting from above which then cuts to a low angled shot from on the floor looking through banisters of stairs which quickly cuts into a close up of her face signiture eyeliner and false eyelashes are on which she wears in all her videos  
5. Medium close up of lots of glasses of water in which the water starts to bounce as the drums come into the song zooms out and the close up and tracks across showing the mass of glasses.
6. Adele remains sat down and there is alot of cross cutting between her and a man in a black cape that is in a big room with white powder on the floor which he pushes around with a cane, upsetting the peace.
7. There is then a long shot tracking in to a medium of smashes crocery on the floor in a massive pile which cuts back to adele signifies she did it after a fall out with her partner meanwhile the man in the cape has now nearly been lost in a white mist. Cross cutting adele with what else is going on we see that someone threw the crockery at a panel and they all smashed in a pile.
8. The beat from the drums and the voice of the backing singers shakes the water in the glasses shown in a long shot that zooms out into an extreme long shot showing the glasses surrounding pillars in the downstairs of the house.
9. We are then shown the man who is palying the drums which tracks out inbetween some cross cuts back to Adele that the light above him is flickering on and off signifying the idea of the song that the man she thought she was in love with got involved with her too quickly and couldnt decide whether he wanted to persue it anymore she is describing what they could of had togather if they were in love.

Music Video Deconstruction 7: I Miss You - Blink 182.

Blink 182 an american pop/punk band has three members a guitarist, vocalist and drummer and have sold 27 million albums worldwide to date and their song 'All the small things' (great song!) became the highest charted song of the bands' career and reached number 6 on the billboard hot 100. The song was released back in Februrary 2004 as an alternative rock song. The video director was Jonas Akerlund.

1. Opening shot high angled long shot of a castle blue tint is used during the flashes of lightning (use of effects) straight cut to a medium shot of a statue in the grounds of the castle amongst trees effects have also been used her which we can see by the fog floating into the view of the statue.
2. There is then a medium shot of a woman dressed in all white and very light blonde hair to signify she is an agle later anchored by the lyrics 'the angel from my nightmare' mist effect is also applied here before the close up of the angel turns her head and there is a low angled long shot of her walking down some steps in the gardens before she disintergrates and becomes invisible on screen.
3. The band appear for the first time on scrren at 0:09 from the distance walking inot the shot to make it a low angled medium shot. The angel then reappears turning her head towards a room in the house and then the band appear inside the house on a stage set up in a long three shot, each memeber of the band has their own close up (a key charcteristic of bands music videos)
4. A woman then appears at the gate of the castle opening the gates as if she is being attracted to the music coming from the castle (long shot cut to a medium) her red gloves signifying she is the lost dead lover the song is about.
5. High angled close up of the band (long shot) is shown to show the mise-en-scene of the music video and give futher anchorage it is fiolmed in a castle shown by the chandleir and old lights and candles give horror references to abandonment.
6. Chinese doll charcaters appear on the stairs in the room in which the band are playing with mise-en-scene such as outfit choices (red lipstick, dark eye make up and odd clothing) giving references again to horror films such as 'Slashers' 'Childs play' and 'Dead silence'
7. The track begins at 0:32 and dual shots fading in and out come in of the band and what is going on around them in the house aswell as eachother and hemselves when one of the members is singing he fade appeas on the opposite side of the screen
8. There is a medium shot of a red rose raising from the bottom to the top of the screen before a medium shot of the girl is shown, face down in a lake the shot then zooms out into a long shot before a close up of the rose is shown floating to the service of the water.
9. All band members feel like they are competing for close up and inbetween them there is footage of the house and close up of the instruments being played such as the guitar and drums and bass.
10. There is a two shot (medium) of two people sat by the fire holding hands, they wear black and white face paint holding hands and stroking eachothers arms. The narrative has been about the couple and it is obviously a flashback of the couple before the woman drowned hence the tittle i miss you.
11. The lyrics we can live like jack and sally if you want are intertexual and again a reference to the film Nightmare Befoe Christmas 'who are described to be connected by the desire of having something more in life and are drawn to eachother'

Music Deconstruction 6: Born this way - Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga otherwise known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta signed with Imprint Records an imprint of Interscope records (a huge us record label with other signed artists such as 50 cent, Black eyed peas, Blink 182, Mary J Blige, Eminem, Diddy, Ellie Goulding and loads more) before capturing the attention of other artists she worked for writing songs (Akon). She is known for her controversial videos and weird ideas aswell as dress sense. The song was released in Februrary 2011 as an electro-pop/dancepop sond it was directed by Nick Knight.

1. The first shot in the video is a medium shot of a large pink triangle on a black background with rainbow colours inside it which looks like a window a unicorns head then appears from the right side of the screen into the triangle lense with glitter.
2. A screen comes down into the triangle making it into a 'V' shape (shown below right)  showing gaga as a manicin looking like an alien like she does in most of her videos such as Bloody Mary and Bad Romance.
3. The camera zooms in further into a close up and lighting effects are used as the triangle flashes and doubles.
4. The camera follows her and the viewer feels like theyre moving back in space with her with lighting effects used in the background of the shots. We then have a front shot of gaga as she lifts her head (medium shot) appearing like an ice queen showing off her new cheeck implants.
the shot tracks out and then there is a straight cut to a sky with stars in the shape of a womb.
5. The track doesnt actually begin until 02:35 in the video making the video 07:20 minutes long. In this time before the track begins all of the visual effects and weird objects appear and there is no real meaning that is easy to understand but that is just typical gaga shes a weird character that has a talent at song writing. The first shot is an ariels shot looking down at dancers on the floor with their heads on the floor on their hands and knees all in underwear which she walks through before cutting into a medium shot of her from the side in her underwear showing all her tattoos.
6. Then there is a long high angled shot of her amongst the dancers, showing her importance in the shot she. There is a medium shot of her walking with a natural expression before she joins the dancers in the same position at the front of them obviously central on screen. Followed by an arial shot of her again also in the same position.
7. Medium high angled shot of her and the two dancers beside her looking up, we then see that they all have pointy shoulder implants and she also has pointy cheeck implants indicating that the video will be about facial deformerties and other physical problems which had been signified by the tittle of the song 'born this way'
8. Gaga and the other dancers suddenly all jump and start dancing, the camera tracks out before having close ups of gaga focusing on her face, which is obviously different. The shot of the 'ice queen' gaga is repeated again tracking in again after being a medium shot to show her sat on a throne the two shots of the dancers and the ice queen are one after the other and the shot of the dancers tracks out in a purposely jerky fashion.
9. There is then another change of costume for gaga when she now is revealed in a long shot with skeleton paint on her face and a pink wig (intertexuality from Nicki Minaj videos such as Super Bass) and a black and white tuxedo appearing from behind a man in the same outfit the shot then tracks in to a medium shot where we see the metal sheeted background which has links to aliens and spaceships a countertype of what she is trying to achieve although the message behind the song still clear accepting who you are no matter what you look like 'you were born this way' so embrace it.
10. Straight cut to a close up of her face and then another change of shot to all the dancers and her huddled together as one object, an action as how she wants the song to be percieved, togetherness and non judgemental in society of what people look like.
11. Straight cut to her in a skin colour outfit so she looks naked but again with deformerties so she has no nipples and genitals in a short haired blonde wig, locked in a glass box as if shes being held there because she looks different as usual very srange mise-en-scene with two plastic heads with no body on either side of hers denoting the others have been killed for being different and seen as a threat. Later shot of her as the ice queen close up of her face looking up but with her eyes closed like she is praying.
12. There is then a shot of the prisoner giving birth to a blue bubble which is a close up and then tracks over to the dancers still in there underwear, before moving to a long shot of just gaga dancing by herself showing others have given up hope but she will keep going to reach equality before the dancers run back onto the set in a long shot then tracks into a medium shot.
13. There is then a close up of the dancers mangled togather in some sort of goo looking like organs in the body signifying society only functions with all of us aswell as making sexual references as all of them are stroking eachother.
14. She is shown in the same triangle a silouette of her riding a unicorn (long shot) before the other shape comes over it and she is a skeleton blowing bubble gum.

Music Video Deconstruction 5: How to Love - Lil Wayne

'Lil Wayne' otherwise known as Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. is an american rapper that joined Cash Money records 'at the age of 9' and later went on to find the label Young Money Entertainment that signed the younger generation of up and coming rap artists such as ' Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Mack Maine, Jae Millz, Cory Gunz, Lil Twist, Gudda Gudda, Lil Chuckee, Short Dawg, T-Streets, Porcelain Black, and Shanell the company is now an imprint of Cash Money records and distributed by Universal Republic records' It was directed by Noel Fisher and was released in may 2011 as a R&B track.
1. First shot is a close up of a womans stomache in the hospital  the close up then tracks up to her face, then there is a stright cut to a long shot of her in the same position to give anchorage of the location of the shot from the mise-en-scene.
2. Although the track hasnt started playing yet the people in the video are talking and we see the woman is making the decission whether or not to have an abortion, there is a quick close up of her face shaking her head before going into a long shot of her getting up and running out of the room and down a corridoor.
3. As she runs down the corridoor in slow motion the track begins to play and we see there is a story behind the song which is more common in male rappers song choices. The show then goes into a medium shot of the womans face with her head in her hands as she runs down the corridoor.
4. The mise en scene then changes to another corridoor in which Lil Wayne is standing. The medium close up starts at his crotch and tracks up to his face before skipping back to the previous medium shot of the woman run ning down the corridoor and then back to a medium shot of lil waynes face as he is singing as the camera zooms in futher.
5. There is then a close up of a babies face sat in a chair on the floor in another location, the video goes back and forth between a story and visual of the artist common in music videos of slower songs. During this shot the camera tracks across to show a woman being domestically abused while the baby is in the same position in the same room.
6. We are then taken to when the baby has grown up which we see by a shot immediatly after the previous one of her looking into a mirror with her mum and then a flash before the same people are ina  prison talking to the father through a phone as he is behind glass. There is a close up shot of the father and babies hand touching through the glass before he starts shouting on the phone and there is a medium shot of stereotypical protective mother walking away with the baby on her hip.
7. There is a straight cut to a medium shot of the girl looking in the mirror again although this time she is alot older at this point we dont know if the girl looking into the mirror is the mother when she was younger or the daughter when she grows up.
8. We then get anchorage that its the daughter growing up when her face blurs and the camera tracks across to reveal a man looking at her while her mother is lying across his lap asleep. There is the a medium shot of him undoing his belt which carries sexual connotations and signifies sexual abuse of the child.
9. There is then a shot of him dragging her out of the shot of the camera anchoring the idea of sexual abuse which then cuts into a shot of her with another guy kissing on the steps outside a school, the videos idea is about life cycles ansd when one person is born into a bad situation they tend to also be involved in bad things anchored by a later shot of her getting ready to dance for money on a stage there are close uyps of her doing her make up and a long shot of what she is wears (lingerie, high heels, stockings and a corset) before she walks out onto the stage.
10. There is then a close up of a mans face in the club holdiong money in his hand before an extreme long shot of her on the stage showing the location and anchoring that shes a stripper with a sign saying 'Jet Strip' above which then jumps to a pov shot of her holding lots of cash in her hands and then a medium shot of her sitting down with it all counting it, in between these shots we see lil wayne every other shot all of the shots are very short takes.
11. There is then a close up of her taking her heels off and then one of her face with the money she has found in the underwear. Staright cut to a medium shot of all the money on the floor screwed up before going into a medium two shot of the man from before paying her having a conversation with her in the bar and her going off with him holding hands signifying he is going to pay her for sex before a shot of her sat in an armchair in a dark room smoking with her hair all messy from which we can denote he payed her for sex further anchored by a close up of a hand putting a wod of cash down on the table next to her.
12. There is then a high angled medium shot of her this time not to show she is the one in power but to show lil wayne behind her putting her hand on her shoulder but when she turns round hes gone
13. The audio then stops and the woman is back in the same hospital room her mother was in but this time for some results, she is HIV positive, there is a close up of her mother from the beginning of the video crying and as she tries to hold her there is a close up of her face as she screams and a repeat of the girl running down the same hallway her mother did when she decided not to get an abortion with the exactly same close ups and shots as before.
14. There is a rewind in the visual to show us that non of the events ever happened and that not all offspriing turn out like there parents instead these shots are then replaced with the girls mother getting married when she was a baby and close ups of her as a little girl watching her mum then another close up of the same girl now grown up.
15. There is then a medium shot medium angle tracking up with the girl at school working and is supposed to be signifying her doing well at school and in life a countertype of how it could of gone which we as an audience have been shown earlier on in the video. Cutting to a medium/long shot of lil wayne leaning against the desk at the front of the class signifying he is like god, who nhas been watching over her the whole time.
16. There is then a close up of the girl sat on the same steps that her mother did wearing glasses signifying shes more of a 'ners' stereotype and will be the sucess story from the whole ordeal. There is then a three shot of all the girls (three generations) stood togather at the girls graduation signified by the hat she is wearing before the final shot of lil wayne and the music finishes.
17. Finally the youngest daughter is sat in the same hospital room her mother and granmother have been sat in in the past as she wait for her results, ikt turns out she is pregnant and then a final two shot of her and her mopther looking happy and smiling.