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.