Music Video Deconstruction 4: Super bass - Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj otherwise known as Onika Tanya Maraj 'rose to fame after joining the rapping group Young Money' and became a huge star breaking records such as being the first solo artist to have seven singles on hot 100 (a popularity chart of newly released singles in the US) at the same time. It was released in april 2011 as R&B, pop, hip hop track. The video was directed by Sanaa Hamri.

1. First shot is a medium shot of nickis face, like most female solo artists wears alot of make up, it also looks animated she wears a dual-coloured wig and false eye lashes. Then straight cut to a close up of her eye opening where visual effects have been applied to make her look like a doll. Then the camera jumps back to a repeat of tyhe first shot as she flutters her eye lashes.
2. Flash is then used on medium close ups of the mise en scene which shows ice sculptures of motor bikes and high heeled shoes that would appeal to both genders when considering audience.
3. The same medium shot and position is used throughout and the camera is still as she begins to rap to highlight her speed and to make it look like she isnt human abit like a robot which is what i think shes trying to create in the video.
4. High angle shot then tracks down to a pink farrari used specifically to challenge the idea that fast cars are for men, quite controversial. Camera moves to the back of the car and tracks from right to left in a medium close up to highlight the farrari logo on the back of the car for anchorage for the female audience.
5. When the lyrics become more promonant then the visual which isnt often in the video, what she talks about appears on screen such as money growing and pink champagne giving a magical idea to the video.
6. Nicki appears in the middle of the scrren medium shot regularly showing the mise en scene in this case an ice sculpture behind her of a motorbike is used which again brings in the idea of sexism and a feminist view as women are not often seen with this kind of thing, opposite of how they appear in music videos as they want to appear 'badass' and sexy going against the norm and inspiring young girls.
7. Medium mid anlgle shot tracks up of a man with a six pack although it doesnt show his face, using the idea of female gaze a countertype of your usual music video.
8. The guys in the videos faces are shown later on although when they are she is just stroking them and not really paying them much attention with regular close ups of their bodies, kind of how women are shown in male r&b artists videos as a toy/ accessory.
9. Nickis Backing dancers then come in with a high angled shot of them and her in the middle of the screen and the other women highlighting importance and significance and that she is the most important even though their are other women in the video, also all of the backing dancers are dressed like her (demin shorts, white vest tops with bras on show and pink wigs) which is an intertexual link with Lady gagas videos and her 'little monsters' idea.
10. The camera then zooms out showing a long shot of the dancers and her (again shes in the middle of the dancers) and the idea behind the shot is to show her dancers are like her clones, they all dance and move the same way at the same time. Thecamera then tracks down to a medium angled shot to show all the girls 'features' in a line, an asset that some would say Nicki Minaj is only famous for.
11. Close up low angled shot of her high heels (which are often assosiated with or have connotations of sex), looking animated and murmaid like as she walks then staright cut to a medium mid-low angled shot of three men in their underwear lying on the floor looking at her cuts to a long shot showing her head to toe walking past 5 men in a swimsuit and heels and new green hair.
12. she then appears to be in a pink watered swimming pool with one of them dancing around and pouring the water onto her chest signifying sex and nudity after a variety of similar based shots like this she moves back over to the ice sculpture of the motorbike and 'rides it' sexual connotations are being provoked and shes doing it purposly for the audiences benefit so she can target male and female using theories of the male and female gaze.
13. The camera then moves over to a staged area when there are chairs and men sat on them, connotations of a lap dancing club with all the dancers and nicki sat on the males laps'
14. Feathers start to fall which signifies a pillow fight also carring connotations of sexual acts and references are made.

Music Video deconstruction 3: Whos laughing now - Jessie J

Released August 2011.
Jessie J is one of the newest female solo artists and has already had her first number one with the song Price Tag featuring BoB. The song was rleeased in August 2011 as a pop/hiphop track although the director is unknown.

1.   Opening shot is a high angled shot of the school looking up and focusing on the clock as its in the centre of a long shot, the school bell goes off which also signifies the beginning of the song
2. Straight cut into POV shot of a girl walking down the corridoor stereotypical nerd/geek as all the other girls are wearing pink and look pristine. Tracks to the right to show a girl clique starring at the main girl and talking and pointing as she walks past, medium shot.
3. Narrative up to this point when the camera tracks back to the 'geeks' face (wearing black and a rucksack) and we see she is a minature look alike of Jessie J with black shiny hair.
4. Straight cut to a classroom medium long shot showing the class and all the other kids are talking shes just sat there quietly no friends, they bully her 'hey jessica you look like an alien' because she isnt wearing what they are wearing and appars to be different which everyone knows people dont like, she is a countertype of your typical girl of the age she is challenging the norm (probably about 7 or 8)
5. Goes into a close up of the 'geeks' face she was looking down she moves her head up to look forward which goes hand in hand with the lyrics 'Oh so you think you know me now' The real Jessie J appear and is hiding begind a desk signifying vulnerability.
6. Straight cut onto another kid with a bright blue mohawk (medium shot), signifying individuality often uncommon at a young age
7. Straight cut to a childs stereotypical view of a teacher looks miserable, asleep on the desk wearing glasses and a strange suit anchoring the lighheartedness of the video and child like connotations. Then there is a repeat of the previous close up of the 'geek' raising her head on the same lyric as before.
8. The concept of the video is childish but the lyrics show that its personal to the artist as the girl looks and acts like her herself and shes saying the lyrics with the attitude you would expect. The ideo that people she was at school with speak to her and try and be friends with her only now because shes famous and she uses the video to get back at them eg 'whos laughing now' and 'but thankyou for the pain it made me raise my game'
9. The shot moves back to the close up of her again and the the camera tracks up and follows her out of the room, she then goes around the school destroying things eg. Close ups of knocking over artwork, throwing jelly at the dinner lady etc. She also smacks the lockers as she walks past potentially signifying that violence is associated with children?
10. Lip syncing comes in at 01:27 and she is stood infront of the hollywood sign signifying she is mimicking the people that used to bully her and showing what she has now the tables have turned since they were bullying her now they want to be friends with her because shes famous.
11. Long shot goes into a medium shot when shes in a black room with white papers falling down on her while she is doing the whole 'cutesy lip syncing'
12. Jessie J features throughout just having staright cuts to her from the other girl pretending to be her at school
13. Of course the protagonist gets their victory and sprays the fire extinguisher at the clique that have been bullying her while is the longest shot and tracks across too see all of them getting sprayed while the rest of the class are watching. Goes into a close up of the boy with the blue hair highlighting individuality.

Music Video deconstruction 2: Bottoms up - Trey songz

Colaberation between Trey and Nicki Minaj.

Released 2010. (R&B/rap) Trey songz is an american rapper and colaberated with Nicki Minaj to futher his career as most rappers have worked with Nicki in the past and its helped them get into the industry and enhance his new album 'Passion, Pain & Pleasure' as she is such a huge star. It was directed by Anthony Mandler.



the song has sold 2,889,000 copies!

1. The opening shot is a dark room with bright white lights, being a high angeled shot the camera tracks up to show the clothing of Trey. We can tell from this shot that he's the 'pimp' and its based in a strip club as this idea isnt exactly origional and has been done by a number of rap artists before.
2. As the camera continues to track up we see the back of the figure moving inot bright lights giving the 'whos the daddy' impression and seeing himself as a pimp which is anchored by the next shot of flashing images of women dancing in provocative clothing and sat on chairs.
3. He continues to walk on and checks himself out in the mirror like the person is ready for what is about to come. The song then comes in after this shot as he fixes his suit, up until this shot his identity has been hidden and narrative enigma used until he turns his head. Typical rapper with sunglasses on inside.
4. The girls then appear from the background to ensure the male audience its not particularly a video for girls offering the 'male gaze' theory this is an extreme long shot and the first time we see the setting and mise-en-scene in full. All dancers have the 'ghetto' look like nicki minaj with large chest and bum, high heels and little clothing.
5. The depth of the video is basically girls parading round in little clothing and to be used and thought to have little intelligence the only female that has close ups is Nicki excluding the close ups of womens body parts.
6. Flashing effects and lighting play a huge part in the video as girls shadows are formed in the back ground of long shots and the use of the colour red flashing carries connotations of sex which is also used in also of Rihannas videos such as Only Girl in The World and S&M which also feature little clothing and sexual references
7. The lyrics are describing a girl and the plans he has for her saying they can 'alcahol the time' which all rappers are associated with aswell as drugs and crime.
8. The girls featuring in the background are dancing on stage and there are poles aswell their faces arnt often shown only the silouettes of their bodies, no men are dancing giving a message that women are only used for sexual acts and as pleasure for men (feminist approach)
9. High angled shots are used throughout making the male look important and the women in the background irrelevant.
10. At 02:06 in the video a girl is stood in the background in what is equal to swimwear and is approaching the male sat down with although her arms are tied up so she cant move this has a similarity with Rihannas video S&M although Rihanna is implying 'chains and whips excite her' and is the star of the video this video is a countertype as the man is seen as the star and the women seen as his 'b*tches'
11. Nicki Minaj appears on screen doing her signiture grunts at 02:37 and she is amongst the other women until later on, she is also wearing a lycra body suit and her style is linked to other women in the industry such as Jessie J in the Price Tag video in particular aswell as Lady Gaga in the Bad romance video . The flashes and effects begin and multi screens are there with her looking at trey. Her lyrics are all about alcahol and when she gets angry then apologises making out shes just a vulnerable little girl 'excuse me im sorry im really such a lady'
12. Towards the end of the video nicki takes more control showing that the alcahol can mess it up for people and trey is nothing denoted by the bluriness of the camera lense and dutch angle shots used to show something isnt right and he is out of conrol, kind of having that as an underlying message for teens but appearing 'cool'

Music Video Deconstruction 1: Down with the trumpets - Rizzle kicks

Down with the trumpets released 2011.
Genre: Alternative hiphop.
Good example of use of mise-en-scene, location is constantly being changed throughout the video to keep the audience interested. Director is unknown.

1. Opening shot, narrative close up of  someone putting a tape into a tape player, camera follws the tape.
2. straight cut from the tape to a medium shot of the radio/casette player which we now see has a screen on it.
3. Camera follows the tilted radio and then straight cut or zoom in of it, radio is then picked up camera follows it, panning.
4. Mid angle and mid-shot, we see some of what is behind the radio, introduction of two band members, background also shows some of the mise-en-scene lots of posters on the wall carrying connotations of a boys bedroom (5 seconds)
5. Same kind of shot although the location has changed to a beach kind of festival location.
6. Radio is then put down and band members turn around and the camera follws them before another change in location this time to an estate to appeal to the youth/teen audience.
7. Low angle shot pans up from the ground to the boys, showing the radio is not actually plugged and them wearing trainers.
8. Slight elements of performance passers by dancing, makes the video quite funny and not boring for the audience to watch if the song becomes more popular.
9. Mid long shot of passers by kids on scooters, rewinding of the shots to go with the beat of the music, sounds dj like.
10. Band members dressed in youth atire such as baseball caps trainers and hoodies alkthough they challenge this by dealing trumpets not drugs.
11. Joke around sucj the trumpet and falls back onto the grass like he would if you were drunk,smoking or high which is what people generalise all teens ans interested in doing.
12. Repeats previous shots to go with the screeching of the record player

Music video conventions

After looking at a variety different kinds of music videos such a performance, narrative and concept. The general conventions all seem apparent

• Performance clips and band shots

• Fast-pace of editing takes are usually no longer than 5 

  seconds.

• Mainly straight cuts to show mise en scene

• Bright lighting

• High angle/low angle depending on the tracks genre

• Bright colours against black and white background to 

make an object or solo artist stand out

• Panning

• Editing to reflect pace of music

• Special lighting effects eg colour

• High lighting

• Equal division of shots for bands' members unless there is 

a main singer

• Whole band shots show togetherness always in boy bands 

particularly

• No real sound effects

• Colour effects – often monochrome (various tones in only 

one colour)

• Dubbed sound (re-recording sound and putting it over the 

top ie. lip syncing

• Zooming out to show mise-en-scene

• Shadows

• Mise-en-scène reflects atmosphere

Challenges with creating a female music video

There are obvious conventions of female solo artists videos, with mainly trying to appeal to the audience of teenagers and younger (tweenagers) but the nudity and sexuality to also attract male audiences using the 'male gaze theory' this is a problem if our class or a group in the class decided to do a female solo artist video as theres a level you can go to with some of these conventions that have to be appropriate as the video will be associated with our school. Some of these artists include Nicki Minaj  Rihanna  Beyonce  Lady Gaga and many others. Similar conventions are present in Girl bands with examples such as Girls Aloud, Destinys child, The Spice Girls etc.
In female artists videos that feature male (often rapping/r&b) artists the extent of sexism is shown to be still there although the artists play up to this which shows us they are trying to appear to the male audience to increase sales. These solo artists videos tend to be performance videos that include lots of visual so they can be repeatedly played for youtube hits and success
Men often appear as 'players' and act superior to women in the videos with the women accepting this and acting as a toy of theres simply used for entertainment. A good example of this is California Gurls video by Katie Perry feauturing Snoop Dog (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4&ob=av3e) 
or again in Love sex magic with Justin Timberlake and Ciara when at the beginning (0:05) she is featured in chains.
Bizarre videos are used by female artists such as lady gaga because if a video is talked about in a good or bad way it could become viral, people have more awareness of the video it will get more hits females are especially good at doing this eg Lady Gaga aswell as boyband and rockbands having a narrative video instead of performance onces for example The doors.

Filming of new mini vid.

Today we've just shot the footage for our mini vid of 'Sharp Dressed Man' By ZZ Top. We did a countertype of the video because instead of a sharp dressed man we had a normal dressed woman being stalked by a group of guys, we did a range of shots of the guys following the girl (me) and shots of the boys playing the guitar similar to the ones in the origional video although we didn't have mustaches and mexican outfits, so our video is a modern and funny version updated by us. The video was really fun to shoot because the idea was silly.
The cast consisted of a number of guys and girl being followed. We did some low angled shots of peoples feet to add some narrative to the girl being followed before she was shown. We will be editing he footage throughout next week and could need some more coverage but as our location is at school we can do this as we need if we find we need more footage as it can be done quickly. In the video was Tom Cripps, Nick Lithgow, Harry Knight, Sam Pollock and Nick Lithgow and Alex McCluskey who assigned himself as the camera man.