Kanye West ft Jamie Foxx -‘ Gold Digger’
The genre for this music video is RnB, which is associated
with girls and wealth, yet the women in the video are gold diggers and that’s
what they are singing about.
Within the first 10 seconds of
this music video the cinematography is used to show close up of the woman’s
face then of her then a close up of her chest. This straight away links into
Laura Mulvey’s theory on the ‘Male Gaze’, by showing of part of her body
within the first 10 seconds. Since this music video is aimed at both men and
women, they’ll each have a different observation of the video. For example men
will find this ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’, whereas women will look at it and compare
themselves to the woman in the video and might become quite self-conscious. The
next extreme close up on the woman is of her lips with her mouth partly open,
which again men will see something as ‘seductive’. Another theorist this video
links to is John Berger ‘ways of seeing’, as the women in this video are
conscious of what they are doing and they are portrayed in a way for men to
enjoy. However the men in this video are not acting in a ‘sexy’ way, yet you
always get close ups of the women with not many clothes on, which links to what
John said they are ‘depicted in a different way to men because the ‘ideal’
spectator is assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to
flatter him’. The way the women are acting is to attract male attention and
they do know that. Many tilts are used to in this music video to, to go up or
down the women.
For the editing in this music
video there are a lot of jump cuts between the man and the women. The women are
portraying themselves in a more dominant way, as you see one woman’s face in a
close up shot looking quite tough. There is also the use of parallel editing to
create a strobe effect between the man and woman about 20 seconds in and it is
changing very quick and is giving the audience quick flashing shots of her
curves. It’s like the women are tougher and more clever than what these men
think and use their body and act in a certain ‘seductive’ way to get what they
want, which links to the lyrics of them being ‘Gold Diggers’ because they know
what they are doing, they know what they want and they know how to get it.
In the video the mise en scene
shows these women in front of pretend magazine covers, wearing corsets and not
many clothes. The magazine covers say things like ‘Fantasy Magazine’ for 50₵
and ‘Hot Fun’ for 50₵. This could relate to men seeing them as objects like
what Laura Mulvey thinks and that they are cheap and easy as 50₵ is cheap.
Jamie Foxx in the music video doesn't have a huge part in Kanye’s song because he was only been sampled in
the song. Jamie was in a film called ‘Ray’, where he was the character Ray
Childs and Kanye wanted him to use his voice like he did, but in ‘Gold Digger’.
It’s Jamie Foxx’s way of showing the audience he is the new Ray Childs.
There is no narrative in this
music video as it is based more on performance than narrative. The words ‘Gold
Digger’ gets repeated a lot throughout the video and so does the chorus which
again doesn’t give a narrative. It is more about the women dancing around and
the men singing about them.
The text appeals to the
audience more through the mise en scene and the ideology of the performer. For
example in this music video Kanye West and Jamie Foxx are in suits which shows
wealth and then the women are not wearing much, but they are all done up trying
to be more glamorous. The women really seem more cheap and easy, since they are
posing against cheaper looking magazine front covers, which relates to them
being ‘Gold Diggrers’ as they want the money and will do anything to get it.
Therefore the audience watching this music video see the men in their suits and
all these ‘glamorous’ women and so the male audience might look up to these
wealthy men and want to be like them. However the female viewers may have
different opinions on the women in the video. They might want to act ‘sexy’ and
be more ‘glamorous’, like how the women in the music video are trying to be, or
they might have a negative opinion and won’t want to be seen as ‘cheap’ or
‘easy’, which the ideology from the mise en scene makes the women seem in this
video.
The text of this song links in with the video as Kanye and Jamie are
singing about ‘Gold Diggers’ and you see these women dancing and posing, with a
certain look on their faces sometimes which gives an impression of they know
(as gold diggers) what they are doing.
Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding- ‘I need your love’
The genre for this music video is pop but is singing about
love in not such a ‘soppy’ way as some music videos. It has the mise en scene
of the double bed and white sheets usually associated with ‘passion’ and ‘love’
and since it’s a double bed there are connotations suggesting someone else
should be in there too. There is also a lot of laughing and some kissing
between the man and woman that connotes they are in love with each other. It
includes voyeurism as Ellie Golding is a pretty woman, she is inside the bed
sheets at first and since she is wearing an over-sized shirt at the beginning
of it, it looks like a male’s shirts. Laura Mulveys theory on the ‘male gaze’
is right as this music video is used to attract males and is shown in a way
which males will like it. You can see it is more from a male’s point of view,
especially more towards the end when there are more women included in the
video.
Quite a lot of the camera angles and shots in this video look
like the people in the video are holding the camera themselves, which makes it
seem not like a music video as such.
This creates more of a story and background of what goes on in their
lives and it seems more real. Towards the end the cinematography is used to
give a lot of close up and medium close up shots of these women on the boat and
then in the club close ups of their faces and body. In association to pop it
has girls in this music video acting ‘sexy’ once again it’s what males want to
see, so it’s like it’s from their point of view.
The editing in this music video use a lot of straight cuts,
to either change to a different camera angle or move on to a different scene. Close
to the end of the video, it cuts to the club and the music links to the club as
it makes it seem as if the song from the video is the one people are dancing to.
Since the genre is pop and pop music is more for dancing the club scene is a good
choice of place to record as it links in with the music.
This music video has a fragmented narrative that shows a couple
having a good time on holiday. They have created their own ‘home movie’ style
music video by taking their camera with them and filming their holiday.
The text of the song doesn’t really link in with the music
video as there is not much of Ellie Goulding lip singing with the song and it
shows them more doing normal things like going to clubs. She sings about
needing Calvin’s love and there is a lot of clips of them together, like on the
beach and in the tattoo studio, which is things that couples would do together
if they love each other.
The audience can relate to the text in a way that they want
to find love and go out and do things together. Since the mise en scene includes
the things like the club and being in an open top car some where abroad shows
they do have money and can afford these things, which makes the audience want
to be able to do that to and have that sense of freedom like they do. Calvin
and Ellie want to have a more laid back and fun ideology/representation, so
they can connect with the audience more as they seem more genuine. The mise en
scene of Ellie and Calvin’s clothes don’t look particularly expensive, they
look casual, therefore this gives the audience something else to relate to
because they realise they don’t always need expensive clothes to feel nice.
The genre of this music video
is pop, which links in more with my old song choice as the song I have chosen as it is a lot slower like my video. The mise en scene in
this video has Rihanna in a tight black dress then in more casual clothes when
she is with the man she is being ‘unfaithful’. “The tight dress is included
when she is singing about being unfaithful which suggests that she is making
more of an effort when with this other man rather than the man she is suppose
to be with. However Rihanna still looks glamorous, with causal elements in
there, which links in with the genre of pop.
Cinematography in this video
includes close ups and medium close ups and sometimes she is wearing a
revealing dress which males will like. Also straight away Rihanna is sorting
her dress out and there is a tilt of her hands running down her body showing
off her curves. However in a lot of Rihanna’s videos she often acts quite
‘seductive’ and ‘sexy’ or wears something that shows of her curves, therefore
like John Berger said she is conscious of what she is doing and it’s not just
now women act like this it happened a while a go to just in different ways.
Just before she starts singing
there are a lot of quite fast jump cuts of when she seems happy with this man
yet just before that she receives a note off someone else and it’s like she is
pretending to be happy. Since this is a slower song fades are used which makes
a smoother transition between the next scene. Having these fades make it link
with the song more.
This music videos narrative is
in a linear order and matches the lyrics. Rihanna sings about herself being
unfaithful and in the video the audience see her thinking about and being
unfaithful. It also consists of the lyrics being in sync with her singing but
sometimes the song carries on over the top of the video whilst the video shows
what’s going on.
The text of song connects well with the music video itself
because you see Rihanna being unfaithful and singing about it to. There are
also quite a lot of clips when Rihanna is in lip sync with the song. When she
is not in sync, the images and the different scenes with in the video create
more of a story because you see her unfaithfulness progressing and her feeling
guilty when she is with her boyfriend.
In relation to the audience the text can relate to them as some
people may have been unfaithful themselves and Rihanna is singing about how she
feels and how it’s hard to tell someone about it, which other people might of
felt to. It’s not exactly a good thing that she has betrayed her boyfriend and
as an audience they will feel sorry for the man she is with, as he doesn't have
a clue what is going on. However they might feel a bit sorry for Rihanna
because she is saying she doesn't want to do this anymore but she can’t seem to
stop and doesn't want to hurt him, so she isn't in the best of situations. Yet she
is still acting ‘sexy’ and thinking about this other man so she isn't really
helping herself.
