The music video I decided to analysis was Tupac Ft. Dr. Dre – California Love, a true classic in the Rap genre and music overall. It is a song I have always enjoyed and the video is the main thing that comes to mind with this song. It is now considered the ‘underground’ anthem of California.
The video was directed Harold ‘Hype’ Williams, creator of many unforgettable music videos, such as Jay-Z – Big Pimpin’ and Kanye West – Gold Digger. California Love’s music video has a very prominent concept and it has been inspires and adapted from the film ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’. An action film set in a dystopian future, where law and order has broken down. The music video is set in a desert in the year 2095 and they used the ‘Thunderdrome’ set for the filming. The casting includes singer George Clinton and actor Chris Tucker.
I believe that this video is interesting and grabbing because it is the narrative type of Goodwin’s theory of Music Video. This means that there is story behind the video, like a movie it keeps you asking questions and wanting to now more. The story to this video is that Tupac and Dr. Dre have stolen prisoners of another gang and they are trying to capture them back.
I will now analyse this Music Video by cover the camera shots, editing, sound and mise-en scene.
Starting with camera shots and movements. It is very varied and on the large scales all of the shots. We have shots such as the long shot to establish the scene of in the desert and ‘the dome’, this is so the audience understands we are isolated and anything can happen.
There are low shots of the authority figures, such as George Clinton ‘Monster’ showing his power and that he is the leader of the gang. Also there is a low shot when Dr. Dre and Tupac rap their verse which gives them the same effect as George Clinton. It suggests they are the ‘kings’ of the Westside and California.
Also they use a shot which cause by the use of a ‘fish-eye’ lens, this to spread the shot wide and distorts the frame, giving a unusual and uneasy effect.
Some movements used within the video are the crane movements, this is used to make the audience feel like they are swooping down into the party. It gives a long shot of the set at an aerial angle then swoops in.
Hype Williams uses a lot of panning when the rapping is happening, this is to keep the shot active and the audience entertained and so you feel you are at the scene and moving about.
The next section I will look at is the editing. The video starts with simple straight cuts between frames, the cuts are quick which adds to the tension of the scene. It allows the audience to understand the story line easier, because there is not a lot happening.
However when the song begins and ‘Monster’ sees his prisoners gone, the editing changes and we see a dissolve of his face to a long shot. The change of editing tells the audience that we are on a new section of the video. Throughout the video a lot of fading and dissolves are used, which gives a mellow chilled out feel.
The video starts with a scene with voice, this is to let us know what the story is about and to get us hooked. We hear an on-screen diegetic sound, which is the voice of Chris Tucker introducing the gang leader and gets the gang ‘hyped’ and this hype is spread onto the audience. Another voice is then introduced, which is George Clinton (The gang leader). His voice is very loud and passionate, this tells us the gangs hate against the other (Dr. Dre and Tupac). This gets the audience eager to what is going to happen.
The final section I will analyse is the mise-en-scene of the video. I will start with the product design. The setting of this is a main part as it is from the set of the film ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’ a real iconic place in the middle of the desert, it gives the audience a sense of isolation and almost scaring as anything can happen in the desert. The costumes for this video a very convincing as they head to toe in rags and futuristic armor, which emphasizes the fact they are in the year 2095.
The colour throughout this visual is very dull, with no bright colours. Nothing jumps out at us and shows the real collapse in society as no one is individual and they live in a broken down, tired world.
Lighting in this video is very natural as it is majority coming from a huge bomb fire. However when the artists are rapping their verse there is a huge top light from above on them, enhancing their authority and power.
The actors performance is very good as they are famous actors in it, such as George Clinton and Chris Tucker giving a performance at the beginning. As they are professionals it makes the story even more believable.
No comments:
Post a Comment