Codes and Conventions

Hip-Hop/Rap 1

1.       The artists in this Rap video are Rich the Kid and The Migos which is a rap group formed of three members “Quavo, Offset and Takeoff”. The song is called Trap (Produced by Zaytoven).

2.       This music video is a concept based music video. The concept of the video is about people from the streets of Atlanta making money by trapping. “Trap” or “Trapping” means to make money by selling drugs. There is some performance involved. The performance does not have a routine.

3.       The location is near an old estate which looks really run down and abandoned.

4.       The artists have been dressed in expensive clothing, really stylish glasses and a lot of flashy jewellery such as big chains and gold rings.

5.       There are a lot of close ups and mid shots of the artists in the video. The lighting isn’t really high key or low key. There are rewind editing and slow motion editing.

Hip-Hop/Rap 2

1.       The artists in the Rap Video are Rae Sremmurd. This is a rap group formed of two members “Slim Jimmy and Swae Lee”. The song is called “No Flex Zone”

2.       This is a concept based music video. The concept is about people having fun and enjoying themselves and no showing off which is the song is called “No Flex Zone”. To “Flex” means to show off. There is also some performance but the performance does not involve any routine.

3.       The video has three different locations. One part of the video is set in a car driving through a suburban neighbourhood. The second location is in a back garden at a pool party. The last location is at a house party.

4.       The artists have really stylish and funky hairstyles and they are dressed in designer clothing. The artists in the video are seen as free spirited, joyful and energetic people. They don’t need to wear flashy jewellery or designer clothes for people to know they have money and they do whatever they feel like doing. They do not “flex”.

5.       In the video there is a special effect which has been put around the artists. The effect is a blue force field which surrounds them. The force field is a symbol for the “No Flex Zone”. There are a lot of mid shots of the artists and a lot of high key lighting in the video.  

Hop-Hop/Rap 3

1.       The artists in this next Rap music video are Rick Ross, Young Jeezy and Tracy T. This song is called “War Ready”.

2.       This video is a mixture of performance and narrative.

3.       In the beginning of the video you see a group of men dressed in black and their leader in the black mask. The narrative is the group of men raiding a warehouse with guns. The performance is in an abandoned warehouse. There was no routine for the performance.

4.       The location is in an abandoned, rundown warehouse.

5.       The artists in the video are seen as really rich and aggressive people. They are seen wearing a lot of expensive clothing such as Rick Ross’s fur coat and lots of chains around his neck. They wear a lot of expensive jewellery and branded clothing.

6.       The lighting is low key to show the aggressiveness and dark theme of the video and to amplify the lyrics. There are a lot of close ups in the video, low angles to show their power and to make them look threatening. The editing in the video is really hazy. There were parts in the video where the camera is really shaky and hazy effects like in the beginning when the song dropped and Rick Ross’s image was split into three and make it seem like there was three of him. They also had a dark fade effect when they rewound the video and the visuals faded until it was just a man in black with a mask.  

Hip-Hop/Rap 4

1.       The artist in this video is Ace Hood. The song is called “Bugatti”.

2.       This video is also another mix of performance and narrative.

3.       The narrative is about Ace Hood going from a man who used to “Trap” for money to a man who wakes up in a car worth $1.5million. In the beginning of the video he’s running away from a group of people who are trying to kill him and he jumps in the water to escape. He then goes into a warehouse to see these people who look like his bosses/employers and throws money on the table and walks out with a girl. At the end of the video he wakes up wearing expensive clothing and inside an expensive car surrounded by police.

4.       There are four different locations in this video. The first locations seems to be an exotic country where the narrative is taking place. The second location is in an industrial storage site. The last two locations are in a warehouse and also at the end Ace Hood is inside a Bugatti with a woman in the seat next to him.

5.       The artist in this video is seen as a really dangerous person but also as a person who gets a lot of money. He’s dressed in expensive clothing and has on a lot jewellery.

6.       The lighting is really high key lighting and there are a lot of low angle shots of him which shows he has power and close ups. There is a lot of fast pace editing. A lot of action matchups showing us what is going on at different angles.

In these four Hip-Hop/Rap music videos I noticed that all these videos show us that rappers have a lot of money. They have a really dangerous and aggressive look and they wear a lot of expensive jewellery and upper class branded clothing. They have really stylish and trendy looks like for example, the Rae Sremmurd’s hairstyles and also the clothing worn by Rick Ross in his video which is a big fur jacket.

RnB 1

1.       This RnB artist is Chris Brown. The song is called “Don’t Judge Me”.

2.       The music video is a narrative mixed with a concept. The concept is about having a woman in your life that is not judgmental despite his past and what he has done.

3.       The narrative is Chris Brown giving up his life to save the people of Earth from an alien invasion. He is put into a spaceship which is then launched into the alien craft and destroys the alien ship and Chris himself.

4.       There are two locations for this video. The first location of the video is at a military base where he is put into the space craft and the second location is inside a house with a woman sitting beside him on a couch.

5.       In this video Chris is seen as a really powerful person. He is also seen as a really loving and caring person. He is dressed in casual clothing with a dog tag necklace.

6.       There are a few low angle shots of him showing his power. In the end you see a lot of close ups to show his emotions as you can see him crying.

RnB 2

1.       This next RnB artists is Justin Timberlake. The song is called TKO.

2.       This is a narrative mixed with a concept. The concept is about a girl that cheated on Justin and now she is acting differently around him and now he doesn’t feel like he knows the girl anymore.

3.       As the video starts you see Justin getting dragged on the floor by his feet by a car and the person driving the car was his girlfriend. There are scenes where they were in the house fighting then they had sex but then after she hits him with the saucepan and the scene cuts back to him getting dragged by the car. His girlfriend then jumps out of the car and lets him be dragged off the cliff with the car.

4.       The video is set in two different locations. One of them being a desert and the other location is at a house.

5.       In this video Justin is seen as a victim in the video. He is dressed in casual clothing and does not have any jewellery on him.

6.       There are some scenes where there are high key lighting like in the house but there is low key lighting when the camera cuts to the desert scene. There are a few mid shots and some close ups. There are also action matchups.

RnB 3

1.       The artists in this video are Jason Derulo and Snoop Dogg. This song is called “Wiggle”

2.       The video does not have a narrative but it does have a concept and performance. The concept is about women that have really big bums.

3.       The performance in the video are routine dance performances.

4.       The video is set at a big pool party in a mansion.

5.       Jason is seen as a lady’s man in this video as he is surrounded by a lot of women. He is also seen to be promiscuous because at the beginning you see him in bed with a lot of women. He has been dressed in expensive clothing and expensive jewellery.

6.       There is a lot of high key lighting throughout the whole video and a lot of mid shots and full body shots to show Jason Derulo’s body.

RnB 4

1.       This artist in this video is Keyshia Cole. The song is called “Next Time (Won’t Give My Heart Away).

2.       This is a concept based music video with a little bit of performance mixed in with it. The concept of this video is about being heartbroken. Her relationship is falling apart and she doesn’t want to give her heart to someone else again.

3.       The performance in the video is not a routine performance.

4.       The video is set in a hall.

5.       In this video, Keyshia is seen as a really vulnerable and heartbroken women who has just lost her husband to another woman. She is dressed in a really nice sophisticated blue dress with an expensive necklace and a few rings on her fingers as well.

6.       The video has quite a lot of low key lighting and only a few high key lighting. There are a lot of close ups to show how hurt she is emotionally and also a few long shots of her in an empty hall which shows how  loneliness she is.

By looking at all four of these RnB videos I can see that these artists are very loving, caring and deep people like Keyshia Cole and Chris Brown. Some RnB artists being promiscuous and have a type of player attribute to them such as Jason Derulo and Snoop Dogg. They are seen as really stylish people like in Jason Derulo’s video he is seen wearing a black leather vest with a lot of chains on his neck and he is also seen wearing a leather black and white jacket. They are also seen as very sophisticated like Keyshia Cole as she is seen wearing a blue dress.

Pop 1

1.       This pop artist is Sia. The song is called “Chandelier.

2.       This video is a performance video mixed with a concept. The concept of the video being freedom and to be able to express your emotions.

3.       The performance in the video is a routine performance in an empty house.

4.       The location is set in an empty apartment with just a little girl inside dancing.

5.       The artist is not in the video but the little girl in the video is seen to be very free spirited. As there is nobody in the house she is free to express her emotion through dance. She is wearing a ballet outfit.

6.       There are a lot of mid shots in the video and a lot of long shots to show the little girl dancing.

Pop 2

1.       This next pop artist is Katy Perry with her song “Dark House”.

2.       The video is a mix of performance, concept and narrative. The concept of this is about not becoming enemies with Katy Perry because she’s a really vengeful person.

3.       The narrative of the video Katy being a queen and having men bringing her things like jewellery, food or luxurious transport but all she wants is what they own and not the men so she kills the men and takes what they have. The performance in the video is a routine performance.

4.       The setting is Ancient Egypt inside a palace.

5.       Katy has been made to be seen like a powerful evil queen. She is wearing very expensive jewellery and royal clothing with a pharaoh’s headpiece.

6.       There are a lot of close ups on Katy Perry showing her aggressiveness and mid shots showing us how she kills the men. There are special effects in the video when she uses lightning out of her hands to kill the men and also when the statue behind her starts talking.

Pop 3

1.       This pop artist is Shakira. This song is called “La La La”.

2.       The video is a performance and concept based music video. The concept is about the FIFA 2014 World Cup which took place in Brazil.

3.       The performance in the video is a routine group performance in a studio. You have kid playing football in the background and Shakira dancing throughout the video.

4.       This video is set in a studio.

5.       Shakira is seen as a free spirited and fun loving person. She is wearing a very nice and elegant dress with a lot of necklaces. Her hair is laid out, not tied up.

6.       There are a lot of close ups of Shakira and a lot of long shots to show what she is doing like when she was playing with the football.

Pop 4

1.       This final artist is Pharrell Williams with his song “Happy”.

2.       This video is a performance and concept based music video. The concept of this video is about being happy.

3.        The performance are routine performance. There are performances in the city, inside a school, a church, and a hall.

4.       The video was set in different locations around the country.

5.       Pharrell is shown as a happy and excited person. He is also seen as a very friendly person as he is also interacting with the people around him. He is seen wearing casual clothing with a big top hat which shows his extraordinary personality.

6.       There are a lot of mid shots and long shots in the video and also a few high and low key lightings as the video is filmed both during the day and at night.

The Pop artists in these four videos are seen as very free spirited and fun people. They come off as really friendly people like Pharrell in his video when he’s interacting with the pedestrians around him whiles he’s filming and also in the “Chandelier” video where the little girl is dancing around the house freely. They all have a lot of routine performances like in Shakira’s video for “La La La” and Katy Perry’s video for “Dark Horse”.

Back In the Day- 1980s and 1990s

Hip-Hop

An old Hip-Hop/Rap video I looked at was Changes by 2Pac. This video was a concept based video based on the politics in the USA, racism and how things change over time. The video showed different points of 2Pacs life and all the bad and good things he has experienced throughout his life. It shows him in court and him getting money through rapping. In this video he is seen as a rebel fighting against the government. He is seen in court winning a case being proved innocent. He is also seen as a really happy and caring person. There are pictures of him with his daughter and also when he is on stage rapping. He’s wearing casual clothing and only one chain. This old Hip-Hop video compared to nowadays videos are completely different. The concepts are more about drugs and women in today’s music but back in the 80’s and 90’s they were more about real life and how the government were back then.

RnB

This old RnB video I watched was Dilemma by Nelly and Kelly Rowland. This is a concept video mixed with narrative. The concept is about falling in love even though she’s with another man. The narrative was Kelly moving into her new house next to Nelly’s house and they end up falling in love with each other. This video was set in a suburban neighbourhood. The two artists in this video are seen as very caring and very loving and romantic people. They are dressed really casually and not much jewellery on them. Comparing this old video with today’s RnB videos the conventions have changed. Today’s artists are more promiscuous and less romantic but 80’s and 90’s are the opposite. They are more romantic and talk about falling in love with one and other.

Pop

This old school Pop video is “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”. This is a performance based video. The performance in the video is a routine performance done in a studio. In this video, Michael is seen as really free spirited and really joyful. He is wearing a black tuxedo and has a short afro. Comparing this video to today’s videos you can see a type of similarity in the way the music is performed because Pop artists like to perform in their videos and they are also really free spirited and joyful.