Media Forms and Conventions
The images used in the music video of ‘on to the next one’ performed and written by Jay Z connotate the genre of the song and generally the artists genre which is rap or hip hop. At the beginning of the music video the performer is shown with his back to the camera, playing with his collar and fixing his cap. We can see that he gives off the impression that he is being shady which also creates the enigma of the music video. We can see that Jay z as a performer is an African American male which also is linked with the big scene in the United States with hip hop and rap music. The image after shows another person holding the back of his head which also creates enigma in which the audience may see that the person is stressed or anxious.
The editing in this music video plays a big part throughout all of the video is set in black and white. This connotates that there is a contrast between the colours and the impression that is given is the sense of good and evil. Some of the images also show this as well. The location is all set in one room in which has the effect of having either a white or dark background which brings back across the point of good and evil. Also the lighting plays a big part in the music video as it helps the effect of the good and bad.
There is many links between the visuals in the music video just after the introduction the lyrics say ‘double your money and make a stack’, in colloquial language this means ‘making money’. At this time an image is shown of 100 US dollar bills in a rubber band. Another example is the lyrics are ‘I’m not a virgin; I use my kohonas’, an image of to steel balls which suggests to the audience that he was implying his sexual gentiles. Some of the images are culturally specific to the United States like the US Dollar bills, the drink ‘Krystal’ (which is associated with America), and the Texas long horn.
The music video is mostly performance based but with some images which do not link to the lyrics but do relate to the idea or good and evil. Images on the basis of evil are like the skull and pools of blood etc. Also in the music video it shows a lot of the ‘3 horizontal lines’ which promotes the performer Jay Z’s newest album ‘The Blueprint 3’.
Representation
The kind of world represented or shown in the music video is surreal yet threatening based on the majority of images used to connate evil. This is like the use of skulls and shadowing of objects like the glass and generally the use of black against white contrast. There are many close ups of the performer and other images which shows that the performer is famous but also creates an enigma to the audience watching, which can also help sell records.
The video in some aspects relates to some of the artists other videos as he seems to rap about the same things like ‘getting rich’ and ‘girls’ but also some video effects are the same by using the black and white on Jay Z’s ‘young forever’ music video. The ‘on to the next one’ video seems to be a lot darker and surreal compared to his other videos.
In the video there are some sexual references in the lyrics and also in the video. In around the middle of the video there is a woman wearing tight clothing but not too much which puts her on sexual display.
Another point is that the video does show religious believes. There are images in the video which does suggest that there is a devil due to the skulls and evil pictures. An example would be all the fire and blood etc. There is also an image which quickly flashes up of a religious cross with Jesus on it. Next to this shows two bullets which could insinuate a lot of things. In the majority of the video you see the performer in front of a black background with a few lights shining in the shape of a halo around his head. This also bring across the religious connotations of the video.
Audience
The target audience for this video would be probably be anyone that enjoys listening to the genre of rap or hip hop. As Jay Z is a worldwide artist he has many fans for all different types and styles of music but it’s usually the younger generation that enjoy his music more. He also sets the trend for most young African American males as he has style and on the basic fact that he is a very successful artist.
If the audiences looked into the video a bit more they may find it that it’s a bit disturbing due to the fact of all the images used that connate religious belief. They may interpret that he could be a devil worshiper. Audiences can find all of the videos by the artist on such sites as YouTube and also can be accessed via the television as well. The album ‘ the blueprint 3’ has this particular song on it but also you may be able to buy feature DVD’s which has the video on.
Institutions
Jay Z’s music would be added to a few channels on television as most of his music sells reasonably well and is always mostly in the charts but more likely to be on more hip hop channels such as ‘channel aka’. He also owns his own record label which comes under his own name of ‘roca-fella’ but is also under def jam records.
This is a textual analysis of the music video and suggest that the rapper 'Jay-Z' is a devil worshipper.
No comments:
Post a Comment