Conventional and Unconventional Music Videos
Conventional
‘Just a Lil’ Bit’ by 50 Cent:
This is a good example of a very conventional music video within the hip-hop genre by the well-established artist 50 Cent. In the video, we can see endless examples of hip-hop genre conventions in use. Perhaps most obvious of which, regarding the mise-en-scene, are the luxurious and glamorous locations, such as the tropical island, the yacht, and the expensive hotel. We also see the artist wearing expensive and glamorous clothing, including large necklaces and various other jewellery, large flashy trainers, baseball caps and over-sized shirts – as is customary in the genre. These factors combined add to the marketability of the artist and represents him as of powerful status, stylish and rich. This representation is enhanced further by the camera movement, as we frequently see low-angled close-up shots of the artist (the low angle making it so he appears in control and more intimidating), as well as by the flock of women following him wherever he goes, and always wearing slightly less clothes than in the previous shot. The camera movement around these women also add to the image of the artist, although in this case perhaps also to most of the male population, as dominant. This is suggested by the voyeuristic, often slow-motion, shots of the women fixated upon various parts of their anatomy – often with little effort made to cover which up. Furthermore, we cannot overlook the inclusion and references to money (chief of which is the large bag of cash carried by the artist at the end) or other aspects of the narrative, such as hints towards violence and murder, as well as the use of the women as bait to lure the victims into the hands of 50 Cent, or ‘El Jefe’ – the name of his ‘character’ in the music video (which, incidentally, means ‘the boss’ in Spanish). All of these conventional techniques are used in order to create an image of a powerful, rich, dominant, intimidating, and even perhaps threatening, artist in 50 Cent – an intention which is shared among the vast majority of hip-hop videos.
Unconventional
‘Window Licker’ by Aphex Twin:
This video, on the other hand, is rather strange, and makes for a nice comparison with the 50 Cent video. An argument could be made that the video uses several conventions (particularly form the hip-hop and dance genres), and that many of these are the same as those used in the previous video. However, this video very deliberately uses these conventions and puts a new spin on them. There are the same voyeuristic camera movements towards the women, and the same low-angled close-up shots of the artist, and a very obvious attempt has been made to sell the face of the artist and create a visual style, yet the face of the artist being put onto all of the women changes everything. This creates the idea of mocking the genre conventions of hip-hop and this is also evident in the exaggerated, bumbling attempts of the two men at the beginning of the video. Because of this mocking, and the evident over-selling of the artist, this video becomes unconventional by overusing and slightly changing what would be conventional. The idea of Aphex Twin’s face on every woman could be interpreted in different ways. It could be seen as a further jibe towards the hip-hop conventions, suggesting that hip-hop artists are egotistical and in truth worship themselves, or perhaps that they, and the women in their videos, are shallow, unoriginal and practically indistinguishable – or it could simply be a deliberate attempt to make the video unconventional and stand out.
One That I Like
‘Dragostea Din Tei’ by O-Zone
Unfortunately, the embedding tool for this video has been ‘disabled due to request’, so here is the URL instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9MzKJak_ZQ. In truth, this music video is extremely conventional (perhaps a little tacky), doesn’t boast any particular excellence in terms of either technique, mise-en-scene or content, and cannot genuinely be taken seriously. In spite of this, however, I find it very cheerful and enjoyable. This is largely due to the fact that the song itself is very cheerful (and an incredibly conventional boy band song), with which the mise-en-scene (in particular the costumes and ridiculously unrealistic locations) and dance routines correspond perfectly. The fact that all of these conventions are compressed into these five minutes of video undoubtedly makes it very cheesy – but, for me at least, this also makes it fun and memorable. What perhaps also makes the video so enjoyable is that it reminds me a lot of the Ben Stiller film ‘Zoolander’ (2001) – which I love for the same reasons. Neither should be used as shining beacons of example for technical excellence; however both are fun, energetic and loveable.
