Performanced Based Music videos of this type mostly feature the artist/band/group performing the song throughout the video. This type of music video is popular amongst rock music, one band in particular which favour this type of music video is Blink-182. The band's single 'I Miss You' is an example, the video largely features the band performing the track, while a sequence of other footage weaves between.
Narrative Based
This type of music video uses footage to portray a story, usually the lyrics lay out the plotline of the video. Actors are often involved in videos of this type, and sometimes the artists themselves also feature as a character. One example of this type is Eminem's 'Stan'. This music video tells the story of an over-obsessed fan who's obsession with the Eminem leads to him losing his mind after the artist not replying to his numerous letters, and ends up killing himself and his girlfriend in a drink-driving incident.
Concept Based
Music videos of this type are based around a single concept or idea. They do not present a story to follow but use certain techniques and editing to express the idea, usually making the video seem unordinary. One example of a concept based music video is The XX's 'Islands'. This video uses a looped filming technique to present the idea of a couple who have found love and therefore do not need to explore again, however the realisation that they won't be able to go elsewhere begins to strike which bothers the female in particular who is unsure if she has found the right person.
This is the logo for clothing brand 'Supreme', founded in New York in 1994 by James Jabbia. The brand's profile grew quickly and in 2004 a store was opened in Los Angeles; the home of OFWGKTA. Supreme is seen as a skate brand, and is extremely popular amongst skateboarding culture. Besides music, each Odd Future member skates and favours this particular brand.
This screenshot from 'She', is taken from the part where Tyler, The Creator's character Wolf Haley freakishly appears at the window after a lightning strike. The skating Odd Future rapper is sporting a 'Supreme' hoody, intertextually referencing the New York based clothing brand.
This is an image of the artwork of Tyler, The Creator's second studio album; 'Goblin'. The chart-topping album was released on 10th May 2011, and is the most successful album released by any OFWGKTA members. Tyler, The Creator often mentions the album title and even creates the chant 'Goblin!' at many of Odd Future's live performances, the album has also been intertextually referenced on occasions in the Collective's music.
This image taken from the first few seconds of 'She' shows a street sign of the fictional neighbourhood the video is set in; 'Nilbog', which noticeable reversed spells 'Goblin' - the title of Tyler, The Creator's album. This is one example of the album's references placed in OFWGKTA videos.
This screenshot is taken from N.W.A's 1988 single 'Straight Outta Compton', it features an armed policeman pointing his gun towards the Gangster-Rap group. N.W.A are a very popular Hip-Hop force, especially amongst LA where their music helped build the foundations for West Coast Hip-Hop during the 80's and early 90's. They also grew a reputation for rebellion against the police department, songs such as this one and 'Fuck Tha Police' expressed their disrespect.
This almost identical image is a screenshot taken from 'She', it shows another policeman in similar attire as the previous image with a gun pointed towards the artist; Tyler, The Creator of OFWGKTA. The police were stereotyped by N.W.A as racist white males, like the policeman used in 'She'. Twenty years after N.W.A's reign, the same attitude towards police is used by modern day LA group OFWGKTA. The reference to the original West Coast Hip-Hop group is evident.
Here is an image of the late Rap icon Notorious B.I.G 'shooting dice' outside a liquor store on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. This is a popular activity amongst American Hip-Hop culture. The image was taken during the early 90's, a famous time period of Hip-Hop's history commonly referred to as 'The Golden Era', due to the emergence of many extremely talented artists such as Notorious B.I.G (Biggie Smalls).
Here is a shot taken from Tyler, The Creator's 'She' video. It shows Odd Future members Frank Ocean, Domo Genesis and Jasper Dolphin doing a similar activity to the one in the previous picture. Odd Future (OFWGKTA) are a modern Alternative Hip-Hop group, a sub-genre which spawned from 90's Hip-Hop after artists like Notorious B.I.G pioneered the genre and lead it into new directions. This shot from the 2011 'She' video is a throwback to Hip-Hop's earlier days, showing a cultural reference.
Genre Characteristics
'She' is a spooky alternative Hip-Hop ballad by Tyler, The Creator and featuring Frank Ocean, the video is directed by Tyler, The Creator under his alter-ego title; Wolf Haley. The video shows a lot of the genre's characteristics, beginning with the first seconds which show a group of African-Americans 'shooting dice', a popular activity amongst Hip-Hop's culture. The next sequence in the video shows another genre characteristic with Frank Ocean on a bed with a female before raising a gun after the appearance of Tyler's alter-ego Wolf Haley at the female's bedroom window, sex and violence have both been common topics among Hip-Hop for years. Another genre characteristic which appears later on in the video is when the police appear and arrest Wolf Haley and his two assosciates, the police are another hot topic amongst Hip-Hop. Over the years the genre has grown a notorious reputation for being largely anti-police, songs such as N.W.A's 1988 release 'Fuck Tha Police' and KRS-One's 'Sound Of da Police'. The video also shows Alternative characteristics in instances where Tyler's alter-ego Wolf Haley stalks the female, firstly appearing staring through her window before stalking her by her bedside then smelling her underwear, then writing 'Meet At Lake' before taking a fluffy toy from her bed and running. The video partly shows the story of this character stalking the female, and ends with him standing behind her sofa while watching her.
Relationship Between Lyrics and Visuals
'She' shows a strong relationship between lyrics and visuals. While the visuals portray a storyline, the lyrics act as a narrative. The video is directed cleverly showing the two artists featuring on the track as characters each showing different stories, Frank Ocean playing a neighbour with a keen interest in the female who is fended off by Tyler, The Creator's character Wolf Haley who sadistically stalks the female. Frank Ocean's character is introduced first as he watches the female moving in to her new house as they share eye contact, "New girl moved on the block", Frank Ocean's lyric which sets off the storyline of his interest in her.
The next sequence is set later that night and shows him with her in her bed, before the introduction of Wolf Haley appearing at the window. After noticing Wolf Haley's daunting figure, Frank Ocean backs away from the girl before phoning the police and informing them of what had occured, "A real ninja with the blade and the mask", Frank Ocean explains Wolf Haley's appearance at the window and then leaves the video; introducing the video's next chapter. The female climbs back into her bed and falls asleep as Wolf Haley is now standing at her bedside, he walks around the room while stalking her before his lyric "Meet me by the lake" is said while he visually writes the same thing on her mirror. Wolf Haley is then seen running out of the house before the focus is back on Frank Ocean who is now sitting against a wall in the garden as he sings the hook. "The blinds wide open so he can see you in the dark while your sleeping", this chilling lyric explains Wolf Haley stalking the female, as his appearance suggests he is threatened by the character. He then points at the bedroom window and sings the final lyric of the hook "Check your window, he's at your window", again showing Wolf Haley's unordinary behaviour towards the female.
Th next scene is fast-paced and shows Wolf Haley frantically cycling towards the lake with his two friends following behind him, while he raps the bridge of the song. "One, two, you're the girl that i want", this lyric explains why he is stalking the girl while his visual appearance shows his vigarous determination to get her. A cross-cut to the female happily cycling towards the lake along with her two friends calmly behind her shows her vulnerability to this empowering character, while Tyler, The Creator's lyric "I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the forest and fornicate with it, but that's because i'm in love with you" is said while the focus is still on the female, this shows how she is in an alarming situation as is not aware of Wolf Haley's intentions.
The next scene takes place in Wolf Haley's mind, he arrives at the lake where the female and her friends have came to meet him. His behaviour has become calmer as he holds her hand while saying "I just wanna talk and conversate, 'cause I usually just stalk and masturbate", explaining why he wanted the female to meet him at the lake and suggesting he wants to change his ways and draw an end to his stalking. "I finally got the courage to ask you on a date so just say yes and let the future fall into place", he proceeds to explain to the female that he wants to stop stalking her and pleads for her to 'say yes' to him so the pair may enter a relationship. Suddenly the visuals and music both dissapear while Wolf Haley stands on the rock as his friends ask where the female and her friends are, showing that the event was just a fantasy of the main character's.
Suddenly the police arrive to arrest Haley and his two friends as Frank Ocean's hook plays again, reinstating Frank Ocean's character back into the song after he previously phoned the police to inform them of his appearance at the female's house. When the three are taken back to the neighbourhood, Wolf Haley steps out of the car after seeing the female standing outside. Tyler, The Creator then raps the bridge again while his character Haley performs it to the female, much like how he daydreamed about at the lake. This time however the bridge ends prematurely with "I just couldn't take it you're so motherfuckin' georgous", bringing a smile to the female.
Further Analysis
'She' is a narrative-based music video which presents a storyline of love rivals who are both after the same female, performed by OFWGKTA members Tyler, The Creator and Frank Ocean. The music video was the first high-budget video of the LA Collective, and the track itself features on Tyler, The Creator's sophomore album; 'Goblin'. The video features references, intertextual and culteral. One intertextual reference in the video is the 'Supreme' branded hooded jumper which Tyler, The Creator's character Wolf Haley wears. Culteral references in the video include certain features recognisable amongst Hip-Hop's culture, such as 'the hood' the video is set in, the character's at the start 'shooting dice', and the concept of sex.
This screenshot is taken from Tyler, The Creator's music video 'Yonkers', it shows the OFWGKTA spearhead's dangling legs just after he hangs himself. This particular shot has become virally famous and many can establish the artist through it.
This is a screenshot taken from MellowHype's '64', which shows a similar shot to the one taken from 'Yonkers'. Tyler, The Creator's video has reached almost 15,000,000 views on Youtube since it's release, so this reference could of been placed in the video to use some of the Odd Future frontman's buzz to draw more attention to the less speculated members of the group; Hodgy Beats and Left Brain (MellowHype).
'64' is a horror-rap song by alternative Hip-Hop duo MellowHype, the genre's characteristics are shown in a number of ways in the video. Hip-Hop has traditionally focused largely on religion, one artist who focused a lot of their music around religion and has been seen as a pioneer in Hip-Hop was Tupac (Makaveli), songs such as 'Hail Mary' and 'Ghetto Gospel' are examples. At the beginning of this song however, Left Brain is seen tearing out a page from the Bible to roll a joint and smoke it, this is a large characteristic of Alternative Hip-Hop as it completely disregards the conventions of traditional Hip-Hop and rebels against it. There is one part of the video which does preview characteristics of traditional Hip-Hop when Left Brain is on a drum kit, an instrument which has been used for years to create Hip-Hop music and was the main influence of the creation of 'Boom Bap', a popular style of Hip-Hop. The Horror-Rap genre of the song is shown many times throughout the video, one example is the duo member Hodgy Beats lying in a coffin at the front of a church which appears to be holding a funeral. He is wearing contact lenses for shock value while he raps aggressively at the camera, while draped in snakes. Also during the video, a possessed girl similar to that from the horror film ' The Exorcist' crawls through the isle towards Hodgy Beats in the coffin, adding to the horror of the video.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals
A lot of Hodgy Beats' lyrics are linked with the visuals. The first instance is when he mentions 'camera surveillance' and 'stun guns', first a camera surveillance effect is placed onto the video while Hodgy Beats physicalizes a camera lense with his hands, then he is seen holding a plastic gun after mentioning the second lyric quoted. Another lyric which links with the visuals is 'I'm rehearsing for my funeral', this is a clear link with the visuals as a funeral is the focus of the video. Hodgy Beats also mentions 'Wolves' numerous times during the song, this links with the visuals as there are people dressed in wolf costumes, and also the artists themselves who belong to Hip-Hop collective OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All).
Relationship between music and visuals
The music and beat used for the song link with the visuals. A chilling synth is used throughout the song which is suitable for the visuals and content in the video, focusing on death and funerals. Another link with the music and visuals is the aggressiveness of the beat, aggression is shown throughout the video. The duo move frantically are seen screaming and shouting a lot and an overall element of chaos is created in the video, Hodgy Beats in one instance also kicks the wall. Another part of the music which has a link with the visuals is the moment a wolf cry is heard, this links with the wolves in the video and again the name of the duo's collective they belong to; OFWGKTA.
Further Analysis
'64' is a concept-based music video, as there is no structured storyline. The video includes close ups and star motifs, specifically the close-ups of Hodgy Beats. There is a number of close-ups shots throughout the video of Hodgy Beats draped in snakes, as he stares intimidatingly at the camera with spooky contant lenses. These close-ups can be seen as star motifs as it shows the OFWGKTA member looking terrifying, which is the sort of reputation the LA Hip-Hop collective are intentionally building. There is also an intertextual reference in the video, a certain shot of Tyler, The Creator's dangling legs. Tyler, The Creator is the frontman and most speculated member of OFWGKTA, in his video 'Yonkers', the video ends with him stepping onto a stool with a rope and noose above his head and hanging himself where his legs are then seen dangling and squirming until they stop moving. MellowHype's '64' references this in it's music video, with the use of a similar shot.
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, no longer than five minutes duration, together with:
a cover for its release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD package)
a magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD package)
While summarizing the brief options, this particular brief appealed to me the most. I chose this one because I have a keen interest in music and while browsing I usually spend a lot of time watching music videos. I also have a large collection of albums on my itunes along with each album's artwork, album covers interest me a lot and therefore I would enjoy creating my own cover under this brief. Another bonus I feel I get when choosing this brief is that I previously studied advertisement in GCSE and created a number of magazine advertisements, so I can use my experience of GCSE to prepare and create a magazine advertisement in this brief. Overall a number of my favourite interests fall under this brief, so therefore i would have a lot more enthusiasm with this brief rather than the other options and this is what made me make my choice.
