Case Studies

Jay Sean

Where Do We Go

The opening of the song is with a long wide shot showing a car moving in. At this point there is a diegetic post-synchronised sound of the car breaking. Although the sound is a reflexion of an action in the video it is actually one of its editing techniques as the sound is put on after as an effect, so it’s much clearer and effective as its quite dramatic. It then suddenly switches to slow music, played by a guitar. This is then followed by a close up of someone holding a clip board and tapping it with a pencil, showing that they are thinking; this action supports the slow music. It then switches to a zoomed out shot giving an over the shoulder shot of the person looking at the clip board. But the person is still anonymous as you haven’t yet seen his face. The shot then changes to another where he is sitting on a stall in a very low lit room, where only he is in the spotlight and is rubbing his head. This may be showing he his lonely or depressed and lost in thoughts. We then see a medium close up shot from the back of him until the scene changes back to the music room. This is when the scene fades to back to the actor where we are able to see that it is Jay Sean. During this time Jay Sean is placed on one side of the screen in many of the shots. For technique a slow fade shot has been used nearly throughout the song, this may be there to represent the loneliness he is feeling as when he says “I don’t know what I’m gonna do” the scene fades back to him sitting alone on a stall all alone in a dark room and only he is in the spotlight. There are high angled shots throughout out for when Jay Sean is on the stall showing his vulnerability and the fact that he’s urging his lyrics towards the camera, show strong emotions. This also reflects how he feels as he is being looked down on, just because he feels lost as he does not know where his relationship with her is going. The song is a narrative throughout but it has scenes of him sitting in the studio, thinking and these are always in black and white, this could be to reflect the dullness and how he feels. He then starts to talk about love and there’s a scene of him playing pool alone and the moment where he says “it wasn’t supposed to be this hard” the camera pans from left to right on to his face which is followed by a match on action allowing the viewers to see that he is indecisive as he’s playing pool one moment, sets it up again but then just walks away from the table. Whilst he is walking in a narrow corridor, the camera is slightly out of focused so shows him blurred but the lighting as it has been so far continues to be dull in such a way that you are able to see the decorations in the corridor but you are unable to see his face, this may be because he may want to be hiding and not to be seen as he is so lost as he can’t get what he wants back; the love of his life.  The scene then changes to him driving out in his car a Bentley, where extreme close ups of his face are shown and the lyrics at this point are “where do we go, so girl I need to know” showing his heading out but is alone at ten in the night not knowing where he’s going and has lost his love. This connotes that he is confused and is trying to hide from his identity as he is not happy with himself at the moment as he is not getting the answer that he wants and is waiting for. Also although he may be rich which we know by him being well dressed and his expensive car but it shows money can’t buy love nor can it bring happiness as, In the end he is walking on the streets in a very busy area, but he’s alone. The scene ends here so we know that the love of his life didn’t come back after all he called her or wanted her back. The reason is not shown why but it leaves the audience with an open opinion to think why. It may have been a case of Jay Sean not appreciating his girlfriend at the time but when she left he realised what she was worth then, which is the reason to why the title of the song is where we go as Jay Sean doesn’t know where his relationship is going from this point onwards.

In this song there are many parts where over layering has been used of Jay Sean on a screen, but I won’t like to do that as my location will not be inside and it would send double emotions and mixed messages as in this video it shows you two different angles and sides of him as he is upset in one but looks straight at the camera in a serious way in the other. However I will like to extract some editing techniques such as the fade, as it helps represent a certain mood and emotion as it helps reflect the fact that the actor is upset is represented well with fades as the effect can be done quite slow and the darkness, if done in black and white reflects the dullness. Another thing is the way the scene started with the sound of the car engine stopping. I think it works pretty well as it gives a division from the scene and music so the music only starts when the storyline does. I also liked the part where he is in a room and is having direct eye contact with the camera and this shows he is speaking directly to the viewer, but this also helps focus on his emotions more which is what makes it a good narrative story. I will use these pacific techniques as my video requires paper to be torn in the beginning of the scene before the music starts so editing sound will be added on. As well as direct eye contact with the camera as my chosen song is quite slow and purely based on a heart broken/ guilt character so in order for it to be a successful music video it is very important to have strong emotions and this is shown best when the character is speaking directly to the viewer.

Drake Ft Rihanna

Take care

The start of the song is with a piano beat with a medium wide shot shows a slow motion of a person falling, as you can see their hands up in the air with dust flaring up and bits of pieces of paper which makes it come across that they may be falling into water or just on something that has just broken which would explain the material flaring up. As the music is still slow but then carries on when the bird is flying off. The camera is held still at both moments but it’s just the movement in the scene going off the edge of the screen. It then changes to a cold scene where there are clouds covering the view but as the camera moves into it you can see the icy scenery of the mountains and then the scene changes to a girl in white in a studio with a grey swerved background and then the camera zooms out of her. This is a smart technique as it creates questions to what the link is between the two scenes of zooming in and out motion, in the viewer’s eyes.

In this video as soon as the rapping starts there is a close up on drake whilst he’s rapping, to show his facial expressions as it’s a mixture of emotions but as soon as he looks at the camera he doesn’t look back at it, this may be because he’s explaining how he didn’t care what people said and he couldn’t face the truth or because he’s in denial about it.  There are various shots angles as well as medium shots and long shots to get the whole body language. During this the lighting changes according to his words and emotions and body language so the more Drake jumps from one side to another the background turns darker each time. However there are many shots where the camera zooms in to Drake and then switches to Rihanna where it has her in the same posture and then zooms out of her. A good thing about the video is that the angles on drake change according to the beat of the song and the words. This way it looks as if he’s showing you how he feels, which it is as not only is he just singing but he’s also acting it out as he remembers it all perfectly and rather than showing the audience a flashback he’s visualised it through the narrative as a monologue. The part where it says “look me in my eyes” there is a shot of the bird and its eyes open, this can come across as Rihanna’s free like a bird which is why every time Drake speaks to her it refers back to the bird. There are a lot of slow motions used but this may be to support the gloominess every time the song takes a turn and goes slow. It also has a bit of a mime dancer to reflect the African themed music and as soon as the beat goes faster the scene changes from the cold mountains to a burning forest and the speed at which the scenes keep changing from one to another gets much faster.

In this video there are many angles used and as soon as the beat gets faster the repetition of angles increase as well as the change in different scenes. This is this songs best feature and something I might consider to extract as it does work pretty well, especially because I’m looking to do a bit of the narrative. The zoom in and out feature was also a good one as it creates thoughtful links, as one scene is finishing off another. The fast pace of the song and switching angles every time the beat kicks in is what actually gets the song going as the image supports the sound therefore gets the viewer more attracted and pulled into the video to watch it more. The narrative part is a feature I will definitely be subverting into my music video as the rapping allows the character to get direct eye contact with full emotions out to its audience. The target audience for this Hip Hop & R&B genre is young adults so from early teens to mid 20s as it’s the age young people are most likely to enjoy listening to music genres such as this.

Jay Sean
Sex 101

The video starts off with multiple shots of people saying sex 101 and the screens switch to a difference person every time the phrase changes from sex to 101. The video then shows a car pull up in front of a house which is followed by an establishing shot to show the location. This is the front porch of a house. This is to get the audience a feel of the type of area, as it seems privately residential, showing that it is quite expensive and a quite area where there’s no one passing by. As Jay Sean then gets out of the car the camera pans from right to left and as he walks up to the stairs you start to get a better view of the house but there is a match on action as he enters. It then shows a ladies point of view as she sees him come in this shot is blurred but the purpose of it is to get the audience to know that there is a women in the room at the entrance as he passes through the next door and there’s a lady in the pool. It then switches to the next scene which is in a different location, most likely a studio where it’s just him and his mistress who he is singing the lyrics to. It then goes back to him entering the room where there is an extreme close up on the vodka bottle and the camera then zooms out of it to show another girl sat with it, and the fact that its empty, which was one of the reasons to the extreme close up, shows she must be really tipsy and then the scene goes back to the studio with Sean and his mistress and then shows the girl licking vodka off olive, that he then gets excited over. But the camera then pans from over the lady on the sofa and tilts far away and down to show yet another girl standing at the back. The camera then goes back on to Sean where you see him checking someone out and as soon as he comes out of the frame on the left another girl enters from the right. The fact that she’s wearing a very seductive one piece suit which is half netted and is carrying a wiping stick gives the audience an idea that Jay Sean may just be a pimp or he just isn’t able to control his desires but has his mistress who he loves at the same time. The use of having tyga pop up in the living room as a music rapper from the ground is a good technique as he just describes what Sean is already seeing the two girls on the bed do and although he’s not really there he technically is as he does know what is going on like when he says “get you high when I’m going low” he points his fingers to show a narrative action but then the scene goes to the two lesbians on a bed going up and down one another. In the video there is a running of the part where he is with his mistress but shows a lot about what Jay Sean in his own time does.

Overall from the video there are some good editing techniques used and some really useful camera shots and techniques that I could think of using in my video such as the one of Tyga popping up mid way of the song and the shots where Jay Sean is on the bed looking directly at the camera and singing, but then there’s that blur effect on the edges so it’s just focusing on him and the two ladies next to him however I didn’t like the shot of where he’s sitting on the bed and  is looking towards the camera in front and singing but the angle it is taken from is a side shot, this is because you can tell he’s singing to another camera however if he was just looking around even if it was a side shot I wouldn’t mind it, but my preference wouldn’t be to use what is in that particular scene. I wouldn’t use the repetitive technique in the beginning of the multiple face shots either as I think it’s more interesting to go straight into the movie although I understand why it’s been done as those are the main characters throughout the video. In this video women are portrayed as a sex object but this is obvious as they are all in lingerie, heels and stockings and happy to serve any man who comes in their way, and the song is based on sex one on one, but this term is the referral for Sean singing it to his mistress which is why he only says it in the scenes his with her, but its contradicting the question of love as he says sex 101 because he has so many ladies with him who are ready to make love on the same sheets as he plans to sleep with his mistress on.

The target audience for this video I would say would be young adults from aged 17 and above as to understand the role of Jay Sean in this video you would have to be quite mature, in order to understand loyalty in relationships. However an age group too old would find this a little too explicit as it’s known as ‘pimping’ and quite unacceptable as cheating on your partner isn’t quite fair, it’s unfaithful.