Analysis of contemporary music video

Tyler the Creator - YonkersI have decided to analyze Yonkers which is a contemporary music video by an artist called ‘Tyler the Creator’.This music video starts off with the editor playing with the depth of field by changing the focus of the artist and the background which is a plain white room to create a different approach to the video giving it an interesting look also its connecting with the theme that the artist is portraying, he is expressing a lot of pain in the words and actions that he is showing which connects with the focusing to create the meaning he is trying to expose. A lot of editing techniques have been used on the intro of this song by using contrast, making the artist dark and the background white, to give that black and white effect. This effect could be used to reflect the persona this artist “Tyler the creator” is going for which is a very rebellious individual; this could be so that he can reach his target audience which is mainly teenagers.

Watching this music video, I can see that this video is not conventional and doesn’t carry the characteristics that most hip-hop songs do, which is cars, money girls etc instead this video is plain but effective. You would think that a music video being in a plain white room with the artist sitting down would be boring, where as they have been smart in making the video in so many ways as it keeps us engaged and wanting to keep watching. A few examples are the artist eats the cockroachAlso the artist doesn’t stay in sync with the words which is what we would usually expect in a music video, this again is playing with the conventions and subverting the general idea of a music video where an artists lips syncs there words. However the audience doesn’t usually take notice to this in other music videos, therefore the artist is making a point and going against the ‘norm’.

The artist goes against all the conventions an keeps us entertained by being different and doing things we wouldn’t expect to see in a music video such as hanging him self, eating a cockroach, vomiting etc. the audience gets a picture that the artist is presenting him self as being unique, the camera brings a extreme close up of the artists face emphasizing his eyes which shows that its marble black, something that illustrates the norm of human beings do not have.

Throughout this music video the lighting and colors of the video are quite dark, again connecting to the persona the artist is going for and the mood he is setting. Overall all the things ‘Tyler the creator’ is doing an talking about, along with the editing and shots is creating a meaning and a representation of who ‘Tyler the creator’ actually is and what persona he’s setting for his audience an followers.