Chase and Status – Let You Go Chase and Status’ music video shows a television programme based around Jeremy Kyle’s chat show. This shows the presenter behind the scenes committing most of the offenses the public come on there to sort out.

The genre of music (drum and bass/dance) matches this hard hitting video: one of Andrew Goodwin’s forms and conventions. Another one is that the music follows the pace and editing is synced with the audio. This particular video has a narrative which the viewer can follow and in some cases relate with. The song follows this narrative throughout.

The director uses a lot of close ups of the actor to show the facial expression and emotions.

Nearly almost the shots are dark and dreary which allow the viewer the recognise the mood and atmosphere of the song and video.

The storyline behind the narrative used in some ways can reflect the genre of music in more than one way. E.g. the drug taking and alcohol drinking, clubbing and having sex are all part of the dance/dnb/techno scene. This can also represent the band as chase and status are both DJs and I think would be looking for a hard hitting video to match their music which hopefully people will find serious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpFfM_dili4

Close up

Dark and dreary locations

Establishing shot

Chase and Status have only recently become mainstream however the few official videos they have produced follow the same style. Looking at previous videos it is obvious to see that chase and status take a serious approach to how their music is presented. Being DJs and not literally being able to be in the video singing and dancing means they have to find alternatives such as acting. Many of chase and status’ music videos follow a common narrative of violence, drug use etc however not on an extreme level.

The genre of drum and bass started underground however such artists as chase and status have brought it up for the masses to enjoy.

Taken from Chase and Status – End Credits.

Chase and Status – Against All Odds

The song ‘End credits’ (left hand screenshots) was originally made for the end credits of the film Harry Brown. The official video is formed from clips of the film and also Plan B singing, who also plays a character in the film.

Harry Brown is a film about London youth gang culture. This fits well with the iconography linked with drum and bass.

Devlin - RunawayDevlin’s song and video match very well. Devlin’s music usually represents working class struggle and real life situations that listeners can relate to.

The music video has a narrative/storyline related to the song which features different actors. However the video switches from the story line to Devlin by himself, rapping. Later Devlin is also involved in the narrative as well as rapping This constant switching allows the artist to be part of the lime light as well as having the story told by professional artists and also taking part in the story!

There are many close ups of the actors however much more of the artist himself. Making him the star of the video, as it should be.

The video is set in what it looks like a council estate. This area and the people involved in this video represent the type of music it is accompanying; grime/rap. This reputation of working class life links with the background of Devlin himself making him more authentic with the street/grime genre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv5uWbszvB8

Mise en scene

Close ups

This style of music was originally formed in London and is associated mostly with gun crime and black youth culture. With other artists reinforcing this view Devlin’s music video for ‘Runaway’ has taken the opposite approach, speaking of struggles and literally physically running away from it all rather than fighting.

Artists such as Skepta who have only recently become mainstream famous, in a way, often sell out for the typical representations of woman and money in their videos. In this case there is a different view of woman as there is a very strong female role model which takes up a majority of the three minute time limit. This goes against one of Andrew Goodwin’s forms and conventions.

During the clips of Devlin by himself rapping, the camera often rotates around him as he makes eye contact with the viewer as this shows his importance and lets the viewer know immediatley who the artist is, even with a woman singer also features in the video.

Skepta – Cross My Heart The music video for Skepta’s latest song is very

hypocritical. With the title ‘Cross my heart’ it is used during the song in two ways. One way is from Preeya Kalidas towards Skepta expressing that she would never hurt/leave him however they are not even together! Despite this, Skepta is still surrounded by many women with little clothing on. The other way is Skepta claims to never go mainstream and forget those who got him where he is today. This is ironic as he has sold out for the biggest stereotype of a black rapper for this video. There are very strong representations of wealth and status e.g. the giant white house, white Lamborghini, gold furniture and interior and the flash outfits worn by him.

As mentioned above woman have been used negatively in this video. They have only been used to surround Skepta in his mansion to reinforce his status/power.

Even the featuring woman singer ‘Preeya Kalidas’ is seen sprawled across the bed every time she says “I promise”, making direct eye contact with the camera giving a feeling of connection for the viewer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebfMLSAF6Ak

The setting for the video is very limited to the inside and outside of the mansion. However the editing keeps the video interesting as it has been synced to the fast beat.

The beginning style has the feeling of the beginning of a film with the gold names floating in front of Skepta and Preeya. The font style and gold lettering is brash and tacky; it is almost an ironic representation of the key codes and conventions of hip hop videos. The colour palette is dominated by gold.

The video offers lots of medium close ups when Skepta is rapping. This is so we can see his expressions and really feel the words he is speaking. The repeated use of close-ups of the lead singer was highlighted by Andrew Goodwin who states that close-ups are used to promote the artist and reinforce the artist’s status within the video.

The woman featured in Skepta’s music video have a very passive role. This is proven by their position and posture.

The woman in his video have been objectified and are obviously only there to be looked at by, typically, the male audience. They have not only been objectified by the men watching the video but also the men in the music video.

During the whole video, only the guest female singer moves. The other female models act like statues surround the lead singer, not even being aloud to dance as if he owns them all.

This is supported by Andrew Goodwin’s forms and conventions. In almost hip-hop video woman will be used in this way in order to lure the male viewer in and make him aspire to be the lead singer with all these woman.