Goodwins conventions

Kanye West – Through the wire

Relationship between the lyrics and the visuals

• The relationship between the visuals and the lyrics is amplified. As the video progresses we understand that Kanye West is actually telling a story of his accident that resulted in his fatal injuries and how he is still able to rap although his mouth is wired. A clear example is at the beginning when there is a preface that informs us the motives behind the artists song.

The artist says “I’ll spit it through the wire” meaning he’ll continue to rap although the metal wire in his mouth as shown in the middle picture. The lyrics usually associate with what it seems the be a corkboard filled with memories of how he got from the accident to the hospital back into the studio reinforcing the fact there is a story behind what happened, a clear illustration of how the artist has ‘progressed’ through his recovery stage and how the on screen images present that

Relationship between the music and the visuals

• From 0:21 to 0:25 we see how the beat of the music is in sync with the appearance of the words, just as the lyrics this illustrates the music because of its precise timing. This is illustrated throughout the video when changing from picture to picture, it creates a flow to the music video and allows the artist to move on from one point to another as the narrative progresses, creating a more smoother effect so the music and visuals don't contradict one another.

Style and iconography

The style and iconography of this particular music video contradicts as well as conforms to typical conventions of iconography in a Rap/Hip-hop video. An example of the video challenging typical iconographic conventions would be with the corkboard and how the artist portrays his story through memories he has hung up on the wall, as well as the Polaroid picture snippets which are usually associated with more of an indie younger audience.

The image on the right is what we expect to see in a Rap/Hip-hop video because the male besides Kanye is wearing a basketball jersey and a baseball hat with chains, and the environment is a studio where the artist is recording his songs. We also see that the main artist is on stage with Jay-z towards the end which seems to appear as a tour from the artists.

Close ups

• In the music video here are several close ups of the artist. These close ups portray emotion of the character and promotes the main artist. Because the music video contains emotion and the story described is a personal saga for the artist the close ups create a feel of the story being of his own and that he is the author, that type of portrayal. The close ups portray the features of a rap video, it includes what he wears and shows his injuries/mouth restriction due to the wire.

Voyeurism

• In terms of looking screens within screens the constant effect throughout the music video of how the pictures begins as still images but changes into a video is used throughout the music video.

Intertextual references

• In the music video there are intertextual references to different labels and broadcasters. An example of one is MTV airing the accident of Kanye west. Another example that is shown is Jay-Z’s label roccafella, alongside with music labels a variety of albums are shown in a burst of 6 seconds, albums such as Illmatic by nas, there are others from Tawlib kewl and many other artists such as Jay-z