Analysis of ‘3005’ by Childish Gambino

Genre elements Conventions Characters – representations, stereotypes, behaviour, body language, specific actors/stars

There are only two characters in this entire video, one being the artists himself and the other being a stuffed teddy bear. Childish Gambino plays himself in the video and the teddy bear could be represented as a symbol of his love towards his lover. This representation could be taken because the main chorus contains the lyrics “I'll be right by your side 'till three thousand and five.” and he is also depicted in the video as having his arm around the bear. The two characters are also shown sat closely together on a ferris wheel ride at a theme park which is something you would do with your partner usually.

This music video is quite conventional for a rap genre video in the sense that there are two main characters and the main theme is love but at the same time using a teddy bear instead of his real 'lover' as a symbol of his love is quite an unconventional thing to do.

Narrative events –how is the narrative ordered and structured? Can character types or other narrative elements such as opposites/ stages of equilibrium/disequilibrium be applied to photos/video?

The narrative is ordered chronologically because the video is taken in a single take and the teddy bear slowly becomes more damaged throughout the video each time it is shown. This could be a representation of how even though the appearance of the bear worsens over time, he is still sat next to it, showing that his love will remain eternal. This also relates to the lyric, “I'll be right by your side, 'till three thousand and five.”

The video establishes a state of equilibrium at the very start when the teddy bear appears brand new, this could be a symbol of the very start of a relationship with somebody. As the video progresses and the bears condition slowly get worse, a state of disequilibrium is slowly introduced because things are no longer 'Perfect' and then at the end of a video the bear is shown sat on the ferris wheel on it's own in an awful condition which brings in the final state of disequilibrium.

The narrative is conventional in this music video because it is all about the artist showing his love and for a rap video that is quite a stereotypical theme in music videos of this genre.

Iconography – props, symbolic codes/fonts/colour schemes

In this music video the artist himself can be taken as part of the iconography because in almost every single video of this genre the rap artist performing the song are their own main characters within the video. There are also a lot of very bright colours and lights within the music video because it is set in a fairground and although the setting itself is not very typical of rap genre music videos the bright lights are quite conventional within this genre of music.

Setting- mise en scene in moving image/photos

The video for this song is set in a theme park on a ferris wheel at night. There are lots of bright lights and varied colours that you would expect to see at a theme park. The shot cycles through periods of high key lighting at the bottom of the wheel to periods of very low key lighting when he is at the top of the ferris wheel which makes the video more interesting to watch because it makes the artist appear in a much more moody light in parts of the video.

Technical and audio codes – camera use, editing, lighting, diegetic/non diegetic sound, sfx/page layout: the Guttenberg principle/rule of thirds

One very unusual feature of this music video is that the whole thing is shot in one very long take. This is very unconventional and might be done to emphasise the passing of time without distorting the setting of the ferris wheel, this technique is very effective at actually making the audience feel as though the time is dragging on.

Although the sound is edited on top of the video when the recording for the video is finished it is done in a way to make it appear like the rapping in the song is actually diegetic sound from the actual video.

The lighting throughout the video is constantly changing which makes the video more interesting for the audience to watch.

I think this video does conform to Steve Neale's theory of mental machinery because it engages the audience and lets each person interpret the narrative as they want.