VIDEO ANALYSISJay-z and Kanye West – OTIS

This video is by a artist called “Jay-z and Kanye West” the song relating to the visual is called “OTIS” I will be doing an analysis of the video. I will be analysing various aspect of the visual commence in reading the presentation to

find out.

Genre

This video is evidently a visual from a Hip-Hop/Rap song, this is evident because the visual itself doesn’t really possess any narrative relevant to the song, this is common in Rap and Hip-Hop videos. Also the movement in the visual is more of a erratic nature as opposed to the modest movements you would see in a pop song the idea of this hints that it is a Rap song. Also features such as costume give the Rap/Hip-Hop feel, branded and designer garments dress the artists in a new age trendy manor which is relative to Rap and Hip-Hop.

Setting and DecorIn this particular video there are only few setting. The first setting is a garage, where the car is the main focus. The car is the main focus because it is a millionaires car yet it is being destructed, this emphasis the genre (rap/hip-hop) implying rappers love to flash their money/financial status’ Listening to the song the car has no relevance to the lyrics, emphasising the fact that there is no narrative.

The next setting we have is a industrial estate, Kanye and Jay are like to elder kids, who love to have fun. They treat their car like a toy and the industrial estate is like their play ground as they drive it around erratically.

Costume

In this visual, there are particular costumes that imply the specific person relevance to the video and also costumes that don’t imply anything at all. Firstly we have the people dressed in overalls, this has been used by the director to imply that they're mechanics. Next we have Kanye and Jay in normal clothing, designer. The difference between Kanye and Jay in this visual is that at a moment Kanye changes his bottoms into a red Balmian biker pair, this fits well with Kanye Star Image as he is a fashion icon and this is common for him. The artists costume compliment the genre because they're very hip and trendy, and are clothes you see most rappers wearing today, which also implies that they're in fact rappers. As I've said I think the director has chosen their costumes because it compliments their star images and the rappers the audience perceive them to be.

They're wearing sneakers also, “Jordan's” that are very popular in the Rap scene again implying they're rappers.

Props

The first prop we see is a car, this car is centre focus. Rap artist Kanye and Jay-z are holding tools, these are the next props we see, these tools are a angle grinder and a welder. This connotes to us as audience that they're about to destroy the car. Also the car is a Maybach, a model that is very common to posses to the richer rap stars and entertainers, this implies they're rappers as they can afford one. Again emphasising the genre of the video. I think the director has used these props not only to emphasis the genre but also to resemble the erratic and reckless behaviour tendency's labels that have been associated with the pair (Kanye and Jay-z)

Body Language and Movement

The movement is this video is very energetic and erratic. In every instance the body language of the two artist (Kanye and Jay-z) is very upright, this related to the upbeat music. As a audience this connotes to use that they're having fun and messing around, “Living the dream”. I feel the director has chosen this simply because it complement the rhythm and beat of the actual song it also creates a optimistic emotion to the visual, also to those who follow these artists, through their star images, they can relate as they can mimic what they're doing and the way they act as they “Live the dream” also.

Kanye moves a little more erratic in this video, we see this through his nature in the media, as he scares of pap's, and ambushes artist speeches at award shows. Those who don’t follow these artist could interpret this visual to be unconnected, as they're themselves are unconnected with the artists nature previous to the visual, so they don’t know how the artists acts regularly therefore wont really understand the concept of the visual.

PerformanceThe artists are very important in the video, because they provide the visual with or detail, without them performing and lip syncing the video would only be of a car driving around in an industrial estate. This has no concept but putting the artist in flips the concept, and makes us look deeper into the concept of the video and how it has be planned and produced relative to the artist nature (erratic, old but young, playful and always in the media for controversial things) image and the way the audience perceive them to be. Being a follower of these artists and seeing the manor they perform in this visual is truly entertaining, this would grasp the attention of not only existing audience but also new audience with its controversial plot. Then again the artist who provides the sample for the song “Otis Redding” doesn’t feature in the video, this raises the fact of is he needed to make this visual popular.

NarrativeIn this visual there is a narrative to an certain extent, the narrative doesn't necessary relate to the song as the song isn't about driving a Maybach around an industrial estate. On the other hand the narrative itself is the artist driving a car around a industrial estate. Both the artist, Kanye and Jay-z are involved in the narrative, but this does add something to the music video even though it doesn’t relate to the lyrics, it brings as I've said before a optimistic feel to the visual.