Textual Analysis Music Video (1)

For this textual analysis I will be analysing the music video of the group duo Chiddy Bang and their video titled Ray Charles. The genre(s) represented in their music is hip hop, alternative hip hop and electronica. This corresponds with the music video we are aiming to create as a group by the artist Labrinth as the genre of his music is the same, that being hip hop and electronica.

As the video begins, two men, the members of Chiddy Bang, are seen sitting on the sofa talking with one another. The surroundings can be seen to be a basement from the stairs shown in the background with a stereotypical atmosphere for young male friends to associate with take away food and mess lying around with them both occupied listening and joking around to music on a laptop. The fact that they are talking with one another before any music is introduced into the video shows the generalness of the situation and involves the audience with the everyday aspect of it. For the first thirty seconds of the video, the talking continues until one of the men decides to play the song on the laptop, that will be the one the audience are then going to listen to, further involving the audience. The fact this video starts off with the conversation before leading into the actual music, relates to our groups video for the fact we are contemplating having diagetic sound played at the beginning of our video before leading onto the soundtrack. The song is catchy and appealing and therefore hooks the target audience into wanting to watch the video. Product placement is seen to take place through the use of the laptop they are watching the video on, being played on the internet music channel Vevo. This allows the audience to relate to the characters within the video and witness the everyday settings, involving them. The following shot is seen to have the same two members in a shot based in an older era, possibly around the 1950s. This is seen to have a comedic effect as the two men continue to watch the video playing on their laptop as they are also seen to be staring in what they are watching. The jump cuts allow the audience to witness this. The scene continues with the

two men in the 1950s based shot, singing and rapping to the backing music as three female backing singers dressed in that eras style, sing along with them. This is appealing as it is not only a change in the song but also the scene, setting and surroundings along with the people within the shots outfits, all differ a vast amount from the opening shot of the video. The scene carries on for over a minute as the jump cutting continues to show the boys gradually starting they enjoy and dance along with the song after being confused to begin with. The next scene the audience see, is in sync with when the two men watching the video also see it. Their reactions show that they are fully entertained by the music with their cheering heightened when the scene changes to a black and white video for the next verse of the song. This could be seen to hopefully apply to that of the audience with the hope they will to, enjoy the various scenes and shots and find it amusing and engaging. The setting within this shot of the video is that of an American city, most likely New York City due to the fact the buildings in the back are that to be seen in the city. However, adding further to the comedic effect it the fact the surrounding looks to be set up and not the actual location. During this scene, two female individuals are dancing, dressed in what can be seen as provocative clothing with big hair and jewellery possibly seen as sexualising women in this shot. The fact that these shots are in black and white is able to highlight the cross cutting taking place between this scene and that of the two men still sat on the sofa dancing. Following up from this scene is that of a room with cartoon animations pasted around the walls and floor with the singer/rapper of the duo in bed singing as what seem to be his

mother attempting to get him up whilst her continues singing to the camera. The animations are an additional extra for the comedic effect as the writing stating Bang is there to resemble the bands name however the rest of the images appear to look entirely random and colourful resulting in them being eyecatching for the audience. With this scene, jump cuts are included to refer back to the black and white shots and also the ones of them on the sofa, this being able to show a sense of verisimilitude to the audience. The excitement and enthusiasm shown from both men as another scene takes place, is when both of them, in the video they are watching, appear in a church dressed in smart clothing with their sunglasses on. As their entertainment continues and they appear to be highly amused by what they are watching, This scene can be linked to other duos in the past such as The Blues Brothers with their suits, sun glasses and hats looking smart as they approach the colour scene of the church filled with singing and dancing individuals. Humour is shown through this scene with the fact a man at the front of the chapel dressed as a gospel singer is in fact the singer of the duo once again. We see both the men repetitively shown throughout the video which can add to the hilarity of the video, entertaining the audience. The other people included in this scene are many more gospel singers in the background of him, clapping and singing along with him as the background singers of the song altering from the previous singers in one of the scenes before. An establishing shot takes place in the church as the camera is placed higher than ground level with a shot looking down on the crowd in the church, clapping and dancing as the gospel singer and backing singers continue to sing the song. All the people

within the church are dressed in attention grabbing vibrant coloured clothing as a zoomed out shot is shown with the two men, dressed in their black suits, highlights their presence as their darker clothing stands out among the all the colours. Their serious facial expressions are also shown through the fact all expressions of all those around them are a lot more cheerful than the serious ones of the two men in suits. Once again, women are shown to be dancing in the shot with them in the aisle of the church, dressed a lot different to those in the black and white scene. They are shown to be in dresses covering themselves a lot more than that of the girls in the other scene. This could be due to the fact they are in a place of respect and joy that is not there to amplify that of the female individuals. A crowd then gathering at the front of the church continue to dance and fill the scene with colour. There are so many people in the church that there is always something to be watching in the scene. As a spotlight then shines on one of the men in the suits, a close up of his face can be seen to looks startled as he begins to slowly shake as the other member of the duo watched on in confusion. This can also be seen to create queries for the audience of the video wondering why this is happening and wanting to watch on; then observing as this individual suddenly runs down the aisle performing multiple flips and stunting at a fast speed. The humour in this shot is the fact that the presumptions of the individual actual doing those flips is

highly unlikely. However by him doing this, it further emphasises the enthusiasm and dancing of the people in the scene. The fact that the scenes of both men dancing on the sofa is shown every so often, allows the audience to bear in mind that they are also watching what is going on and witnessing it along with the audience, further involving them. With one half of the duo continuously dancing with more flips and tricks involved, he finally returns to the other half of the duo who is still stood, seriously faced as he makes his return. This is all occurring as the beat of the song is up tempo and can be seen to possibly entice the audience into dancing along too. Cross cutting continues as both the men seen on the sofa along with at the chapel start to dance in sync with one another as all scenes and locations are shown near the closing of the song with everyone within them dancing to the fullest and showing the entertainment they are all providing. This being until the reality of the two men in the basement is shown with them continuing to sing as the track slowly dies out and one of the mens mother comes down the stairs shouting at them both. For our group, we have discussed the idea of also ending our video with diagetic sound of the surroundings taking over the track just as in this video also does. As one of the duo closes the laptop and runs off screen, the other is left with his mother threatening him in a comedic way just as she has been seen to do in a previous scene.