OTIS KANYE WEST & JAY Z

Dana & Yasmin

OTIS MUSIC VIDEO

Otis is the collaboration song done by Jay Z and Kanye West from their first collaborative album Watch The Throne It was recorded on November 2010 and then later released in July 20 th 2011

WHAT KIND OF VIDEO IS THIS?

The video by Kanye and Jay Z could be considered performance based since often we are seeing them miming the song into the screen, therefore visually we can see that they are performing the piece. Furthermore there are several close ups of their faces to highlight the fact they are singing it to the audience giving a sense of personal relation between the the two of them and the audience. However as well as this it could also be considered to have elements of concept intertwined with it, Spike Jonze Interestingly shows several clips where Jay Z and Kanye aren't singing into the screen, but they are shown to be doing other things such as driving / destroying a car. Although not very similar to other things Jonze has done, it has a very creative aspect to it, as it helps the audience visualize the song better.

HOW THE LYRICS LINK TO THE VIDEO

Evidently, Jay Z and Kanye West are incredibly wealthy and Spike Jonze effectively portrayed this in the video. During the lyrics we hear the duo rap Luxury Rap Sophisticated Ignorance and and this is represented through the video extremely well. It is shown that Jay z and Kanye have a good social status, as although we see them wearing basic clothing such as jeans and a white tee, the actions in the video show represent there wealth. We see them tearing apart a 300,00 pound car, however by stripping down the maybach car it could of also been used to show that the strip down the luxury around them, even though they have the power to own what they want. Jonze effectively demonstrated the wealth of jay z and Kanye by showing them stripping and burning things well of our price range just to highlight the accomplishments they have made, and this is followed by the lyrics big faced rollys I got two of those and the use of the American flag at the beginning of the video can be used just to show the potential that people can achieve, and demonstrates the American dream which is followed by the quote not bad huh for some immigrants demonstrating the possibilities of America, which could be what spike wanted to bring out in the video

LIGHTING & MISE EN SCENE

Within the music video, natural lighting is used throughout as it is filmed outdoors on a sunny day. At one point, as the car swerves the video is edited in slow motion whist the sun flickers over it. This places emphasis on materialistic items and evokes riches, however the simplicity of the video and steady places could imply that they are enjoying life are trying to evoke this to their audience. As the video continues, there is a sudden scene change where there is low lighting and fireworks. This could portray the perception of their music being explosive within the rap industry. The choice of costume is interesting as both artists are wearing white t-shirts with jeans and trainers. Although we could assume that these items in itself are expensive, the general style is universal and accessible to all, reinstating the idea of simplicity and connecting to their audience. Also, the colour scheme links closely to the American flag, suggesting they are representing their nation and using their video possibly as propaganda.

CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES

The music video opens with a long shot of expensive car and tracking occurs as the artists walk towards it. The artist's identities are hidden as their backs face the camera and there is low lighting. This creates suspense and also allows the audience to interpret it as themselves. There then is a close up the Maybach demonstrating wealth. The midshot of the two artists infront of the American flag is the most distinctive of all shots, and is used to promote the video on social sites such as tumblr. Within the car there is a close up of four girls however they are portrayed as much of an object as the car, as they add no purpose to the video. A lot of the camera angles are worms eye view and mid shots of the artist as they create their performance/concept based video.