MS - Video Analysis 2

Daniel Merriweather featuring Wale – ‘Change’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F5hFana8JA

Genre and Narrative

The music video or ‘Change’ by Daniel Merriweather featuring Wale is completely a performance video. This is common with this genre of music, especially for solo artists. Solo artists want to make themselves as recognisable as possible so they can sell themselves as a product; especially as he is a fairly new artist. The notion of looking is definitely used in this video, throughout virtually the whole video Daniel Merriweather is singing directly at the camera; this is the notion of looking. The notion of looking is used to make it seem as if the artist is singing directly at the viewer, this creates a personal feel for the audience and makes the artist more accessible; therefore they are likely to sell more records if there audience can relate to them. The video is an example of a loose illustrative video. An illustrative video is one that describes the lyrics and sound of the track. ‘Change’ is an example of a loose illustrative video as it shows the broken society in the background that they are singing about. This video could be considered artistic as it is all shot in front of a green screen, which is not very common, so that in itself is a challenging idea as it is not often seen within this genre.

Media Language

The whole video is shot from a low angle looking up at the artists. This gives the artist a feeling of having a high status. When you couple this with the notion of looking which gives the artist a personal feel with the consumer, it reinforces Richard Dyer’s ideas about stars when he says that ‘The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary from the consumer’. This means that the star need to be ordinary enough so that people can relate to them and they must be extraordinary to make them intriguing and therefore people will buy their products. The majority of the shots used are CU’s and MCU’s, this is so that the audience can really remember what Daniel Merriweather looks like and therefore will instantly recognise his products. When it comes to editing, fades and cuts are used for the transitions between shots. Fades are used to give the video a slick, smooth feeling. The mise-en-scene in this video is the clothes that Daniel Merriweather is wearing. They are clothes that would typically connote the indie/alternative genre to which Daniel Merriweather belongs. The skinny jeans, shirt and jacket with converse shoes are clothing that many of the artists of this genre would wear. Therefore, the clothing is used in this video to reinforce the genre of the artist. The other mise-en-scene in the video would be the images in the background. They are pictures of very urban streets; they are very dark and gloomy and the walls are covered in graffiti. The images in the background are used to connote the brocken society that Daniel Merriweather is singing about. The video is all shot in front of a green screen and the urban images have replaced the green in the editing process. This is a post filmic effect. The video is quite lo-fi as the director and artist would want people to focus on the message that is portrayed by the song, not the video. The message is that society has broken down and people have to learn to work and live together. The reference to popular culture is the clothing worn by Daniel Merriweather, as they are generally considered to be trendy and stylish in today’s society.

Representation

This video would represent the artist in a very serious and political way from the message he is trying to convey. It would differ from any previous work as he would just be viewed as someone making music and trying to make it in the music industry. The fact that Daniel Merriweather is trying to convey a very serious message would help sell his product as people would start taking him seriously if they weren’t already. The social groups that are represented in this video are white middle class males and black working class males. White middle class males are represented through Daniel Merriweather and black working class males are represented through Wale. The fact that they are collaborating on this song reinforces the message portrayed in the song as it shows two people from different background and class working together, so there is no reason why this can’t work in society.

Institution and Audience

The target audience for this video would be as wide a demographic as possible so they can get there message out to as many people as possible, but as it is Daniel Merriweather and Wale in the video it is more likely to be consumed by young adults and teenagers. They would try and get this video on as many music channels and radio stations as possible so they can get as many people as they can t hear it and take in there message. I think this video would be for focused viewing as if it was just on in the background you wouldn’t get the message the artists is trying to put out there.