( Music
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj1BMpUnzT8&feature=relmfu )
Music Video Analysis: Don’t Go – Wretch 32 ft Josh Kumra
Artist: Wretch 32 ft Josh Kumra
Song Title: Don’t Go
Director: Ben Newman
Release Date: 11th July 2011
Genre: HIP HOP & R ‘N’ B
Music Label: Ministry of Sound
The video was first released on the video streaming website
YouTube on 11th July 2011; it was also available on www.grimedaily.com,
www.iheartmusicvideos.com, and via the artist’s Facebook page.
The music channels that played this video were the, Big Top
40 Show, Channel AKA, MTV and MTV Base.
The music video is an abstract video to feature to the
musical track. The theme of the track is about the artist love for music and
how it has affected his life and led to his overall success. The video does not
tell the story but conveys representations sorrowful thoughts and perceptions
of people’s selves and the public. It therefore subverts from the stereotypical
conventions of a hip hop genre music video; instead introducing the unified
concept of reflection of one’s self, change and strength.
The mise-en-scene, editing and camera techniques in the video consist of Close ups of artist, panning, zooming in and out slowly, high angle shot, low angle shot, camera tilt, pull focus, medium close ups, wide angle shots, some fast paced editing, slow motion, crowd are all dressed in similar colours, location filming, painted walls with actors interacting with them, main artist sits on steps, main artist stands in a construction site type area.
In the video the main artist (Wretch 32) is represented
positively through the mise-en-scene as he is smartly dressed in a shirt and smart
jacket and he isn’t clean shaven but his facial hair, and his haircut are neat.
The shots of the main artist are nearly all medium shots as you can only see
his head and shoulders and this gives the representation of the artist not
necessarily being a man of power but more a normal person as low angle shots
can often be used in the rap genre of music to demonstrate power and authority.
There are some establishing shots that see the main artist walking against a
crowd which could be representative of him being on his own, and this shot
demonstrates this representation as the establishing shot lets the viewer see
the whole picture and how the artist is singled out from the other people in
the video. This is also seen through the mise-en-scene as his clothes are black
and white which subverts to the normal attire of artists in this genre as
'bling culture’ is often represented through the mise-en-scene in these videos
with showy clothing and lots of jewellery whereas in this video it is not. The
artist’s clothing being black and white is also representative of the artist’s
album that the track is featured on which is titles ‘Black & White’.
The target audience for this video are people who like the
genre of the track which is Hip Hop and R&B; it is also for people who like
to watch arty/abstract videos. As the song was at the top of the charts this
suggests that the song is more mainstream therefore the target audience for
this video is a lot wider. Audiences
would watch this video mainly because they like the track and the video
accompanies it well, which is a key factor for a successful music video. The
Uses and Gratification Theory offers some reasons for why audiences would watch
these videos such as; to relax, escaping from problems, filling time, finding a
basis for conversation and social interaction, satisfying curiosity and general
interest, getting intrinsic, cultural or aesthetic enjoyment, to connect with
society and emotional release. This also ties in with the theme of the music
video.
Audiences can receive pleasure from watching this music video as it can be construed as an abstract music video as it does not tell a story as such and there are deliberate focuses on text on a wall that holds the messages ‘Life is...?’, ‘Don’t go’ and ‘Life is…Black & White’ and other close ups of people interacting with paintings on a wall. They could also receive pleasure from watching this music video if they previously liked the director of the music video and his style of videos and therefore enjoyed the video for its technical quality.
