Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Music Video Analysis - 'Written In The Stars' - Tinie Tempah ft. Eric Turner


Director - Alex Herron
Released - August 2010

According to Goodwin's Theory;

Demonstrate genre characteristics: Performance based video, with links to Tinie Tempah's seemingly difficult childhood. This fits in well with the rap/hip hop genre, as many rappers come from the 'ghetto', and have to fight their way to the top (so they say). The performance also fits both with Tinie Tempah and Eric Turner - Turner plays the piano whilst singing, and Tinie Tempah uses expressive hand movements (a genre characteristic of hip hop and rap) whilst rapping emphatically.

Relationship between the lyrics and the visuals: The lyrics speak of his journey to fame, which links to the images of a boy (who I am assuming represents a young Tinie Tempah) struggling with his childhood, being bullied and never having enough money. So the lyrics could be said to be either amplifying or illustrative.

Relationship between the music and the visuals: We see Eric Turner playing the piano throughout, which links to the melodic hook of the song, and the tempo of the song and the visuals are of a similar level.

Demand of close-ups from record label (motif): Often seen with sunglasses (a motif of Tempah's that he keeps even when not starring in his videos), there are plenty of close ups of the rapper, as well as some of Turner, but not as many (as he only features on the song)

Frequent reference to the notion of looking: Both the young boy and Tinie Tempah look directly to the camera, and some of the shots, particularly on the roof, feel sort of voyeuristic, possibly due to the low angle of the shot.

Intertextuality: Eminem's recent video for 'Not Afraid' has a similar set of images on the roof of a skyscraper, so there is quite a strong link there.

What I like about this video - I like the mainly performance based elements of the video, with loose strands of narrative throughout. I also like the strong look of the pure white room where Turner plays the piano, as well as the close ups used of him, which are side-on, rather than the conventional face-on.

What our group could take from this video - I think our group could definitely look at how the strands of narrative are interwoven within a performance-piece, as this is something that would be good to do in our video. Also, I don't think we should be afraid to shy away from a dramatic visual 'look'.

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