The video I have chose to analyse is Hey Ya! by OutKast. The video was directed by Bryan Barber who has directed many RnB and hip hop videos by various artists. The genre that this music belongs to is Hip Hop. Some of the characteristics of hip hop are shown in the video, for example you can see a number of attractive girls, which you can see in many hip hop videos made by male artists.
In the video their are a number of clear examples of how the lyrics are directly related to the visuals. For example, around half way into the videos you can hear the lyrics "shake it (shake it) like a Polaroid picture." The effect of this is that it engages the reader as they might copy the actions of the people in the song. It also means that people will enjoy the video more because it is fun and upbeat, meaning the song will be successful.
You can also see the relationship between the music and the visuals. For instance during the song, when the artist isn't singing and the music temporarily stops, the artists in the band also stop moving and their is just a still camera shot. When the music starts again the camera then rapidly shows different camera shots to represent the upbeat nature of the song. This makes the video more enjoyable as a whole.
Also, when their are solo instrumental bits, for example the keyboard solo, we are shown this in a separate shot in the video to match the solo. This makes the solo stand out more and the viewer will appreciate this solo even more.
The record company are trying to sell this track as an upbeat, happy song that people will enjoy listening to and also watching the video. We are shown a number of close up shots of the main singer, and his facial expressions seem positive and it makes it look like he is a happy person enjoying performing, which suits the style and nature of the song. There are motifs in the background of the stage where the artists are performing of hearts. This shows me that they are trying to sell the band positively, as hearts represent love, which makes people feel emotional and joyful, so they are also selling the artist as joyful, increasing their popularity.
There is reference to the notion of looking, but it is no way a sexual display or anything in that nature. We can see a family at home watching the perform ace of the artists in the video at home. This again makes the band seem popular and fun to watch and listen to as the family are all dancing along to the music. We can also see screens within screens as there are close ups of all the artists including their nicknames. This is done for comedic affect, again trying to portray the artists as fun to appeal to the viewers.
The whole video is an inter textual reference to the Beatles first live performance in America on the Ed Sullivan show. They are introduced by a presenter before the start performing, the same as the Beatles and you can also see and hear screaming girls throughout the video, just like the Beatles performance. Also the clothing and technology shown are all from the era when the Beatles performed. I believe the reason they chose to emulate the Beatles may be to show their appreciation for their success, which in turn will make OutKast more popular because people will like the fact that they appreciate an old band like the Beatles. Also they may be trying to compare themselves to the Beatles as they both produce upbeat music and they both give high tempo performances.
The video starts of narrative based as we see who is supposedly the band manager ushering the artists on stage. The dialect he and the band uses is typical African American dialect. They use this because this is the way their fans know them to talk so they don't want to change to much that viewers will become confused or unhappy that they have changed too much. Next, throughout the song it is performance based. The reason I believe they chose to do it like this is to make the video more entertaining and also to build up suspense to the actual performance as the viewers are waiting to see them perform, when they finally do they will enjoy the song more.
In conclusion I believe this is a very well made and successful video. The quick paced editing really complements the song and the performance of the artists on stage. The actions of the extras also help to make the video more comedic and entertaining to watch. Overall this is a very successful video because of a number of different things which all work well to making a successful Hip Hop video.
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