A NARRATIVE PERFORMANCE...
This music video shows Kanye West’s journey through the time of his injury in his jaw which was a result of a car crash. The video includes a montage of images, memories and characters that supported him through this time, the lyrics very much explain the material we are seeing.
TARGET AUDIENCE?
This video very much proves the determinism of this artist despite having his mouth ‘wired shut’; this is therefore a thank you to his fans, followers and family who have supported him through this time and show them that nothing will stop him making music.
CHARACTERS?The characters in the video are all genuine people that mean something to Kanye, for example there is shot of himself and his mother (clearly meaningful relationship to Kanye) at a private domain in their own home. We also see close friends of Kanye’s and also clips of his fans, at various performances. At the very end of the video, we are introduced to a picture on the wall behind Kanye which is in fact the album cover for Chaka Khan, who’s song ‘through the fire’ was the sample for Kanye’s ‘through the wire’. He also looks directly at the camera at this point and the words ‘Thank you.’ Appear on the screen, this again shows this is a meaningful relationship to Kanye.
At the beginning, there is a black fill on the screen with white writing giving a brief overview as to what the following video was about . There is a diary theme to the video, with a montage of clips/ photos explaining and remembering his journey ‘through the wire’. These clips consisted of support messages, friends comical messages covering the emotional side of the journey and lots of medical pictures and videos exploring the clinical side of the journey. At the end, the shot takes us away from the montage, Kanye appears as if he had been looking at the montage meaning we were seeing it through his eyes. Behind Kanye is Chaka Khan’s album cover which is the artist who sampled ‘through the wire’ with her own ‘through the fire’. This is reflected earlier in the video when fire burns out one of the diary entries.
LYRIC CONNECTION TO VIDEO?
There is a strong connection between the song’s lyrics and the visual of the video. Kanye is expressing his emotions of this time both through what he is saying and what we as an audience see, both sources compliment each other. For example,Kanye says ‘if you could feel how my face felt’ and we see a picture of his swollen jaw.
There is a strong connection between the song’s lyrics and the visual of the video. Kanye is expressing his emotions of this time both through what he is saying and what we as an audience see, both sources compliment each other. For example,Kanye says ‘if you could feel how my face felt’ and we see a picture of his swollen jaw.
BRAND IMAGE/ATMOSPHERE
Kanye West appears very strong and determined through the video as he battles with an obstruction that too many would leave them speechless. Yet Kanye manages to make light of the situation and record a song. There is a strong sense of determinism in this video on Kanye’s part; however the nature of the video is himself looking back over a certain period of his life. He comes across proud and thankful that he pulled through and this therefore gives this video has a reminiscent atmosphere to it.
This video really showed me how clever you can be with a narrative and include hundreds of little twists to make up a great story. By using so many different clips and images along with different characters, you manage to keep your audience intrigued and wanting to see more- a key aspect to a music video.
No comments:
Post a Comment