This is a music video for a commercial hip hop track by critically acclaimed and respected artist Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrel Williams.
It is a simple studio music video and uses a completely white blank background for the majority of the track including only minimal props of significance for example the cars and this shows the priorities of the artist and most likely others from the street; wealth, drugs and Sex. The whole video is shot in black and white, perhaps trying to show that only the simple things in life [of a gangster] matter, or maybe the reason is to show that the artist is above the flash colours of other hip-hop videos or is is trying to block out the background noise of the world with all its distractions, and focuss on only the things important to him. This enhances the ‘chilled out’ mood of track. Overcranking is also a feature of this video and is used to effectively portray a sense of relaxation and control which parallels to the ‘chilled out’ mood of the track. Snoop dogg is shown smoking most likely a ‘blunt’ of cannabis and recreational drug use like this is synonymous of the ‘gangsta’ hip-hop genre and this theme could be linked to the fact a lot of the video is filmed with overcranking, in addition to slow editing and not cutting too quickly, perhaps emulating the depressant effects of this drug.
References to gang-culture are clearly shown by the gang colours of west-coast gang ‘The Crips’ is shown by Snoop Dogg hanging a blue bandanna out of his pocket and the fact that this is the only time a colour other than black or white is used displays the significance that colours can play in the hip hop culture and also contributes to the artist’s meta-narrative by showing he is a respected member a gang reinforcing his ‘gangsta’ persona… . Skateboarding, a sport which is typically associated with the genre is shown, displaying a convention of a hip hop music video.
Costume changes are frequent, enforcing the wealth of the artist. Significance to material possessions particularly ones of high value and with relevance to the hip hop culture are featured frequently, in some cases with a shot of just that object, for example a wad of $100 bills, swinging diamond pendant chains, several expensive cars, intoxicants like pouring expensive champagne and a bag of cannabis, and jewellery like Rolex watches on each arm, gold sovereign rings and a diamond belt buckle.
A black background is shown in certain parts which feature Snoop with a fur hood over his eyes. The ‘hoody’ is a significant icon of the hip-hop inspired fasion trend, and the hood ‘up’ is symbolic of the dark side, hiding the eyes and represents the artist as menacing and powerful which reinforces his meta-narrative. The fur coat is typical of a ‘pimp’ and a wealthy one at that, who excerts control over women.
Suggestively clad female backup dancers who are positioned in many situations that perhaps feminist theorists like laura mulvey would describe as for the ‘male gaze’. A misogynistic view could be taken about this video in terms of representation of women; when featured they are either in the background subordinate to the main artist, but also as objects, positioned next to an expensive car perhaps implying that success that comes from the hip-hop lifestyle can lead to a power over women. The fact that there is nearly always more than one woman dancing for Snoop whilst he ‘lounges’, wearing few but inviting clothes reinforces the idea that woman are amongst the other ‘objects’ he may possess, and shows his power over them.
Metaphors are featured in the video for example with the line “I’m playing the game” with a shot of diamond encrusted dice refers to the hip-hop ‘game’ he’s a part of, and the diamonds on the dice show how he’s ‘winning’ in life.
There doesn’t seem to be any real type of narrative fuzz present in the video. This is most likely due to the fact the video is just trying to concentrate on emulating the feel of the music and the content of the track i.e the lyrics don’t try to tell a story, so the video doesn’t try to either.
There features a meta-narrative of the artist throughout the track. Snoop Dogg is a hip-hop artist and as such wants to promote the fact he is incredibly wealthy, and his masculinity is enforced by the presence of many females dancing for him. ‘Long Beach’ is written on one of his hoodies which is the area of California he lives in, and he is subliminally representing his home town by doing this.
The video mainly features the meat, whilst the scenes and backgrounds change, the main artists are, for the vast majority shown addressing the audience in first-person rapping. Performance is a key element of the video as it is the main focus of every scene. The two artists, whenever shown are always rapping regardless of where there are. The fact that features only a beat which is produced on a computer in a studio and no actual instruments are played by the artists during the performance, there is no need to reproduce a rehearsal studio or concert hall in the mis en scene, the rapping can be done anywhere which is why it is effective to have the artists anywhere for example just standing, and it is still showing the meat of the video. However, sounds of the beat are in a few cases artificially reproduced for example the main beat sounds like a person making a ‘clack’ noise with their mouth, and this is shown by different people in the video for example the artists themselves and also other subordinate people e.g different girls reproducing the noise that is being made with their mouth. Also, the sound of the main beat is emulated by another person (a small child who didn’t actually feature on the track) hitting a drum strapped to his chest, which, whilst it would reproduce the beat was clearly not the source of the beat when the track was recorded so is just a stylistic effect.
Audience research was carried out by George, Hugo and myself in the form of a 'focus group' (shown above) in an afternoon in Tunbridge Wells which helped us to draw a (somewhat) mixed audience whom to present our ideas to. We started by handing round a copy of the questionnaire put together by george and, whilst we played them our chosed track 'Lazy' by Pete Philly and Perquisite, the six-strong group used it to help them record their own initial ideas about a video for the track in terms of setting, words, colours, mood etc. Next we showed the group a copy of each of our own moodboards and asked if this had changed any of their minds about their response to the track, or if this prompted them to add anything, and after this we read out the gathered ideas and had a general discussion lasting around ten minutes. The combination of these different questioning techniques allowed us to gather both qualitative and quantitative results to aid us a group in the design and idea generation process.
