Video Analysis- Dead and Gone

Dead And Gone- T.I ft Justin Timberlake

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Genre Characteristics:

T.I. goes the reflective route with the video, looking back over his life with the spectre of death before him. “Dead and Gone” shows T.I. reminiscing about Atlanta and the life he’s leaving temporarily before returning, which is ultimately where the third act of the video takes us.

The meaning behind the song and the music video is that the old T.I. (the younger and wilder self) is dead and gone. This emotionally intense, autobiographical track tells the story of the death of T.I.’s lifelong friend and personal assistant Philant Johnson who was killed on May 3, 2006, when T.I.’s entourage was caught up in a shooting after a show in Cincinnati, Ohio. The shooting incident also left three injured. T.I. co-wrote the track with Justin Timberlake. In this song, T.I is leaving everything that he has done in the past behind him and is now going through redemption.

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Is there a relationship between visuals and lyrics?

The video begins with him driving down a road in which he’s been going down all his life and that its time for him to change and be better since what he’s done is effecting both his family and friends. During this part of the video the lyrics say “I’ve been travelling on this road too long…” The majority of the actual video is also set on a dirt track road.

These non diegetic lyrics are heard whilst a car is travelling down a long straight road. These two components combined show there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics. The lyrics, collaborated with the visuals show the very deep and emotional journey the video and lyrics are expressing. I believe that this song has a narrative; the artist seems to show numerous shots, or flashbacks of various things that have occurred over the years. He’s telling the story of how he’s been on the same road of corruption and having a bad influence upon the people around him. These flashbacks tell the tale of the lyrics sung by T.I in the video.

'I turn my head to the East

don't see nobody by my side

I turn my head to the West

still nobody in sight

So I turn my head to the North,

swallow that pill that they call pride'

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At this particular section of the music video, the actual actions of the artists follow what is explained through the lyrics. In this case they turn their heads in the direction expressed in the lyrics. This section shows that there is an obvious relationship between both visuals and lyrics incorporated in this video.
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Is there a relationship between visuals and music?
The main relationship between visuals and the music is the two elements collaborating throughout. The visuals directly relate to the pace of the music to enable the audience to maintain a better understanding of the story. An example of this is when T.I begins to rap. The rate of images shown (mainly flashbacks) increases as the style of singing is much faster then Justin Timberlake's.
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Shot and camera technicalities:
There are some unique angles some of them seem to be repeated where they have a camera above one of the artists and almost pan down from up top. This is a high angle which is then moved down to about a medium close up of JT or T.I. The majority of these shots however seem to be camera movements in which the camera is on a crane. A good example of this movement is when Justin is playing the piano and the shot rotates as it lowers from above to eventually show J.T at a medium close up (1.50).

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Are there any close ups of the artist or any star image motifs?

There are many close ups and medium close ups of the two artists T.I. and Justin Timberlake as well as numerous shots of the camera panning around the both of them as they are singing. This notion is used in the majority of all music video's as the main aim of any video is to promote the artists. Another of T.I's motif's for this video is to tell the story of how he's been on the same road of corruption and having bad influence upon the people around him. This video shows one of T.I's life experiences; escaping from his previous lifestyle (lifestyle shown in the flashbacks) and his road to redemption.

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Is there any reference to the notion of looking?

Throughout the video they also have numerous still shots of pictures from cemeteries, to extreme close ups of peoples faces. All these clips seem to be point of view shots or of the star actually looking directly at the audience (their stare follows the camera).

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Are there any references of intertextuality?
There are no intertextual references in this video that I am aware of.

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In all the video is very interesting and there are a few different ways in which someone could interpret it. The video incorporates much narrative as well as a variety of moving image media.

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Dead and Gone Lyrics
http://www.elyricsworld.com/dead_and_gone_lyrics_t.i..html

Video Analysis- It's Raining Men

For planning and research I felt a good place to start would to be to analyse existing music video's and give myself an idea of what forms and conventions are necessary in creating a good music video. This will give me broader understanding of the key genres and mise-en-scene that are needed for a certain genre of music.
Geri Halliwell- It's Raining Men.
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Genre characteristics
The storyline in the video depicts Geri Halliwell stars as an ordinary dance student attending an Americanised UK high school, trying to impress and make it as a dancer. She seems to be a very popular stundent who is depicted as always being in the spotlight. Common conventions of Pop music videos occur in this video: Performance with narrative, Dance routines, Colourful costumes, Close up’s of female star’s body and face, upbeat and enthusiastic mise-en-scene.

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Is there a relationship between visuals and lyrics?

The relationship between visuals and lyrics is amplified in the video, meaning that it is not literally illustrative. However some of the lyrics are illustrated for example: ‘stormy weather rolling in’ – artist dancing in front of a screen showing storm clouds. ‘Its raining men’ – out side and it begins to rain; although it is rain that falls and not men.

Is there a relationship between visuals and music?

The relationship between music and visuals are mainly illustrated with all cuts and dance movements, going with the beat of the music. The changes of pace in the song are echoed by the editing of the video, for example the opening dance sequence has been timed to the beat of the music. When the other dance students open the doors and start dancing around her, the tempo corresponds to the increase in rhythm and volume of the music. When the song slows down the visuals mirror this with the artist dance movements slowing and a change of background.

Are there any close ups of the artist or any star image motifs?

In this music video there are lots of close up’s of close ups of the artist (Geri Halliwell) which is common in music videos as they are pretty much advertising a product. Throughout the video, close ups and central framing is used in order for the audience to know that she is the star and this video is all about showing off her talent and selling her new image. During the video there are numerous costume changes, again used to accentuate her new look. There is also a scene in which the artist is doing sit ups with a dog next to her, this dog is famously her dog and is always with her providing a star motif within the video.

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Is there any reference to the notion to looking (Voyeurism)?

There is lots of voyeurism within this video. This was Geri Halliwell’s debut as a single artist and she dramatically lost weight and went blonde, so there is lots of shots focusing on her new thin body. Close ups of her wearing a tiny top and underwear dancing are all used to broadcast her dramatic change in appearance. While she is dancing other dancers are watching her which she is unaware of. This is used to emphasise the fact that she is now the cntre of attention. When it starts raining she is dancing seductively and there are lots of shots of her body. There are also a few shots where the camera pans up her body, making the audience look at her in a voyeuristic way.

Are there any references of intertextuality?

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This video has two main intertextuality references; ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’. Both of these are dancing films. At the beginning of the video it starts without any music. This creates a sense of intrigue, unaware of what is going to take place. This method also gives the video a more ‘movie style’ effect. The opening scene is taken from ‘Flashdance’ where she has an audition then falls and asks to start again. The remainder of the video is very similar to the film ‘Fame’ where they are all in a performing arts school. One of her four costumes is a t-shirt that says ‘famous’ in the same style of the title of the film ‘Fame’ is written. By taking inspiration from these two films I again believe it acts as a representative for Geri Halliwell’s new start which she is trying to get across through the video; Reinventing as a solo artist as opposed to being in a group, similar to the stars in these films whose ambition is to recreate themselves and become famous.

Click on the link below to view video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr9X-GKtbJI