Thursday, 3 November 2011

Music video director essay 3


Hype Williams is the music video director I am going to write this essay on. Hype Williams is an American music video and film director well known for his use of fisheye lens shown in his music videos for Busta Rhymes ‘Gimme Some more’ and ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) byy Missy Elliot. Hype is also well known for placing shots in regular widescreen radio, whilst a second shot is split up and placed in the upper and lower bars of the screen. Hype has used this signature technique in his video’s for Ne-Yo ‘So Sick’ and Beyonce’s ‘Check On It’.  From 2003 Hype has gained another signature style which presents the artists body from the torso upwards and a solid colour background with a delicate different colour lighting shown in the centre of the background. This techniques is shown in ‘Gold Digger’ by Kanye West and Beyonce’s ‘Video Phone’ Hype is an example of the auteur theory. The auteur theory believes that every director shapes the film and puts its stamp on the video. Hype definitely makes his mark on the music video’s he creates.

To the left is an example of when Williams uses fisheye lens in his music videos. This screen shot is taken from Missy Elliot’s ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) video. 



Also to the left is a screen shot of another technique Hype uses. This is where Hype places shots in regular widescreen whilst a second shot is split up and placed in the upper and lower bars of the screen. 
The print screens to the left are both examples of Hype’s signature techniques. This is the example of when Hype presents a solid background colour with delicate different colour lighting in the centre.

I have looked at Missy Elliot’s ‘She’s a Bitch’ Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger’ and Beyonce’s ‘Check On It’ music videos directed by Hype and I have come to realise that all 3 of them have similarities. Each one of these video’s present a signature technique that Hype uses. This is a good way for Hype to be recognised as they are unique techniques which are not often used in music videos directed by other directors. In each video there are strong colours used, this is to draw the attention of the audience to the music video. Also in each video there is a colour theme, for example in Beyonce’s ‘Check on it’ there is a strong theme of pink running through the video, this is represented by the background,  clothes and make up which all make up the mise-en-scene. In Missy Elliot’s video there is a strong theme of black and metallic, this is represented again by the mise-en-scene of the music video. And finally there is a theme of dark red in Kanye West’s music video shown by the singer’s shirt and the background. Both Kanye West’s video and Beyonce’s video have very similar aspects. There are  no inter-textual references in any of these music videos.
Both these screen shots to the left show a strong male character with very similar backgrounds.













The music video I am going to analyse is a song by Christina Aguilera called ‘Not Myself Tonight’ directed by Hype Williams. The song is recorded by the American pop singer Christina Aguilera but was originally written by Jamal Jones, Ester Dean, Jason Perry and Greg Curtis.  This song was produced by Polow da Don to go to Christina’s sixth studio album called ‘Bionic’. Not myself tonight was released on the 13th April 2010. The genre of this song is electropop and dance-pop and includes the usage of synthesizers (which is an electronic instrument that produces sounds by generating electrical signals that go from a variety of frequencies) and also tribal drums. Both song and video received mostly positive reviews, the success of the song lead to it being in the charts in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, USA and Sweden. Like Hype Williams previous videos I have looked at there is a strong theme in costumes and mise-en-scene running though this video,  throughout the 3:05 minuets of the video there is a strong theme of S&M and bondage inspired looks from Christina and her dancers. However there are no other characteristics of this music video which are Hype’s signature techniques.
I am going to use Andrew Goodwin’s 6 point analysis taken from writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ to analyse this music video. Christina Aguilera’s video does fit genre characteristics. I would expect a video of Aguilera’s to be a mixture of dance routines and performance, this video Hype and Christina worked together on is a mixture of  performance which includes dancing and also narrative as a story is followed. There is a strong relationship throughout this music video between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics refer to Christina doing things she wouldn’t usually do, whilst she sings this line there is a shot showing her taking her jacket off and another woman standing very close to her, this is shown below in the screen shot. The lyrics give an image out that usually Christina is a homely and well behaved girl, however throughout the video are various shots of her doing outrageous things and very much on display which relates to the lyrics ‘I’m doing things I wouldn’t usually do’.

The relationship between music and visuals are also very stong. There is alot of dancing throughtout this video, the dances routines all match the beat of the music. Below is a screen shot of one particular dance routine. There is beat playing through the song in wich a dance routine has been choreographed to so the two fit perfectly together. The music to this song is very fast paced, the music video is also fast paced to match the music, becasue the beat is so fast the shots to the music video are also fast. This is done to make the video run smoothly to the music.


The main focus is on Christina throughout the music video. There are many shots of her alone and wearing black in front of a completely white background, this is to make sure all the attention is on her. At the beginning of the song there is a close up of Christina’s face as she speaks some words before she begins to sing. This is done right at the beginning of the music video so the audience know who sings the song and who is going to be the main focus. When there are many people in the shot with Christina she is wearing a different colour to make sure she stands out amongst the rest of the people on the set.
I believe women are represented badly in this music video because of the strong sexual theme with senses of S&M and bondage through this video. Throughout the whole song Christina is wearing very little clothing with a lot on display. In some shots she is surrounded by men looking at her dressed in barely anything which I believe represents women badly.  Christina is seen as a strong female character and very dominant (particularly shown in this video); however I don’t think Christina is showing much self respect in this video. This video is more suited for men and I believe is for men to watch, I think many women would feel uncomfortable watching it.  Below is an example of how the female body is seen as a sex object in this particular video.



There are many intertextual references through this music video. Christina worked in the film ‘Burlesque’ and has taken inspiration from this and put it into her own music video. This video is seen to be a tribute to Madonna’s video ‘Express yourself’ which shows similar scenes such as the glass eye show in the video and the silhouette on the stairs. Throughout the video Christina’s hairstyles constantly change, her style has been compared to Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani. There is a strong intertextual moment when Christina recalls her ‘Dirrty’ video, which features her getting close to a sweaty shirtless man. This video is also similar to her Dirrty video in the fact that she is wearing sexy, see-through skimpy clothes and she is dancing in the rain.


In conclusion Hype Williams is a unique music video director who uses his signature techniques to produce successful music videos. It is great that Hype has his own signature editing techniques because his work can be easily distinguished amongst other directors.  I like the techniques that Hype uses in his video’s because they are more unusual that other music videos. Hype Williams definitely follows the auteur theory. He makes his stamp on his video’s by his trademark techniques.  I like how Christina Aguilera’s ‘Not Myself Tonight’ music video is edited, I think it relates very well with the song lyrics. Hype has created a successful and effective music video here.

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