Thursday, 10 November 2011

Hype Williams


Hype Williams- Director Essay

The 1950s Aueteur theory suggests that the director shows his personal views and creative vision through their own film. The author’s creative voice shines through all kinds of studio reference. To be considered an auteur, a film-maker must have a body of work which can be analysed for ongoing themes that are repeated in their work. An auteur must have a different style, almost instantly recognisable and stands out from other film director’s work.  The method of ‘Auteurism’ is the way to analyze films based on the theory.  Theory has impacted film criticism since the film critic Francois Truffaut in 1954.

Harold ‘Hype’ Williams is an American music video and film director. He has mainly worked in the hip-hop, rap and r’n’b genre. He has created a number of videos with artists such as The Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Christina Aguilera.

Awards Williams has received for his video work includes the Billboard Music Video Award for Best Director of the Year (1996), the Jackson Limo Award for Best Rap Video of the Year. Also the same year for Busta Rhymes' "Woo Hah," the NAACP Image Award (1997), the 8th annual MVPA Award for Black Music Achievement. MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video (1999) for TLC's "No Scrubs", and the BET Award for Best Director (2006) for Kanye West's “Gold Digger’. In 2006, Williams was honored by MTV with its Video Vanguard Award, presented in honor of his achievements as a filmmaker. He is being nominated for Video Director of the Year at the BET Awards of 2011.

One of William’s music videos is ‘Gold Digger’ by Kanye West. The whole video is set in a studio and uses very little mise-en-scene and doesn’t have a narrative is just performance. By the video being a performance it relates to Goodwin’s analysis of the music video demonstrating genre characteristics as performance is conventional of hip-hop videos. The video uses half the screen making it unique compared to other music videos of the genre. The camera is still throughout with not many edits apart from straight cuts, apart from at the beginning when the beat begins quick edits are used in time with the beat and shows a medium shot of Kanye. The colour of the lighting is a key element to the video and is lighter closer to them fades to dark and is continually centred on Kanye and Jamie Foxx.  Women are portrayed to be sexy and beautiful reflecting 1950s pin up girls as they pose imitating that they are on front covers of magazines showing intertextuality of pin up girls. This relates to Laura Mulvey’s theory of women being presented as objects for men by being shown as sexy.


Beyonce’s video of ‘Check up on it’ is set in a studio with very little mise en scene apart from the use of chairs for the chorography and the different backgrounds. The use of the colour pink is used throughout and uses pink lighting showing it to be darker closer to her and fades to white. The video uses half a screen and is bordered by pink silk showing to be blowing making it look like waves. The camera is still throughout and uses quick cuts and a range of close-ups, medium shots and long shots are used. The video has been edited where the beat jumps the edits become fast keeping it in time with the pace. The video is simple and uses performance including dancers. The setting changes eight times including costumes and backgrounds. Beyonce is portrayed to be sexy and feminine by her dance moves and costumes and the use of close-ups to show her expression. By using Beyonce to be portrayed as a sex-symbol it relates to Laura Mulvey’s theory of video being shown from the perspective of the hetero-sexual male. Inter-textuality is used as the rapper wears a pink panther t-shirt to relate to the video being pink relating to Goodwin’s 6 point analysis of the music video including intertextual references.


Neyo’s video of ‘So Sick’ is set in the mountains which is covered in snow reflecting a ski-resort location. Its also set in a lodge cabin in the mountains. The screen is half a screen with a border of footage of the mountains which moves from different shots throughout the video.  To begin with fades are used from close-ups of the phone to Neyo to his ‘love interest’.  Long shots are used when they are having a snow ball fight but mainly close-ups are used throughout Goodwins states that close-ups are used in videos as a demand of the record label as Neyo is a big artist fans will expect to see him in his video.. Natural lighting is used throughout. The video is a narrative relating to the lyrics of the song in relation to Goodwin’s music video analysis the video shows there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The video is a performance throughout which is a genre characteristic of hip-hop and r’n’b videos showing Goodwin’s analysis of music videos demonstrating genre characteristics.  Costumes used are dull colours of creams, white and beige to match with the scenery. Quick cuts are used during the chorus and each shot fades into the next shot.  The women in the video are shown to be sexy by wearing a tight leopard print dress while getting intimate with Neyo. Laura Mulvey’s theory suggest that an audience are forced to view the text from the perspective of a male therefore the video includes a sexy woman .


All three videos have a very strong connection in terms of style and similar patterns and techniques of editing appear. The use of half a screen is used in all videos creating a distinctive creative style in relation to the Auether theory Williams uses the half screen as a characteristic to his work and is easily recognizable to anyone who knows his work well. Another genre characteristic used in William’s videos is performance which relates to Goodwins analysis .The use of lighting in ‘Gold Digger’ and ‘Check up on it’ are very similar and the Auether Theory states that film producers use similar ideas for their films and videos. In both videos the lighting is pink and fades from dark to light or light to dark this technique makes the audience focus on the star of the video.  This idea of the lighting focusing on the artist links to Goodwin’s analysis of the demand of the record label to show their star in the video clearly. William’s style of the use of close-ups mainly being used in his videos creates another characteristic in relation to the Autheur theory stating characteristics of a director’s work that makes him or her an auteur.  Williams uses women a lot in his videos and presents them as sexy, flirty and in revealing outfits this characteristic of women appearing in his video’s shows this theme is being repeated relating to the Auether theory.


No comments:

Post a Comment