Video One

As part of my research, I looked at a variety of music videos of the same genre I am focusing on and a few different genres just to get an idea of what is expected to be seen in different genres. I will also be interpreting their meanings and analyse them to get an understanding of each one. By using the website youtube I will look at several different videos and analyse each one. 

Video One - Kanye West "Runaway"

Genre: Hip hop

Runaway is a song from Kanye West which was released on October 4th 2010. Runaway comes from the album 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'. The video to Runaway was directed by Kanye West as well as Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick. 


Mise-en-scene
The video shows a group of ballet dancers dancing whilst Kanye West plays the piano and starts singing. The ballet dancers represents the lyrics and how the Kanye's emotions. 
The location of the video is in a big warehouse. The setting/layout is very simple as its just a big empty warehouse, with a huge table with guests sitting around it and a white piano. 

The mood at the beginning of the video is quite relaxed and due to the ballerinas come into the shot and start performing in the video, as well as the sound of the piano. However, when the lyrics come in at 1.20, the mood of the video changes as it expresses personal things about failed relationships and his acceptance of the media's perception of him. I think that the basic setting in the warehouse is used to portray the emotions of the song.

Camera Angles
One shot that I found intriguing was a mid-shot when the main tune of the song comes in and the ballet dancers begin their performance to the 'guests' to the dinner party. The mid shot shows the formation that they are in and shows each dancer moving separately.

Another camera angle that is used in the video is a birds eye view shot of the ballet dancers formation separating out in different directions. The birds eye view shot helps the audience to capture the delicate movements which the ballerinas are portraying in contrast against the lyrics which are about a failed relationship.

There a several mid shots looking downwards on Kanye throughout the video. I think these shots show Kanye to be quite the venerable to emphasis the lyrics of the song.

Editing
There are not many cuts through the duration on the video because the song is quite slow therefore, if they had had quick cuts it wouldn't of matched the tempo of the song and also the meaning. However, there are quite a few cuts between the ballet dancers and Kanye playing the piano. The cuts are used to shows the link between Kanye and the ballet dancers, showing that there routine reflects his mood. The mid shots to close up shots are used to show Kanye's emotions.

Overall, I think Kanye West has gone against the stereotypical conventions that audiences expect to see in a hip hop music video. Which I think is what makes the video stand out from other hip hop music videos as its unique.