Deconstructing of two videos

One of the videos I will be deconstructing is called 'Heartless' by Kanye West. At the beginning of the video, the viewer will know straight away what the main theme of the music video is. This is because there is an image of a woman in the background. This effect is called super imposing. Super imposing is a method of letting the audience know who the main person in the shot is thinking about (in this case, the woman who broke his heart). Super imposing is a very effective method to use especially in the beginning of the song because the viewer will know straight away what the main theme of the video is about as the video is being narrated. The fact that images of her keep showing on either side of Kanye West give the impression that he can't stop thinking about her and therefore gives an impression of how heartbroken he is. In my opinion, because this video is animated, the effects used, such as super imposing, are easier to create and therefore emphasize the mood of the video more effectively. Again, the video narrating the lyrics make the music easier to understand for the viewer. For example, most of the time Kanye West says 'heartless', the word is usually followed by images of a woman, which implies the woman is being referred to as heartless. I think the main impression the viewer is supposed to take from this video is how depressed/ weak Kanye West is compared to the woman and that he should be felt sorry for. There are different methods that create this effect. An example of this would be the facial expressions. In most of the shots, the woman is smiling and looks like she is enjoying herself, while in most of Kanye West's shots, he has a serious face expression. This camera is zoomed out on him and there is no one around him which may be to emphasize how alone he is feeling. Andrew Goodwin's theory of visuals illustrating and amplifying the lyrics and music is strongly used in this music video as the visuals used in 'Heartless' usually help narrate or dictate the mood of the video, which is that Kanye West is heartbroken. Kanye West is very good at developing his own star iconography, which is another of Andrew Goodwin's theories. In some of his other videos such as 'Stronger', there are quite a few effects and animations used, which is exactly what he uses in 'Heartless'. Also, in almost all of Kanye West's songs, there is a special effect on his voice which makes it sound echoed and he also uses that effect in this song. As well as these two methods contribute to his iconography, they have also become part of the audience expectation and his own unique style of producing music which makes him more of a distinct artist.

The second song I will be deconstructing is called 'I get money'. This is a song written by 50 Cent and the music video, in my opinion, largely contrasts 'Heartless'. The main difference in the videos is the mood. In 'Heartless', the idea is to make Kanye west look innocent and to make the audience feel sorry for him, while in 'I get money', the theme is opposite. The main point of this video is to let viewers know how rich 50 Cent is and he is basically bragging, so it has quite a powerful theme. There are also effects used in this video to achieve this mood. Usually with rap music and the sort of lifestyle 50 Cent has had, money if often used as a symbol of power, and the dominant colour used in the video is green, which possibly symbolizes money. In the video, 50 Cent mostly wears green clothes and the background is colour graded to look green, which helps to symbolise power. Also, in 'Heartless', the camera is mostly zoomed out on Kanye West and there are large images of the woman he is thnking of, while in 'I get money', there are master shots of 50 Cent and many close-up shots of him. This helps give the video a confident feel and also makes him look powerful. There are also several shots of in the video where are there cars that look really expensive which is another indication of how rich he is. During the chorus, he constantly repeats the words 'I get it', which is a reference to how much money he is making- another indication to the viewer of how rich he is.

This music video is very effective in terms of appealing to the audience who like to listen to rap music. As mentioned before, money in the rap industry can be used to symbolise power, therefore, this video will live up to the main audience's expectations.