Wiley - Numbers In Action
The second video I will be analyzing will be UK Artist Wiley's "Numbers In Action". The creative use of using composite images all one frame has influenced me and my partner to possibly use this to approach our music video. He has established
Again, using Goodwin's "Codes and Conventions", I will analyze this music video and identify the relationship with the music/lyrics to the visuals, the iconography associated with the artist and genre, the camera shots and angles used to establish the artist and whether there is any intertextual reference in the video/music.
In terms of the music having a relationship with the visuals, I think Wiley has acknowledged this process by syncing the beat and his actions on screen. i.e. when the beat drops, he (on screen) drops the ball. The beat is repeated throughout the song and Wiley is almost showing this using props such as the ball. He also uses a different prop (the foam hands), clapping back and fourth which visualizes the repeated clapping in the music too. The video is almost a visualization of the music and not so much of the lyrics, which what a generic music video would typically do.
As shown above, the lyrics also do play a part in the video, as expected. For instance, the lyric "I wanna see Dollars, I wanna see Pounds", Wiley points to each "£" and "$" shaped Pinata. He is also shown breaking them, as confetti is filled with them, but the visuals are a metaphor to the lyrics as he referring to money as he breaks the Pinata and wants to "see Dollars, I wanna see Pounds". With an artist like Wiley, given his backlog of music videos and the style of them, they are very distinctive just like Numbers In Action. For example, in his number 2 UK Single Wearing My Rolex, that video features a group of women dressed as Foxes dancing. He doesn't really use the standard narrative in his videos and this particular video I am analysing definitely is proof in the pudding. However, I do believe this video is one of his better ones. This is probably considered as Wiley's iconography, his style.
In this video, there is no other camera shots or angles apart from the single camera, medium shot placed on a tri-pod. I think the composite images make up for any close up shots that the label would expect. So, given this point, I think Wiley has used the concept of establishing the artist through a different method which could be a good factor to think about when me and Laura think about our music video, because it's the sort of video that is relying on the gimmick. The multiple images is entertaining and forces the viewer to watch it over and over to identify each character in the video and what he's doing, which is exactly what a music video should do and it also sells the artist by not including close ups of his face, which you could say is bending the codes and conventions of Goodwin. Also, there isn't really any signs of voyeurism or intertextual references in this video.
Moving onto Peter Fraser's theory, he claimed the lyric should establish a certain feeling or mood. I believe, given the genre of this song and the Artist's background, the appeal to a larger audience to begin with is very little, the feeling one would get out of it is a jumpy, giddy and not to take the song very serious. However, Fraser does state that the tempo/beat should accompany the pace of the video which I believe Wiley has done this very nicely, just by using the props in the video to match the beat. There isn't any editing done apart from adding the composite images into one. In terms of camera shots and angles, there isn't any. Last but not least, there isn't also a very clear narrative in this video either, although, I believe the term "Numbers In Action" is a metaphor of such for the artist which is to work hard at everything you do, whether it's working out to gain a good body or simply working a 9-5 job, but to see it in action, wihich evidently is the money, which represents the "numbers". This adds to the personality of Wiley and UK Grime/Rap artists too, as Canadian born Actor turned Artist Aubrey 'Drake' Graham said "Music and Sports are so synonimous, as we wanna be them(Artists), and they wanna be us(Sportsmen)"
In conclusion, I originally chose this video and song to be my choice when making a video, but due to the less than enough camera shots and angles, I had to sacrifice it for a better video, in terms of Media Language. Nonetheless, the creativity and thought put behind this video, in terms of the props used in the video and the composite images was more than enough for me and Laura to use this video as a good example to look upto when making our own.
In terms of the music having a relationship with the visuals, I think Wiley has acknowledged this process by syncing the beat and his actions on screen. i.e. when the beat drops, he (on screen) drops the ball. The beat is repeated throughout the song and Wiley is almost showing this using props such as the ball. He also uses a different prop (the foam hands), clapping back and fourth which visualizes the repeated clapping in the music too. The video is almost a visualization of the music and not so much of the lyrics, which what a generic music video would typically do.
As shown above, the lyrics also do play a part in the video, as expected. For instance, the lyric "I wanna see Dollars, I wanna see Pounds", Wiley points to each "£" and "$" shaped Pinata. He is also shown breaking them, as confetti is filled with them, but the visuals are a metaphor to the lyrics as he referring to money as he breaks the Pinata and wants to "see Dollars, I wanna see Pounds". With an artist like Wiley, given his backlog of music videos and the style of them, they are very distinctive just like Numbers In Action. For example, in his number 2 UK Single Wearing My Rolex, that video features a group of women dressed as Foxes dancing. He doesn't really use the standard narrative in his videos and this particular video I am analysing definitely is proof in the pudding. However, I do believe this video is one of his better ones. This is probably considered as Wiley's iconography, his style.
In this video, there is no other camera shots or angles apart from the single camera, medium shot placed on a tri-pod. I think the composite images make up for any close up shots that the label would expect. So, given this point, I think Wiley has used the concept of establishing the artist through a different method which could be a good factor to think about when me and Laura think about our music video, because it's the sort of video that is relying on the gimmick. The multiple images is entertaining and forces the viewer to watch it over and over to identify each character in the video and what he's doing, which is exactly what a music video should do and it also sells the artist by not including close ups of his face, which you could say is bending the codes and conventions of Goodwin. Also, there isn't really any signs of voyeurism or intertextual references in this video.
Moving onto Peter Fraser's theory, he claimed the lyric should establish a certain feeling or mood. I believe, given the genre of this song and the Artist's background, the appeal to a larger audience to begin with is very little, the feeling one would get out of it is a jumpy, giddy and not to take the song very serious. However, Fraser does state that the tempo/beat should accompany the pace of the video which I believe Wiley has done this very nicely, just by using the props in the video to match the beat. There isn't any editing done apart from adding the composite images into one. In terms of camera shots and angles, there isn't any. Last but not least, there isn't also a very clear narrative in this video either, although, I believe the term "Numbers In Action" is a metaphor of such for the artist which is to work hard at everything you do, whether it's working out to gain a good body or simply working a 9-5 job, but to see it in action, wihich evidently is the money, which represents the "numbers". This adds to the personality of Wiley and UK Grime/Rap artists too, as Canadian born Actor turned Artist Aubrey 'Drake' Graham said "Music and Sports are so synonimous, as we wanna be them(Artists), and they wanna be us(Sportsmen)"
In conclusion, I originally chose this video and song to be my choice when making a video, but due to the less than enough camera shots and angles, I had to sacrifice it for a better video, in terms of Media Language. Nonetheless, the creativity and thought put behind this video, in terms of the props used in the video and the composite images was more than enough for me and Laura to use this video as a good example to look upto when making our own.
Some good, clear analysis! You could maybe comment that this is the sort of video that relies on a good gimmick - the multiple versions of the artist and it entertains because it is constantly changing and is busy - it is visually stimulating and would bear repeated viewings, which a good video must do. It sells the artist, not so much through close-ups, as through filling the screen with lots of images of him at once! You could add some thoughts along these lines?
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