Keri Hilson-Knock You Down ft Kanye West and Ne-Yo

ANALYSIS OF MUSIC VIDEO

ABOUT THE SONG

• Knock You Down" is a song by American singer-songwriter Keri Hilson, taken from her debut studio album, In a Perfect World... (2009). The song features guest vocals from American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo and American rapper Kanye West.

THE NARRATIVE • The narrative of the video features Kanye

West and Keri Hilson as love interests. He is seen painting a portrait of her and they touch each other Faces these could be signs that they are very much in love. This type of narrative very much conforms to the conventions of a R&B/Hip Hop music video. The face that there is a love story. But this story isn’t like a normal one in contradicts the norm and instead of the man cheating or leaving the women in this story the woman is seen as being the two timer. As what seems like a art showing Ne-Yo Keri Hison’s other lover comes and she is seen by West touching his face and he gets angry

GOODWIN’S THEORY

• Andrew Goodwin’s 6 Features of Music Video are featured in this video in different ways

• 1. Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics: The fact a love story conforms to the genre characteristics as this is a common feature of RnB/Hip Hop.

• 2. There is a Relationship between lyrics and visuals. When Kanye raps about a rocket and NASA a image of a rocket flying off comes up which is a shows the relationship between the lyrics and visuals

• 3.There is a relationship between the music and visual when the song is about love knocking you down and there are visuals of the artist falling over

• 4. The Record label will want close ups and motifs to be developed for the audience to identify with the artist. There are a few close ups of Keri Hilson and Kanye West and Keri Hilson and there are close ups of Kanye West Yeezy 1 which are his shoes he made with Nike.

• 5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body there are split scereen where it looks like Keri Hilson and Kanye West are looking at each other. Keri Hilson also isn’t wearing a lot clothes with could linked to Laura Mulvey s theory that she is being seen through the male gaze .

• 6. There are often intertextual reference there aren't really any intertextual references in this video.

MISE-EN-SCENE • There is no colour associated with the

music video but I think this was down on purpose as this would draw attention to the artists that are wearing colours. Kanye West is wearing pink and black which matches his Yeezy 1 which draws attention to them when they are shown.

• The end scene the scene being set seems to be that of a party there are a lot people drink and talking so it seems they are at a party.

LAURA MULVEY’S THEORY • There isn’t a lot of voyeurism but it is a

present theme in this video. It is not as much as most hip hop video. I think this is because of the fact it is a women artist so it is different. If it was a male artist there would be more cause the video would be seen through their eyes which is the a male gaze. The fact that there are models an be linked to Goodwin’s theory as a characteristic of the genre it can be a sign of aspiration as they paid to have the models present.

CAMERA ANGLES, SHOTS AND MOVEMENT • There were a variety of shots used when

Kanye West was rapping there is a switch between mid shots and close ups to make us focus on him.

• When Keri Hilson is in the bed we are shown a birds eye view of her. This can be linked to Laure Mulvey’s Theory and the male gaze she isn’t wearing much clothes ad she moves around on the bed in a suggestive way.

• There were also mid shots and close ups of ne-yo when he was singing this conforms Goodwin’s Theory.

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND TRANSITIONS• There were a couple split screen there was

actually one with a colour footage and one with black white. This was used to show contrast between before and after the black and white was the past when they were happy but the colour was the present when they are arguing now. There was also one to show how she played both men and showed them both love but was going behind their backs.

• There is also an effect where Kanye West falls back this conforms to Andrew Goodwin’s Theory as there is a relationship between the music and the visuals The shattering of his body it represents his heart as she broke his heart so in turn she broke him as a person.

DOMINANT IDEOLOGIES/AUDIENCE RECEPTION

This video contradicts the dominant ideologies as usually the man would be the one cheating on the women an example is Usher –Confessions. But in this video they women is the on that is doing the two timing. This change in conventions is because the song is by a female so making her one the victims would make her seem weak and that wouldn’t be a good image to give her as her target audience women may not want to purchase her music. This would make the women the Dominant readers as they would enjoy seeing a women in control of the relationship and it would be a form of escapism for them. The oppositional readers would be men because they will not be happy with the way me are being treated as they are being played.