Media Studies

Music Video Analysis

Usher Feat R Kelly – Same girl• Genre – R&B• R Kelly and usher are well known for their music, dancing and lyrics. They are wealthy individuals

and this is shown through the beginning establishing shot of their houses and cars. The close ups of the phones show their wealth, the use of sports cars promote their wealth again as well as their clothing. It is a typical R&B videos which show glamorous cars and jewelry. The song is a narrative and the lyrics are sung at a slow tempo so you can understand the story it is trying to tell. Not only that but the video isn’t complicated in denoting what is being said. The girl is used as a center of attention and the artists are infatuated by her in the video and it is based on her, this is used in many R&B videos and she is used as eye candy or something the artists wants.

• There are a number of different techniques in which they use editing shots for example showing all three people on the screen at once in different locations. This puts the girl at the center of attention as she is in the middle and it matches the lyrics being sung along with the narratives of the song as she is shown in video and verbally to be coming in between the two friends.

• The video is successful in showing the desire of the girl by these two artists and the video is easy to watch and tells the story well. The lyrics and video synchronize well and it is easy to interpret what happens almost without listening to the lyrics, I tested this by watching the video without the music and I was able to grasp the general concept of thee music video. The girl used in the video are all glamorous which is what is normal of all R&B music videos. I can take certain aspects of this music video and incorporate into ours.

AnalysisThis is the opening scene, it’s a medium shot and the Mise en Scene of the sofa, table, lamp and window tell the audience that the scene is in his house. The next shot is a long shot establishing where it is and confirming that it is in a house. Typical to other R&B songs, its about a girl and this is displayed by the song title being displayed on the screen.

The singer is plating with his ring and is hidden. This ring could be something important in the music video, this would explain why it is being focused on. The ring could be incorporated into our video, as it is round and it goes with our song title. It would relate to our motif.

Although no lyrics have been sung, the audience are able to configure what is happening just through clips of props and equipment.

These two extreme close ups tell the audience the reason for the phone call, the girl is the subject of the issue. These close ups could be used in our video to reinforce her attractiveness towards the boy.

Analysis Contd.

A different shot to the other but they both display the same thing/person. Rarely in R&B songs camera shots show the full figure of the girl. There is normally snippets scattered around the music video. We could possibly add a prop to the girl in our video as shown in the song.

This shots holds two people in two different places, this shot confirms their conversation and that its about the girl.

Another close up shot of the girls body part. The lyrics tell us what Is happening. As he says “tattoo on her ankle” the scene shows exactly what is being said.

The story begins to unfold and he audience begin to understand why the song is called ‘same girl’. These shots link together as they depict the same thing but with different people.

Analysis Contd.

Consistently in this video a conversation is filmed and it tends to be in a house, the Mise en Scene of the house is the fireplace and the chairs.

The song ends with a fade out and the audience understand the revelation that the artists have made. The song ends the same as it begins, with both artists together. The clothing throughout the video is similar in both artists.

Various shots are used throughout the song, for example tilt shots were used a lot to display the artists and the subject of the song which is the girl.

This three photo clip shows the dilemma they are in and this could be used in our video to reinforce the link of the video and the song title.