Music video analysis 1

Video: Eminem – Guilty Conscience ft Dr Dre

The music video that i will be looking at is, ‘Guilty Conscience’ which is by the rapper Eminem and features other rapper Dr dre.The video belongs to the hip-hop genre of music and shows the culture broadly through the fragmented narritive and performance based visuals.

Throughout the video, the relationship between the lyrics and visuals is pretty obvious, as the narrative in the video is being told through the style and way that it has been structured, which is a narrative reminiscent of a reality tv show, as there is a host who at selected intervals explains the storyline to the viewers, this helps connect with the lyrics, as after the host has explained the events which are taking place, Eminem and Dre enter the scene acting as the characters conscience, explaining why the character should or shouldn’t go through with the act in question. Overall the video and lyrics share a close relationship and are parallel throughout the video.

The video and music also share a similar relationship, as the film has been edited in such a way that the scene stops in motion whilst the verses are being performed and the next scene is being introduced while the chorus plays, this is to create a bigger focus on the artists performing within the scene. It also creates a more structured approach to the narrative, as towards the end of the verse, the narrative begins again and this becomes the main focus again and the viewer is then aware of what’s happening.

The video relates to Eminem’ other videos through the storyline and the themes within the video, as in other Eminem videos, such as Stan, there are also scenes of violence and also in ‘Stan’ the video ends with the character murdering his pregnant wife, this shows a star image for the character of Eminem, as it continuous with the theme of violence and gritty scenes. This start image given to Eminem is not typically seen to be given to a artist from the Rap or Hip-Hop genre, as usually the star of a rap video is seen to be centred around the themes of money and wealth and will be a typically performance based video, whereas this video has been given a structure and a fragmented narrative.

The theme of voyeurism has been used once again, as we are referenced to the reality show within the video, as this invites the audience to view the scene as if it was being viewed on a television show. The artists also change outfits so that they are dressed identically to the main characters within the scene, it can be seen that this has been used to emphasize the focus on the actual scene instead of the artists, this also strays from the stereotypical music video from the rap genre, as the focus is predominantly the artist or ‘rapper’, however this is not the case within the Eminem video.

The main intertextual reference within this video is the reality television style narrative, which is centred around the lives of these characters who have a decision to, make, whilst being persuaded by both Eminem and Dr dre to make the choice between right and wrong, this has been used so that a wider audience can relate and understand the reference, as reality television shows are shown and recognized worldwide. Another intertextual reference within this video however is not as obvious, but still common to the hip-hop genre or lifestyle, the reference to the robbing of the liquor store is often seen in movies centred around the urban or ‘ghetto’ lifestyle and is seen in films such as, ‘Boyz In The Hood’ and ‘Four Brothers’, this is used to emphasize on the star image that has been created for the characters of Eminem and Dr dre.

There is a constant narrative which is present within the video, although there are a lot of performance based shots in where the two artists are seen rapping whilst surrounding the scene of the narrative, this emphasizes on Goodwins theory, as it helps amplify the relationship between the lyrics and visuals whilst it challenges the typical conventions within a music video from the hip-hop genre, as the video contains complexities within the storyline and is not centred around the artists, much like what is typically seen within a music video of this genre, however the artists do frequently appear in the video, this is so that the record company can still sell the star image of the artist without over shadowing the actual narrative of the video.

The conclusion I have come to is that while the video still used a method of performance and narrative based imagery, the use of camera angles and shots do not conform to the typical or standard shots seen within a video of this genre, this is mainly because of the stars image of Eminem in this video and as he is such a controversial character within the hip-hop scene it is possible for him to go against the conventions whilst still appealing to the same target audience.