How do music videos use media language?

I will be exploring how different media language is used to create the imagery of old school rap videos in the music video to King Kunta by Kendrick Lamar. The video itself features typical characteristics of old school rap videos and plays on these genre typical features, in context tho, this is done purposefully as non of Kendricks other videos are like this. Its satire in the way that people who don't listen rap/ hip hop typically perceive the genre to be all about money/women etc when in fact its much deeper than that.

Mise en scene is used in the music video to establish the video as a typical "gangster rap" video. The video starts with a shot of a sign saying Compton and is followed by a shot of a low rider car, a vehicle present in many rap videos from the late 90's/ early 2000's.

 This immediately helps set the tone of the video and establishes what content will be present. By starting the video with this shot of the Compton sign we know that the video is shot in Compton, where Kendrick grew up. Showing where your from in rap videos has been done in rap videos since they were first made as there is a lot of rivalry between rappers from different parts of America.

 This leads onto the idea of costume. The majority of people in the video are wearing red in some part of their outfit, this is because the area of Compton where Kendrick grew up in is Pirus Bloods territory and this is represented through the use of the colour red. In contrast to this, Kendrick is shown wearing neutral colours and even a blue hat at some point, this signifies that even tho Kendrick could of easily got caught up in the gang culture, he kept his head straight and with hes fame he is trying to reduce the conflict between the two gangs of Compton, Crips and Bloods. Many other rap videos feature. The mise en scene in the video fits the genre, it focuses on material things like, low rider cars, big chains and barely dressed women, you can see these features present in the majority of old school rap videos like Dr Dre's "Still Dre" and "Nothin but a G thang". Kendrick uses these features to make it clear that the video is imitating previous videos.

The editing of the music video creates an upbeat and energetic atmosphere which matches the energy of the song. From the start, Kendrick raps on video in sync to the lyrics from his song. This makes the viewer focus on him throughout and is used to progress the music video. By having the video cut to the beat of the song, its creates a much stronger link between the two and makes it more enjoyable to watch. Instead of using tripods and steady shots, the video features a mix of professional, steady, well framed shots and a bunch of shaky,handheld almost amateur shots. This is done on purpose to mimic the handheld shots used in old school rap videos as Kendrick is trying to mimic them. This is also achieved through using a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of modern day widescreen shots, its all done to create the feeling and atmosphere of old school rap videos.

Featuring many conventions typical of the rap genre, Kendricks video could be seen as a stereotypical gangster rap video. The video focuses mainly on him performing which is typical or rap music videos. It focuses on material wealth with many shots of material things like cars, gold chains and women.  It is easy to see the similarities between this video and other old school rap videos such as videos by Dre and Snoop.