For our report we have chosen to use music videos from the artist J.Cole, as in many of his videos he tells a story or addresses issues in society such as crime, drugs, alcohol and depression.
The video i chose to analyse was the music video for ''She Knows''. Firstly, the video starts out with a long shot of a eerie and foggy street which already gives a coded message to the audience to show that this is more of a serious music video rather then a upbeat and fun video. We then get represented with our first main focus of the music video as the audience is then thrown into the life of this young teens life using many close up shots of this character. We get a small look of this teens parents and house, giving us a glimpse of his household life. The audience are shown crosses on walls and on the top of the dresser which gives the audience connotations to the teen having a religious family and therefore possibly as strict family, this is later confirmed as we are shown to first part of dialogue from his father as he aggressively shouts his sons name as he looks for him in the house.
The scene then switches to the boys mother driving him to school, where we hear or see no words being shared between each of them but instead they only give slight glimpses almost as if they are not trying to catch one another's attention. once the boy is dropped off he gives a almost frightened or worried look as he sees his mother drive off, this shows the audience that he either worries for his mother or it could even show signs of domestic abuse. After this scene the tone switches from the dark and gloomy atmosphere that was set in the beginning, to a more bright and fun atmosphere as we see the boy reunite with his friend as they set off to mess around and have fun instead of going school, this shows us he is a misbehaved character which could suggest the stress and depression from home effects him to then do acts such as this.
Later in the two boys adventures we see them consuming drugs as we are shown them to smoking and one of the boys then proceeds to vomit. They are then shown to go to a arcade followed up by them trespassing on private property to skate and also drink alcohol. Things then become more fast paced and tense as we then see the two boys manage to escape and avoid arrest from a police officer as he chases them. These actions also suggest its his coping method to the depression he has built up from his depression. As the two boys sigh in relief they look back at it in humour and return home. Once the boy gets home the atmosphere changes back to the dark monochrome colours showing the boys decent back into this dark corrupt atmosphere. The audience are then treated to a grim scene where the mother is scene to be with another man rather then his father. In this scene the music pauses creating a very serious and tense atmosphere. The boy then says no words as his mother begins to panic in surprise, only for them to just storm out the house and run away along with his friend. From this scene the audience could also suggest that the fathers strict religious lifestyle takes a toll on the mother as well as the boy, resulting in her cheating on the father.
The music video ends on a very disturbing and eerie scene as we see the family all around the table prepared to eat dinner as the father begins to say grace whilst the son and mother give each other indirect stares due to the son previously witnessing his mother cheating. This scene is immensely tense as this corrupt household contrasts to the strict religious family as instead of telling the truth, the kid does not expose his mother for what she's done but instead stays silent whilst's the prayer plays in background as the music fades silent. This audio code is effective as the prayer in the background contrasts with the dark scene making this a very disturbing but realistically grim.
Overall, the actual artist himself J.Cole is represented in quite a negative way in his short-lived scene where he is discovered to be the mothers affair. This shows this he might have wanted to show the audience that he is a alpha male but also there are many connotations in this video that this boys perspective could have been J.Cole himself and his past dark experiences, his family problems, struggles and his life as a delinquent back when he was younger.
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