RESEARCH - Apply The Four Key Concepts To A Music Video

Estelle - '1980'

Using Estelle's music video '1980', which was released in July 19, 2004, I will be relating it to the four media concepts; genre, narrative, media language and representation to explain which make the video the genre it is in, and the audience it appeals to.

Firstly, Estelle's song '1980' is of a 'Hiphop' genre, which explains the inclusion of rap to a repeated beat as well as the attraction to a young audience. Many music video's which are of the hiphop genre are filmed either outside or indoors, in order to create an atmosphere which illustrates what is being sang about; Estelle does this in her '1980' video as the locations, including one room decorated in printed wallpaper and another dark, misty room to create the 1980's mood for the viewer. Not only does this allow the viewer to have an insight of how it may have felt to be living in the times Estelle is rapping about, but it also allows the viewers to feel comfortable as Estelle attempts to express how good life was in her time.
Iconography, which is the use of symbols to represent something, is used to illustrate the genre 'Hiphop' through the artist's costumes, use

of jewellery and lyrics; in many shots in the music video, Estelle and people featured are seen wearing big sunglasses with big gold chain and earrings which is a popular dress code for the genre and repeatedly, she refers to the life she lived during 1980 for example,
"I grew up in the 1980's
In a 4-bedroom house
My family, my Grandma,
3 or 4 Aunties
Uncles and Brothers
In and out of prison daily"

It would be expected for the lighting of the music video to be bright as 'Hiphop' creates a lively mood, yet in Estelle's video, in order to create a 1980's scene, the lighting is quite dull and misty which disconnects with the genre.
The narrative structure of the song starts off as linear, but has no disruption within; Estelle raps about her life from the moment she was born to the time of her career and how life has changed over time but what images in the video are not linked to the lyrics for the whole song. The images shown in the video illustrate what Estelle raps about in the first half of the song and choruses but towards the end, when she raps about modern life, what is being shown is still related with the life in the 1980's. However, throughout most of the video, Estelle's position in the narrative is participant as she is rapping about HER life, and HER experiences; it only makes sense for Estelle HERSELF to feature in the video.

There is a limited use of editing in this music video, where the only editing used, and to an advantage is 'cuts' to show stills of Estelle and the people featured in the video dressed in a 1980's style - creating further the theme of the song. As the topic of the song is of a personal type, life, the minimum use of editing is explainable and allows the audience to feel comfortable with watching the video rather than seeing varied edited scenes. It allows the video to be as natural as the topic itself and allows the audience to also feel the personal messages Estelle is addressing to. The pace, which is calm, also allows the audience to view with pleasure and to have an interest in the video itself.
Once again, the editing is not conventional to the genre because 'Hiphop' is about energetic and bright video's, yet this video is quite the opposite.

Not only is the representation of the suitable audience for this music video clear through the variation of people featured in the video, but also through the lyrics it self. The use of young boys and girls and adult males and females attracts to an audience of all ages, as well as social groups such as families, young adults and teenagers. Though rapping is usually associated with men, Estelle contrasts this social expectation and inherits a new audience for this music type; women. Though the song does not generalise towards women, as observers through the perspective of a women we too, feel how Estelle felt at the time she is rapping about and how it may have been for such a gender.