Analysis of Kanye West music video - Homecoming (featuring Chris Martin)

I will be analyzing this music video to get some ideas on different camera shots and editing effects that will help us in the making of our own video, which is based on Kanye West's track 'Bittersweet', and to understand the codes and conventions of modern day hip-hop music videos.

The video starts with quick shots and mid-range panning shots of a city landscape (Chicago), including skyscrapers, underground trains and streets shadowed by tall buildings, which set the scene of the video straight away, and suggests the tone for the rest of the video. The use of black and white effects helps to focus our attention on Kanye as he stands out from the stark backdrop. The black and white effect also suggests a bleak and grainy setting, implying a potential hard life for the people in the video including Kanye.

The video moves on to show Kanye walking the streets of his hometown of Chicago, which is a typical image of a rapper trying to make it big in the city. The mise-en-scene, especially the clothing that Kanye is wearing, a duffel coat and balaclava, reinforces the stereotypical image of a gangster in a city, as these clothes are usually associated with this group. Also towards the end of the video Kanye can be seen wearing jewellery that looks expensive and suggests that he is rich compared to the other people shown in the video, who in contrast appear to be poor and to be living a completely different life.

The close-up shots of Chris Martin playing the piano switch our focus on to him and his pure instrumental and vocal role in the video. The audience see Martin as the backing man, whereas the main focus and story of the video is played out by Kanye through his homecoming. The use of ambient lighting in Martin’s scenes and the fireworks in the background suggest that Kanye’s homecoming is the big event, as in the foreground Martin barely appears visible, with the fireworks in the background signifying Kanye’s homecoming.

At the end of the video the use of a mid-range shot of Kanye in the foreground, and a gang in the background, places him as the central person in the scene, as the people in the background appear blurred and out of focus. This scene also reinforces the stereotypical image of a rapper as being part of a gang in an urban environment, and the life that this entails. The video then moves on to a mid-shot of Kanye walking through the streets with this gang, with the other members of the gang dressed in typical clothing, e.g. hoods and baseball caps. The last few panning mid-range shots show Kanye looking up at the city landscape, giving the impression that the city is much bigger than him. The camera then cuts to a close-up of a young child looking up with a dummy in its mouth just about to start his life in the city. The camera then cuts back to Kanye (low-angle shot) with him looking down at the camera, giving us the impression that he is looking at the child, suggesting that this child is in the same situation as Kanye was before he had grown up and come home.

The video is edited in such a way that helps the video to flow from scene to scene ensuring continuity. For example, the beginning of the video flows smoothly from the city landscape to a highway, giving us a different perspective on the city without jolting cuts. The use of camera shots and effects reinforce the story the video is trying to tell, for example, the mid-range shots and panning shots successfully highlight the video’s setting, Kanye’s hometown and sets the tone and pace for the entire video.

George Smith