1. Analysis of ‘3005’ by Childish Gambino
Genre elements Conventions
Characters –
representations,
stereotypes, behaviour,
body language, specific
actors/stars
There are only two characters in this entire video, one being the artists himself and the
other being a stuffed teddy bear. Childish Gambino plays himself in the video and the
teddy bear could be represented as a symbol of his love towards his lover. This
representation could be taken because the main chorus contains the lyrics “I'll be right
by your side 'till three thousand and five.” and he is also depicted in the video as having
his arm around the bear. The two characters are also shown sat closely together on a
ferris wheel ride at a theme park which is something you would do with your partner
usually.
This music video is quite conventional for a rap genre video in the sense that there are
two main characters and the main theme is love but at the same time using a teddy bear
instead of his real 'lover' as a symbol of his love is quite an unconventional thing to do.
Narrative events –how is
the narrative ordered and
structured? Can character
types or other narrative
elements such as
opposites/ stages of
equilibrium/disequilibrium
be applied to
photos/video?
The narrative is ordered chronologically because the video is taken in a single take and
the teddy bear slowly becomes more damaged throughout the video each time it is
shown. This could be a representation of how even though the appearance of the bear
worsens over time, he is still sat next to it, showing that his love will remain eternal. This
also relates to the lyric, “I'll be right by your side, 'till three thousand and five.”
The video establishes a state of equilibrium at the very start when the teddy bear
appears brand new, this could be a symbol of the very start of a relationship with
somebody. As the video progresses and the bears condition slowly get worse, a state of
disequilibrium is slowly introduced because things are no longer 'Perfect' and then at the
end of a video the bear is shown sat on the ferris wheel on it's own in an awful condition
which brings in the final state of disequilibrium.
The narrative is conventional in this music video because it is all about the artist showing
his love and for a rap video that is quite a stereotypical theme in music videos of this
genre.
Iconography – props,
symbolic
codes/fonts/colour
schemes
In this music video the artist himself can be taken as part of the iconography because in
almost every single video of this genre the rap artist performing the song are their own
main characters within the video. There are also a lot of very bright colours and lights
within the music video because it is set in a fairground and although the setting itself is
not very typical of rap genre music videos the bright lights are quite conventional within
this genre of music.
Setting- mise en scene in
moving image/photos
The video for this song is set in a theme park on a ferris wheel at night. There are lots of
bright lights and varied colours that you would expect to see at a theme park. The shot
cycles through periods of high key lighting at the bottom of the wheel to periods of very
low key lighting when he is at the top of the ferris wheel which makes the video more
interesting to watch because it makes the artist appear in a much more moody light in
parts of the video.
Technical and audio codes
– camera use, editing,
lighting, diegetic/non
diegetic sound, sfx/page
layout: the Guttenberg
principle/rule of thirds
One very unusual feature of this music video is that the whole thing is shot in one very
long take. This is very unconventional and might be done to emphasise the passing of
time without distorting the setting of the ferris wheel, this technique is very effective at
actually making the audience feel as though the time is dragging on.
Although the sound is edited on top of the video when the recording for the video is
finished it is done in a way to make it appear like the rapping in the song is actually
diegetic sound from the actual video.
The lighting throughout the video is constantly changing which makes the video more
interesting for the audience to watch.
I think this video does conform to Steve Neale's theory of mental machinery because it
engages the audience and lets each person interpret the narrative as they want.