The video that I will be analysing is ‘Bonkers’ which is a song by British rapper Dizzee Rascal and American producer Armand Van Helden. The genre of this song is a combination of alternative dance, electro and hip-hop. It was released in the UK on the 17th May 2009. The target audience for this song would be teenagers and young adults or anyone who enjoys listening to the artist.
The lyrics are about living life to the fullest, making the most of your life by having as much fun as possible, this is depicted by the lyrics “some people pay for thrills but I get mine for free, man I’m just livin’ my life, there’s nothin’ crazy about me” which accentuates that he lives his life as if there’s no tomorrow, this relates to how young people nowadays also want their life to be like.
The lyrics are repetitive and unvarying; the main focus is on Dizzee rascal, who most of time is dancing ‘on top of the world’. The genre of this song is a combination of alternative dance, electro and hip-hop. The music contains a mixture of hooks and beats which are frequent throughout the entire song to emphasise the whole dance genre and the cheerful atmosphere that is implied; this is a usual element of dance music. The artist reflects his feelings and his lifestyle of clubbing, in the narrative. He also implies his carefree style of living. His lyrics suggest that he does not care about what other people think about him ‘Some people think I’m bonkers but I just think I’m free man I’m just living my life there’s nothing crazy about me’ , this implies that he lives a very wild, exciting lifestyle. The narrative in this song is non linear and single strand as there is only one storyline running through the video. In the music video there is not much narrative, it is mainly based on performance, although there are some elements of a storyline, which we see every now and again in the music video as it begins with the artist waking up on the back of a long fabricated van, we next see him as very energetic and in high spirits as he starts passionately dancing. Throughout the whole song there is lyrics which links with the performance e.g. when Dizzee rascal is standing on top of the world going round and round in circles his lyrics, (‘some people think I’m bonkers’) link with the performance.
A lot of music videos use a technique called Intertextuality. This is when there are other media texts included with the video. In this particular music video intertextuality is not included. There is a definite recurring theme of a persistent passion to dance and the fun of clubbing whilst just enjoying life as it is.
Camerawork, sound and editing are important factors in music videos. In ‘Bonkers’, there is a lot of zooming in and out in the music video. This is used to link into the repetitive beats of the music that allows both the music and video to complement each other and to come together as one. Also the slow motion editing is used in the middle section of the music video which represents life as a stand still, they are overwhelmed by the dance music and are embracing it. There is a very vibrant, blue tone to the video, which emphasizes on the genre of music and the whole dancing and clubbing theme. Also the colours in the first section of the video include a very light blue tone, which suggests peaceful and relaxed/chilled atmosphere. There is not much vibrancy and subtle implications of the dance music and genre. However, this then totally changes on the second section where the artist changes from a blue top and cap to a red t-shirt and red sunglasses; signalling the change from the old boring lifestyle to this carefree, energetic clubbing life.
The clothing that is used in the music video portrays themes of the dance genre. The feminine tops, vibrant t-shirts, glasses and hooded tops emphasize on the fusion of dance, hip hop and electro music. Near the end of the music video, there is a group of glow in the dark skeleton costumes; the whole glow in the dark theme originated from the clubs in which dance music is played; to get dancers more into the whole ‘care-free’ sense and ‘electro’ feeling.
At the start of the music video we see a van in a fabric look which is unusual. There is a sense of exaggeration in the music video, where the artist is wearing a huge chain, it is unrealistic and you wouldn’t see it being worn by people usually. I think that there is a very strong relationship between the song lyrics and the visual.
