Analisis of music video 1 - Empire State Of Mind

Empire State Of Mind by Jay-z and Alicia Keys,Produced by Al Shux
The basic narrative of the video is as simple as him showing new york in a classy way which is a juxtaposition of Jay-z because he is an artist that has come from the slums of America seen by many as the ghetto, but is now standing in front of big buildings inside flashy hotels and i believe it not only shows the progression of an artiest but him as an individual the producer is not only trying to show new york that is the clear narrative of the song but symbolize change.

This video comes under the genre of rap and it begins with a montage of stills (still images) of famous monuments of new york city followed by a mid-shot of jay-z standing outside of a nice building. Most shots are followed by this and are on the streets of new york,there is a high use of mid-shots threw-ought followed by close ups again to show detail,facial expressions ect..,by doing this i believe it brings a deeper meaning to what is being said you get to tell by his facial expressions what it means to him. There is not much movement going on with the camera angles apart from only on the chorus where the camera tracks Alicia Keys playing the piano. From start to end this video has a a series of montage stills being played. The whole video is done in black and white up until the end were color is re-introduced,again i believe this is to show change it ends with an extream long shot with them left standing high up on brightly lit stairs. The costume in this just relates to their character nothing extravagant just smart urban clothing with is them being them self's and again a code and convention of a typical stereo type of a raper. The sound track is done to a band using a piano,guitar and set of drums,not your typical rap song and in my opinion adding class to it. The editing is is done to the beat to create impact for example a different image will appear when the beat changes the editor also likes to fade images threw and uses various transitions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8