Music Video Analysis

1. Lara Dobson
Bingo Players& Far East Movement– GetUp
Genre – Electric/Hip-Hop
Characters
The characters in thismusicvideoaren’tjustspecifiedto
human.The main protagonistsare actuallyducksandthe
antagonistsare a gang of youths.The youthsare wearing
hoodiesandtrack suits.Thisisa negative representation
of Hip-Hopmusicasit classifiesthemasthe derogatory
termof ‘chavs’. Thismakesit seemasthoughall Hip -
Hop musicisorientatedforthistype of personinsociety.
Othercharacters inthe videoare victimsof whatthe
thugsdo – Aninnocentshopper,acouple walkingdownthe street,amanon a bicycle anda poorold
womanfeedinganddancingwiththe ducks.
Narrative
The narrative of the storyis that these youthshave been
harassinginnocentbystandersfromthe beginningof the
video.Theysteal the oldwoman’sbagandthrow it into
the duck pond.Thisdrivesthe ducksto quackangrilyat
themso one of the youthsthrowsa large rock and killsa
babyduck. Thiscreatesa negative representationof
teenagersatthat age group as theyare seenasviolent
and irresponsible.The ducksthencome afterthe gangof
youthsand gettheirrevenge.Thisisabreakin the
stereotypical videothatcomesfromthe hip-hopgenreof
musicas well asthe electronic.Usually,videosfromthe
hip-hopgenre don’thave aclearnarrative and are usuallyfriendsmessingabout.Thismakesthisvideo
seemunique.
Iconography
The bag is iconicas itis seenwiththe womanwhenshe
isfeedingthe ducksandwiththe youthswhenthey
throwit intothe duck pond.It createsthe start of the
fightbetweenboththe ducksandthe gang.This isa
breakin the stereotype asinHipHop musicvideos;the
youthsusuallystartfightswithothergangs.Another
iconicprop isthe mobile phone thatone of the ducks
stealsfroma memberof the group.It causesthemto
walkacross a road and gethit bya car (alsodrivenbya
duck).Thisisa negative stereotypeof animalsasit
makesthe duck seemlike aviolentcreature ratherthan
an animal withulteriormotives. The chainthatone of the ducks waswearingshowsthatthisgang of

2. Lara Dobson
duckshas takenovertheir turf.This isa stereotypical representationof gangwars as one will take over
fromthe otheronce they’ve beeneliminated.
Setting
The firstsettingissetin a park, nexttoa duck pond.Thisis a vital settingasitis where the rivalry
betweenthe ducksandthe gang firstbegins. The settingisabreakinthe stereotype of where thistype
of videowouldbe setasa park isassociatedwithfamiliesandnotneighborhoodyouths.The othermain
settingisin a parkinggarage.This iswhere the gang membersgetkilled.Thisisanegative
representationof these placesastheyare knownformurdersandkillingstohappeninthem.
Technical Codes
The lightingisquite lowkeywhenthe youthsare ina groupon theirown.Thisisto show the morbid
atmosphere thatfollowsthem.Thisisastereotypical representationof youngteenagerswhowear
tracksuitsinlarge groupsas theyare automaticallylabeledastrouble.The trackingshotwhenfollowing
the last remainingmemberof the ganghelpedthe tense atmosphere buildwheninthe parkinggarage.
Thisis a negative representationof ducksastheyare portrayedas ruthlesskillersratherthanthe loving
animal’shatwe see at the park.