Eminem – when I’m gone

What genre is it?The genre is rap because of the baggy t-

shit that the artsit is wearing which is stereotypically the costume that

rappers wear in their music videos. The genre is also recognised by the low

angle, mid shots, that are specifically focused on the artist. There is also a

crowd of people who are dancing and moving to the song, implying that they like it, this will influence the audience

to like the song too. The video also features a woman and bling to try and

imply that the rapper artist has everything and is wealthy. However the

other conventions are not kept to. In the video the artist is showing what the

rapping career can do to the life and personality of the artist and here the artist is presenting it in a very gloomy

way.

How does this video market the artist?

The video markets the artist by filming close ups and mid shots all the way through the video to show the artist’s face. The video is presenting him in a good light as he is confessing that he may not have been the best person

that he could have been and he is trying to correct his ways.

Because some of the conventions, such as the

provocative women and bling are not in the video it adds emotion

to the song and by not portraying the ‘thug life’ in a good way, the camera shots and angles then

enable to audience to empathise with the artist and his life style.

Who is the audience?

The audience for this music is around 13-25 year olds. This type of

music is for both genders and the

target market will shop in mainstream

high street shops and sport shops for

clothing.

Andrew Goodwin

When the artist raps that his life is flashing in front of him, the visuals flas and change

settings in quck succesion. This meanis that the audience can connects and almost feel

what he felt, it was done so that the audience knew what the artist was going through and could empathise with him. It

made is seem real for the audience because they will have felt like the support group

and will feel the emotion as he is explaining the narrative to the people infront of him.

Relationship between the lyrics and visuals- The video shows his chaotic lifestyle, so their is a relationship between the lyrics and the

visuals, as each part he raps the visuals show it stage by stage ('When Hailie is piling boxes in front of the door trying to block it' the visuals

are doing the exact same as the lyrics). It starts off with the help group, capturing what his life used to be like and shows his reflection

now he looks back on it. the tempo and tones of the music is quite dull and the visuals are dull as well, black and grey colours with low

key lighting. Also the whole point of the music is to show the emotion so Anthony Mandler has used certain camera angles and techniques

to achieve this.

The relationship between the visuals and the song

All of the edits in the video are to the beat which means that the audience can feel

more involved with the video because. as we, as humans, move our heads to look at something else, we blink. This will mean

that more empathy is created for the artist. The narrative is clear to the

audience even just by listening to the song and the music video just enforces this. The added power is given to the song through the video because eminem has used his

actual family in the video and is just explaining with pure emotion which

means that the audience will feel this and have lost of empathy for all of the artists family. The audience have been given an insight into the artist life which make the

visuals part of the song.

Particular genres may have their own video style and iconographyThe arist has completely changes the way his video is viewed with

this song because of the lyrics and because of their meaning. This means that usually the artist

iconography doens appear in theis video however it does. The rap genre can still be seen through

certain aspects of the video which maes it easy to recognise that it is

eminem. The hand movements and body gestures all point towards

eminem’s iconography. He also still wears some of his stereotypical

clothes and the key of lighting is all how it would be in most of his

other music videos.

Reference to voyeurism(screen within screen, binoculars, cameras…)

In the video we look over the artist shoulder at one

point and into a mirror. The artist then smashes the

mirror. This could imply that the artist doesn’t like who

looks back at him in the mirror and doenst want the cameras and the public to see the side of him that he

sees in himself. This all relates back to him being

with the support group and wanting to change.

Laura Mulvey Usually women in rap videos are

seen as objects with sexual appeal for men to look at and touch. However this video defies this

convention and shows women as a need and a want to be happy. As

an actual person with emotion who can effect the artist deeply.

Women are therefore represented as important. The camera angles don’t look down on the women either although low angle shots give the artist power and these are not used to give women ant power either, even though they

aren’t looked down on.

Camera work

This could suggest that things will get better and everything seems much clearer for the artist now and he is able to see what went

wrong and see what means the most which in this case is his wife and daughter. The

audience can know this because the camera work slowed down specifically on his

daughter when there is high key lighting and the artist seems to be happy. Tracking is used

on Eminem to make the audience feel involved in the narrative of the video and involved in Eminem's story. Tracking his

movements also means that more empathy is created for him because of the involvement in

the artists life that the viewer feels now.

There are many fade cuts used to represent this as real life and in this video it is showing Eminem's real life and how being a rapper has actually effected his life and emotional wellbeing and personality.

There is also a succession of quick fade ins as the lyrics read ‘ my life flashes’ showing that it has all gone to fast and implying that it is out of control and the artist cannot stop things whether they are going wrong

or right. Towards the end of the scene , however, things are slowed down implying that he has a hold on his life now, after he has spoken to

and received help from the support group.

Mise-en-scene

The colours also helps the target audience recognise the link between her and Eminem as they are both wearing the same

coloursLighting- this lighting when the video first begins is dark and

gloomy which could indicate that he isn’t feeling his usual self because this is not what his videos are usually like. It implied

that the artist is gloomy and sad also. When in the garden the high key lighting implies that he is happiest here and his

family give him a positive, good feeling. On the whole the dark settings and low key lighting imply that he is lonely and lost from loosing his wife. At one point there is black behind

the artist which in contrast to the sun being behind his daughter connotating bad vibes to the audience and creates a sense that he hasn’t been a good worthy person in his past.

Costume- in this video Eminem defies conventions due to part way through he is wearing a suit which is not representative of rap because rap is mostly

about rebellion. Wearing a suit is complying to regulations and we would stereotype a suited person as having a sophisticated office job. However a

suit implies wealth and almost replaces the need for ‘bling’. He is wearing a white t-shirt, a American baseball style jacket and a red beanie. The

American base ball jacket is too highlight his American origins. This is reinforced with the American flag pictured in the rehab hall. It also helps to

show some of his interests which helps the target audience feel closer to him as a person and as a artist. The daughter is wearing a white and red

striped shirt with red dungarees. This simple childish type clothing helps to represent her innocence.

Cont.Actors- at the start the artist acts a small

amount which shows his diversity and sheds light on himself, showing he can do more than

sing. It is as if he is preaching about his life and confessing to the support group in front of him, telling a story. This video is therefore

narrative based. Make-up – the artist is male and because it is

rap and the artist is stereotyped as being ‘hard’ he will not want to be portrayed to be

feminine by wearing make-up. Props – the props such as the swing is there to create a young happy atmosphere because of how this is portrayed in films: a happy time.

Setting- at first we see what we can assume is a support group that implies that Eminem is

trying to corrects some issues that he has had. As the video proceeds the setting becomes a

garden at what the audience will assume is his house. The settings change in quick succession

which could imply that he is having to leave his family often meaning that he is lonely.

Sound work There is no music and just dialogue at the

beginning of the video which sets the scene and creates tension and confusion for the audience

because they don’t know what’s going on or where Eminem is. He introduces himself using a different name which is not associated with him to the general public, this could imply that he is trying to hide from the press because he doesn’t ant them to know his personal life. Alternatively

it could suggest that it is just about general struggle within families or even that this is what

happened to him or somebody close to him when he was a child and he wants the public to

know that it is a hard and sadly, common, situation.

In the end the sound becomes ambient and clapping starts to sound from the crowd of

people who are assumed to be the audience. It shows that his story is over and it also shows that

he expects appreciation for how hard it is to, firstly, confront your own problems, and

secondly, to put things right in such a sensitive and difficult situation such as shown in the video.