Compare the representation of class and status for 3 music videos

The task we have been asked to do for our coursework is to pick three music videos and analyse them for representations of status and class. The three videos I have chosen for my coursework are: Nelly Furtado – Manos al Aire, Wiley ft. Mark Ronson & Daniel Merriweather – Cash in my pocket and Jamiroquoi – Virtual insanity. I have chosen these three videos because they are all good to compare in how they have shown class and status. Jamiroquoi – virtual insanity In this video, JK is wearing a dark blue jacket with the collar up, black trousers, black shoes with white laces and a tacky top hat. It looks quite smart although he isn't wearing any make up and he hasn't shaven which makes him look a bit untidy. This connotes that he is some sort of witch doctor which can be backed up when he says â€Å"magic spells† and makes the chair move towards him. The untidiness of him makes him lower in class but magic is a good way to be high in class and status. It is one long shot to begin with and the camera is angled so it shows the whole room that he is dancing in. During this, Jamiroquoi is all over the place, always on his feet dancing to the music which is very upbeat and hip. He looks like he is a laborer because of his clothes and tacky top hat but the room he is in looks like a mental hospital because there isn't much in the room apart from a few leather chairs and the white drawers on the wall. The backup dancers are wearing white and are in unison. They could be workers in the hospital. All of the white connotes that everything is sanitized and clean which is how a hospital should be. The leather chairs look quite expensive which suggests that Jamiroquoi could be in a rehabilitation center for something. Because these things are expensive, it means that JK must have a lot of money which tells us that he is high in status and class. There isn't much in the hospital but everything looks expensive and brightly lit. It costs quite a bit to go into rehab so Jamiroquoi has a lot of money which shows him as high in class. He is also high in status because everybody would be attending to his needs to get him off whatever it is he is in there for so he runs th e show. The backup dancers are only on for ten seconds but during this time, they are all looking at the floor and are perched over slightly like none of them have any control over what they are doing. When they reach the end of the hallway, it's like they spring back into life and they all spin off out of the shot. This connotes that JK is using his magic to control them and to be able to do such a thing, he must have a lot of power and people with power are usually very high in status and class. Nelly Furtado – Manos al Aire I have chosen this video because I think that Nelly's persona is good at showing her class and status. She is shown as someone working in the army, we know this because she is wearing an army uniform and driving a jeep which is an army color. The camera is angled looking up on her most of the time which shows that she is high in status in the army. She isn't smiling which connotes that she is pretty sad and her cap is casting a shadow over half of her face and her eyes which shows she is low in class. She is with her husband seeing a counselor and then when she is in her jeep, she takes a picture of him, looks at it and puts it down again with a depressed look which suggests that she is unhappy with him. She has a load of stuff in the back of her jeep like boxing gloves which she throws out onto the road and doesn't give a second look to. She is singing about the man and she says â€Å"I surrender† and â€Å"I want to love you† This connotes that she is lower in status than the man otherwise she wouldn't be singing stuff like that to him. The video is set in a village but all of the houses look built up and expensive. We don't know that Nelly lives there but at the end of the video when she turns up at the man's house, it is in that built up area so it shows that he must have a lot of money. He is fully clothed and she is wearing shorts and a vest top which shows he is high in class and status because he can afford to live in such a nice area and can be in casual clothing. I think that the narrative of the video is that Nelly and her husband are having problems so they are seeing a counselor. They break up and Nelly goes to give him all of his stuff back but then on the way she realizes that she still wants to be with him and throws herself upon him which proves that she is lower in class and status than the man. Wiley ft. Mark Ronson & Daniel Merriweather – Cash in my pocket In this video, a character shows his class and status before the music even starts by saying â€Å"I feel sorry for these people, maybe I should throw some of my money at them. That will make them smile† Wiley portrays himself through other people throughout the video. This connotes that he is high enough in class and status to get other people to do his video for him and he doesn't need to be in it. The people in the video are mimicking the words to the song as he sings. They are all dressed smart by wearing suites or smart clothes which helps to show that they are high in class and status. The characters body language and facial expressions suggest that they are all happy and like to have a laugh in their place of work. The camera is looking up at some people and down on others. The lighting on the people is bright which connotes that they are high in status and class because if it was dark, they would look like hobos or something. The camera looks up at the people who are singing to the camera and down at the people who are sitting down in separate rooms. This shows that the people who are dancing to the camera are higher in status and class than the people who are sitting down. The people who are sitting down are probably doing the jobs that nobody wants to do but their facial expressions and body language still connotes that they are happy with what they are doing. At the point in the video where it starts singing about cheese, a man in a mouse suit comes along and starts dancing to what the lyrics are saying. The camera then moves onto four pretty women spinning around in chairs and another woman walks past them pushing a cart with Champaign and gold foil on the bottles. Gold connotes wealth and wealth shows high status and class for the company. Some people were having a meeting in a room with a big expensive flat screen T.V with a Chinese man on it talking to them. The T.V had a webcam on the top and behind the Chinese man; there was some Chinese writing on a board and a Chinese calendar. The man had a glass of water with him and he was sitting at a desk. All of this connotes that he is involved in the meeting and the company has another branch in China which shows that the company has a lot of money and class and status. Towards the end of the video, everybody is parading through the halls because they are going home and they are very happy. The camera is looking up at them the whole time which shows they are all high in class and status. Conclusion These Three videos are all good to compare because the situations are similar in the way that everybody is portrayed to be either high or low in class and status through camera angles, lighting ect. But they all have different story lines. Nelly is trying to get her husband out of her mind, JK is in rehab and the people in the Wiley video are getting through a day in the office. They all compare well in how different status and classes can be used in different situations. Jamiroquoi is high in status while Nelly is high in status but lower than the other people in the video and although Wiley isn't actually in his video, his puppets do a pretty good job of showing that he is high in status.