Case Study 2

Case Study 2 – Chipmunk – Oopsy Daisy

The Single Oopsy Daisy is performed by R&B artist Chipmunk and is part of his debut album ‘I Am Chipmunk’ It was written by Talay Riley and was produced and directed by Kyle James and Pete Parker. The song was released in October 4^th 2009 and the song reached number 1 in the charts on October the 11^th 2009. The single comes under the genre of Pop and the music video is 3 minutes and 36 seconds. I will analyse this video see how the music video uses camera, editing and mise-en-scene for representation also how it targets it audience and I can use ideas for my own project.

Synopsize

The song Oopsy daisy is about two young couples splitting up after the girl in the video makes the decision to leave as she feels if they stay together she will only hurt him again. The couple have tried to give chances for their relationship to work out but it seems that it does not work out. The song starts off with Chipmunk arriving to the big modern house to find no one in the house, he looks around the house but it is empty. He finds a letter on the bed telling him that she has left and he looks upset and throws the letter on the floor and walks away. He then pictures the past and see’s both of them fighting and suddenly the illusion of them disappears by a quick spit ball of fire and this created via a special effect. He then picks up a frame with a picture showing them together he looks unhappy and distraught and then suddenly drops the picture of the floor and walks over it. As he goes downstairs he again sees an illusion of her stroking his head on the sofa and before he knows it the spit ball of fire erases the illusion. Also throughout the video switches  to scenes of the girl by herself looking upset and troubled lip synching through the chorus of the song and there is also a scene in which chipmunk in surrounded by a ring of fire

The song is performance based as both the female and male lead in the video performs in the video.  The girl in the video sings the chorus while the rest of the song is sung by the male lead. The video is performance based as it shows how both the characters feel in the video. Also the video being performance based helps the audience understands how Chipmunk feels while he sings the song.

Representation

At the beginning of the video we see chipmunk coming out of the car unaware of what is going to happen the camera shows a close up shot of his face as he looks cool and relaxed. We then see a mid-shot of the girl in the video who looks troubled as he clutches a letter close to her chest as the lyrics in the video go ‘ Crushed your heart with the palm of my hands if you walk out baby I’ll understand cause all I do is hurt you again.’ This represents the girl as the shallow yet candid as she is the one breaking the up the relationship. There are three different sections in the story there is the girls scene where she is by herself, chipmunks scene where he sings towards the camera and the narrative of them together in the video.

When the girl sings in the video close up shot of her mouth is used to show her lip synching along with the song. Her voice is very gentle and this is because the lyrics she sings must be sung in a way which remorseful. She also looks down towards the floor many times and this body language connotes that she feels unhappy and apologetic for what she had to do.

 

There scene where chipmunk is looking to find her in the house a slow cutting rate is used to show that as he looks around he cannot see her anywhere. However, fast cutting rate is used when it cuts to Chipmunk lip syncing and the beat of the song also gathers pace. When is he in the bedroom a wide angle shows a letter on the bed and when chipmunk opens the letter a close up shot shows his face and he looks distraught and his head drops towards the floor and as he strokes his head with his hands and this reaction tells the audience that this was the break-up later from the girl that she has left.  His reaction also represents his shock to discover that is she left him.

As Chipmunk stands up a wide angle shot shows the letter dropping from his hands and slow motion is used to show the letter fluttering towards the floor and this shows the audience visually his reaction towards the letter.

There is then a special effect used in where the camera zooms into Chipmunks eyes and into his iris and from that comes a scene of where Chipmunk is surrounded by a ring of fire. This connotes to what he is thinking deep inside his thoughts and the camera technique used here is meant to make the audience believe that they are going into his mind to see how he feels. . The camera then uses bird’s eye view shot to show the ring of fire and chipmunk swaying his hands in the middle as he sings ‘if this is really the end then I’m going to find cupid and put him in headlock, like why did you pick on me why did you pick in on the pretty boy like me I don’t need good luck I just need a girl who gives me good love’. This shows how chipmunk finds hard to believe that there relationship is over he feels love has been tough on him and that he just needs someone who loves him without fights and arguments.

Editing techniques are used to create Illusions which are creatively used in the video to show the past tense of the two together, the illusions connote that he reliving the memories about what caused the relationship to end the way it did and he is looking back on that as he now realises where things had gone wrong. Also a special effect is used where a fire erases out the flashback and this shows that there relationship is now destroyed and the fire represents this well as it burns and destroys things.

There is then a scene where we see Chipmunk is holding a frame showing the couple together happily posing. He looks on to the frame and stares at the picture which connotes that he reminiscing about his time together with the girl however the lyrics then go on ‘Look honey I didn’t diss you therefore I Shouldn’t miss you, It’s like round and round we go I’d prefer if you left me alone cause I can’t take the pain anymore’ this shows that he is struggling to left get over here and but also he has enough of the drama of their relationship and that he wants to move on from this from this pain. The lyrics corresponds with the video as he drops the picture frame on the floor and walks over it which shows that he is trying to forget about her and what they had as it no longer exists.

As the song continues the chorus of the song overlaps many scenes and chipmunk goes down the stairs trying to forget about the girl however he fails as when he look towards the sofa he sees another illusion of them together where he sees the girl stroking his head and he sleeps on her lap. This connotes how he cannot avoid thinking about her as much as he wants she always plays on her mind. The illusion shows the happy moment of them together where they can both be seen laughing and smiling together. However, like before the Illusion erases after a matter of seconds to show that is now history and those moments are now distant memories.

There is also a scene where the lyrics correspond with a cutaway scene when the lyrics go ‘Destruction like fire all around you that’s why I have to go’ the cutaway shows chipmunk surrounded by a ring of fire which connotes that she must leave otherwise he will got hurt and the fire is the visual illustration.

Near the end of the video chipmunk goes is walking around the streets of London lip synching along with the song while the camera tracks his movements at one point the camera pans across off chipmunk to show another couple sitting on the bench looking happy and this connotes how chipmunk feels hard to cope with the break-up of his relationship while others are happy, he also must come to terms that he single as he sings’ You seen me grow from a boy to a man so this must really be the end of the road’.

As the video comes to a closing chipmunk comes across the first place he met his girlfriend and the camera shows a close up shot of him looking on in the distance which tells the audience that he is thinking about a memory the camera then recreates the moment of they met where chipmunk stops the girl and they can seen smiling, talking and exchanging numbers. This scene represents much how much he liked her when he first saw her and this memory make him think how much he misses her. The video then cuts to shots of girl who looks down which represents that although it hurts her she did what was best for him as the song ends with same two verses at the start of the song . The video then cuts to the chipmunk who can be seen looking miserable and disheartened as he gets to grip that the person he loved has left forever.

In terms of mise en scene the video uses natural lightening in the house the sunlight provides the lightening through the glass panel of the house. Also near the end of the video outdoor locations are used where chipmunk is walking through the streets at night the street lamps provide background lightening he wears a black jacket which goes with the scenery that he is in. Fire is also used in the video in the scene where chipmunk is surrounded by a ring of fire to connote that he is going to get hurt if he stays in the relationship. Also the props that are used in the video show chipmunks wealth as he drives up to the house in a chauffeur driven car he wears designer shades and jacket. Also in the close up shots of the girls lip syncing she can be seen wearing make-up such as dark eye liner and eye shadow and this co-ordinates with the colour scheme of the setting behind her.

Target Audience
This music video is about the struggle and break-up of a young couple’s relationship. Its niche target audience would ideally be teenagers as both the male lead and the female are teenagers and so this market can easily relate to the video as the artists are in the same age category as them. Audiences who like this song would be into R &B and pop genre. Audiences are encouraged to buy the record as it shows the difficulty of a relationship and the trauma’s that comes with it and many people have been through that, and therefore this song makes an emotional connection with audiences.

 Ideas that can be subverted into my video

In this video the special effects are used very well. The illusions are used as flashbacks to show what there was once was but these illusions then disperse which bring the video back to present tense. In my video I would use a similar sort of idea where the male lead envisions seeing the girl that has broken up with him only to realise that she is not there and that he is only imagining her in his head. Also in this video the male lead looks on at a photo frame showing a happy moment which he looks on at affectionately but he then drops the frame on the floor and walks away to showing that what they had is now gone and that is now that past and he must move on. In our music video I have a similar sort of idea where the lead burns a photo of him and his girlfriend together to get rid of those visual memories and move on from the heartbreak.