Advanced Production Portfolio

This is a video from Nicki Minaj Ft Sean Garrett. The name of the video/song is Massive Attack. The video was premiered on BET's 106 & Park on March 31, 2010 were the song was taken from Nicki Minaj’s upcoming album Pink Friday. The genre of the song is hip-hop/ Rap music. This video was shot on March 15, 2010 in the deserts of Lancaster, California and was directed by Hype Williams one of the best directors of music videos. The video is concept based comprising a helicopter chase and militaristic desert and jungle scenes. Although the video has a crazy contrast of pink and dirt its still was at the top of the charts. There are several camera shots/techniques in this video such as bird’s eye views on chases, low angle shots and editing such as fading from one frame into another shot and also selective focus to make the main character standout in front of the background. I think that the video subverts the conventions of music videos of this genre as both characters are carrying out opposite roles. Nicki Minaj is rapping where as the male character Sean Garrett is singing.

The music video is quite violent with the showing off curves galore but in this day and age, is that so harming? In the video Nicki Minaj is represented as being a sex icon this is shown through the clothing she has on and her different types of gestures. She is also dressed close to a Barbie doll with the blonde hair and pink lipstick it is almost as if she is the new and urban version of the 1959’s original Barbie doll. The mise en scene suggests that she is very different as there is a contrast between dirt and clean. For example there is a very glamorous pink Lamborghini being driven through the dessert I think that this can represent the two different sides to Nicki Minaj as a person. The use of mise en scene also suggest that she is wealthy this is shown through her expensive taste of glasses jewellery and her custom made clothing. The video is also different in terms of the setting the video is firstly in the desert then moves on to the jungle showing a diversification on locations.

Nicki Minaj born Onika Maraj is a rapper, singer-songwriter currently signed to Hip-hop icon Lil Wayne record label Young Money; also signed to Universal. The video Massive Attack was first premiered at B.E.T’S 106&Park shortly after it was releases on to other big channels such as MTV, TMF and Kiss. This video could be viewed on these channels because they specialise in these genres of music. MTV was the first channel to break the colour barrier in music video viewing therefore this type of videos is shown to continue its ambition.

The target audience for this video ranges from the ages of 16-25 this is due to the outfits in which both artists are dressed in. many people watch it as they Nicki Minaj has a large female fan base with the ratio of 5:2 with 2 being males. With the post-feminist theory we can say that Nicki Minaj is represented as a sexual object. It could also be said that she is filed under the idea of the female gaze whereby women plea men and attempt to dress in such a way in order to get their attention.