Benny Boom Music Video Analysis

I am looking at two music video directors. The first I am looking at is Benny Boom, He has worked with artists such as Nicki Minaj, B.O.B, Nelly, Meek Mill and keyshia Cole.

Benny Boom is also well know for directing and producing the film 'S.W.A.T: Firefight' in 2011, this film also included music artists such as Nas whom Benny Boom has previously worked with. he also directed the film 'Next day Air' in 2009, this was his first film and helped him to become part of the film industry and later went on to produce and direct 'S.WA.T: Firefight.'

Benny Boom also won a BET award for Video Director Of The Year in 2011.

Benny Boom mainly directs hip hop and rap music videos but does also direct pop videos from time to time. His videos are mainstream videos. He usually works with artists for a number of videos, for example, he directed four music videos for Nicki Minaj between 2012 and 2013, and five videos for Nelly between 2002 and 2008. The most number of videos he has directed for one artist is thirteen videos for Keyshia Cole between 2005 and 2012.

I am going to look at one particular video Benny Boom has directed, this is 'No Love' by August Alsina.

This is an example of one of Benny Booms popular videos, here, he has worked with two big hip hop music artists, this - like many other of his videos - is a mix of a performance and narrative video.

Benny Boom has a certain style in his videos, most of them include a mix of performance and narrative content. In this video we see a wide range of techniques in camera, editing, production and post production. For example, below is some content from a video benny Boom directed for Nicki Minaj which has a very similar look to No Love.

here we can see the performance side to the video

Here we can see the narrative side of the video

This is the opening scene to the video, here we can see the use of cross cutting between a mid shot of him and a close up of his necklace, there is a low camera angle used which would normally signify power, strength or authority but because of the dimly lit scene and his body language or being slumped over, holding his head and looking up would suggest he is the opposite and is not in power or control. Because the light is coming from behind him, a silhouette affect is created adding to the feeling of him being sad or without power because it stops us from being able to see his facial expressions which would suggest he is trying to hide his feeling of being sad.

This particular video has used a lot of editing effects, for example, the video uses split screen, one in colour and one in black and white to show the feelings and emotions of the video and the song along side the artists. This also shows how this video is a mix of narrative and performance as there are shots with him singing and others where he is with someone else but not singing. there is also a difference in mise en scene, cinematography and lighting between the different shots which can be seen below.

Here you can see that whilst he is in a performing shot, he is just in a studio with a plain background, the camera is a medium close up and is in a fixed position. Whereas when August and Nicki Minaj are in the scene together they are in a narrative scene and the mise on scene is completely different, rather than a studio they are in a grand room with low lighting, the way they are acting is more casual and the camera is not in a fixed position, it looks like it is handheld and there are more angles used such as high and low and there are big close up shots, medium close up shots and long shots, this gives viewers a sense and deeper look and feel of the emotions in the song and video, I feel this video has been done like this because of Benny Booms film history.

This follows the same conventions and codes as the last example but here we can see the use of cross cutting again as an editing technique.

This is another example of the high number of different scenes Benny Boom's videos include, here there is a nightclub scene and cross cutting has been used to show what two people are doing at the same time, in different places. we can tell its a nightclub scene by just seeing the inside by the use of mise en scene, when you look at the number of people in the scene, what they are wearing, how they are acting and dancing and because of the dark lighting, props such as glasses and spotlights in different colours. We also see Nicki Minaj wearing almost all white, standing in front of a pure white light and white windows, this gives the suggestion that she is pure and not in the wrong unlike the guy who is in dark scenes and we instantly know he is in the wrong. We also see Nicki Minaj sat on some steps with very dim lighting and from her body language we can tell she s the victim. Cross cutting is used between scenes and shows previous scenes of the video in black and white, this suggests what she is thinking of and lets us know its a flashback, also black and white is used when explaining something that is very to the point and simple to understand which is obviously the idea of the video, its obvious that he is cheating and she knows it and this is used to show this.

This is the last scene from the video, there is a big close up shot of a rose being dropped and broken into pieces, they have edited this clip so it is reversed, this suggests the two characters in the video may have worked out their differences, like the rose (representing their love) has broken but it now been put back together, the fact that the last bit of the video is the two embracing each other would also support this.

In conclusion, I like the way Benny Boom's videos are a mix of performance and performance and sometimes he mixes the two together in the same scene. His editing techniques are interesting and I am interested to try some of these in my music video.