The genre of the music video for the song 'Happy' which is a song of the genre Soul was written, produced and performed by Pharrell Williams. The song is from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack. Pharrell Williams as an artist normally performs in R&B or Funk music videos however, by creating this song of a different genre with a very positive feel to it he is showing that as an artist he has a wide range of genres he can explore and so he appeals to different audiences.
This music video has no typical narrative (beginning, middle, end) but the majority of the music video has a lot of people dancing and smiling and clapping to show that they are happy which supports the name of the song 'Happy' and connotes that the narrative is that people are happy. It is expected in this music video that people will also be wearing bright colours as this has connotations of happiness and throughout most of the music video there is bright colours. In reality people are not happy all the time but in this music video people of all different job occupations, ethnicities, disabled people, people of different ages and religions and live in different areas are happy all the time which is not expected as well as it is unexpected that in the dark low key lighting parts of the music video people will be happy however, they are.
In this music video there are intertextual references because there are dancing minions in the it which link to the film Despicable Me 2 which is what the song was partially created for as well as promoting Pharrell Williams. The music video also linked back to the film Despicable Me 2 because the actress Miranda Cosgrove was in the music video as herself and in the film she is the voice of Margo.
The storyline of this music video is about failure, determination and happiness. The constant theme that runs throughout this music video is being happy and that even when people try to bring you down they won't break your happiness. Therefore this music video does not have the recognisable structure of TODOROV because there is no stage of disruption. In this music video there are not characters in particular apart from the Minions however, there are celebrities such as Steve Carell who appear in the music video. The other people who were cast in the music video play the role of characters from all different backgrounds in the music video which Pharrell Williams did in order to emphasize positivity in peoples lives no matter who they are.
The typography used in this music video is in the colours black and yellow. The yellow connotes the happiness promoted in the music video and the black connotes the negativity that people try to have by 'bringing people down' as stated in the lyrics. The iconographics in this music video is that there are backstreet alleyways and there are also sky scrapers which suggest this music video is set in a large American city such as New York.
In this music video there are loads of different shots including long shots to show people dancing and clapping this is to show the positive energy and people who are happening although there are also a lot of mid shots so that the camera can capture the smiley faces and lip syncing to the song of the cast but can still see some of the dancing therefore, in this music video there are not many close ups because the video mainly shows how happy people are feeling in the way they move about rather then there emotions on their faces.
Pharrell Williams does have a lot of presence in this music video throughout as well as other actors therefore is not completely anonymous to the video however he is not a celebrity in the music video he is just another regular guy who is driving round the streets although it is clear to the viewer that he is the performer of this song even though other people also lip sync to the lyrics. Throughout this music video there is fast pace editing and cuts without transitions to add the quick, fast, energetic feeling to the song.
Although the primary target audience of this song is to children because the song was created to be the soundtrack for Despicable Me 2 I do think that after the song was created for the film that Pharrell has targeted different audiences with the music video he has created. There are minions in the music video to still attract the children, there are actors such as Steve Carell in the music video to attract an older target audience and well as Pharrell Williams himself who attracts teenagers and young adults. There is also a wide variety of people who appear in the music video of different ages, genders, ethnicities, class etc which shows that he is trying to make this song appeal to all people as everyone should just be happy. As the majority of people who sit and watch music videos are children, students and young adults I would probably say the demographic of the main target audiences is D and E.
The reason I chose this music video as my favourite is because the upbeat and energetic music video allows the audience to feel happy and invites them in to get up and dance. I think the video definitely spreads a vibe of positivity. The diverse range of people used in this video promotes equality as well as a consistent happy feeling. The music video is up beat and combined with bright colours and different dance routines really makes the viewer feel happy themselves. I also like this music video because it is not a typical narrative of a love story or heartbreak which many music videos nowadays often have.
This music video analysis will help me when I create my own music video because I can use things that I like about the video in mine as I chose it as my favourite music video for example I could use many bright colours in my music video. It is also good because this music video uses intertextuality so if I decide to use this in my video I can take ideas from this music video.
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