Analysis of a Music Video

Music Video: Take Off- Chipmunk ft Trey Songz

The music video Take Off is a single by UK artist Chipmunk and American RnB artist Trey Songz. This music video was released on July 15th 2011.

This music video opens with an extreme long shot. A reason for the use of this shot is that it establishes the location. In this shot the audience can see everything around the artist and it gives them an idea of where the video is being shot. Also the text on this clip is in capital letters ‘CHIPMUNK’, this could be placed on top of the artist to let the audience know who the person in the shot is and also to let them know who

the music video is by.

We get a closer look of what the artist looks like as we are shown a Medium Shot of him. This shot shows Chipmunk looking straight into the camera, giving the audience an idea of what he looks like.

Close to the start of this video we also are introduced to the other artist featuring in this video, Trey Songz.

In this clip Trey begins to sing the chorus of the song. This is a low angled medium shot of Trey Songz. As Trey sings the chorus, he is looking down at the camera; this means we are looking up to him, implying that he has a high status. Also in the background to the left we can see a woman standing in a bikini. The lyrics say “Never thought I’d see the day where you wasn’t by my side”. The woman in the background could be the person Trey is singing about, implying she has left him; this could explain why she’s in the background and not at the front of this clip.

We get to see a closer shot of the woman’s face. The lyrics say “It’s like you didn’t want me to take off”, this could be pointing out that the female character didn’t want Trey Songz to succeed.

Chipmunk here starts to rap his first verse. As he says “I live my life in the lime light”, as he says this a bright light crosses over him. This was purposely done so that the audience would understand that he is permanently kept in the lime light and that his life has dramatically changed over recent years.

Chipmunk and Trey Songz are both in this clip; this is the first time during the video that we see them performing together. As Trey sings the chorus they both stand in front of what looks to be a very expensive car, implying that they have made it big in the music industry.

Here we see Trey singing to the same female character, his lyrics say “put you first in my world”, this could possibly mean that the female then went and betrayed him and that is why he is singing this song.

This whole video is based on love and betrayal and by watching this video you can understand the storyline and narrative. ‘Take Off’ is a very interesting music video that definitely catches the audience’s attention.