Gold Digger:

Mise-en-scene:

Firstly, the mise-en-scene of the video shows West in a half

unbuttoned shirt, which has connotations of pimps and the
mafia. Also he is wearing a lot of expensive gold jewellery
around his neck which connotes his wealth. This is very
similar to that of the Touch the sky music video and also
West wears sunglasses. Thus empowering West as he is able
to show his dominance, upper class and high status in the
music video. The women who are shown in West music video
are very much objectified throughout the video as theyre all
wearing extremely revealing clothing, high heels and a lot of
make-up. This objectification is shown throughout the video
and emphasises how the women in the video are drawn
towards the wealth of West, as the title of the video suggests.
The set design of the music video is also very simple as when
West and Foxx are in shot theyre stood in front and a plain
backdrop. When the women models are in shot theyre also
stood in the foreground of a plain background, however
unlike West and Foxx there is writing on this background of
model magazines, to further emphasise the objectification.
Editing:
Secondly, the editing of the music video shows
the film like production of the video and also
further emphasises the objectification of the
women in the video. The music video opens
with a title sequence, of which consists of the
title of the video, and the production titles. This
is representative of a film, emphasising the
higher budget costs, those of having many
models in the music video. The editing
throughout the film also involves a lot of cross
cutting between West and Foxx who are the
main characters singing throughout and the
various different models throughout the music
video. This highlights how West and Foxx are
empowered and to what extent the women are
objectified.
 Camerawork:

The camerawork of the music video is very

conventional as West and Foxx, being the main
characters are the main focus throughout the
video. This is filmed through many 2 shots of
West and Foxx and centring them both when
theyre individually in shot. This further
emphasises the empowerment that West and
Foxx gain from this. Whereas, when the female
models are in shot, theyre filmed through long
shots underlining how theyre objectified as
the whole of their bodies are in shot, for the
audience to see.
Sound:

Being a music video, the main sound is the

song itself. However, the music video opens
with a non diegetic score of the old type
projector being played during the title sequence
of the opening of the video. This further
emphasises the film like production of the
music video as conventionally when old films
were played for an audience, they were played
through a projector with the same sound. Also,
when West and Foxx are singing, they sing over
each other to create an overall score, however
in this West is the more dominant voice, as he
is the main artist.
 Representations:

As this music video is early on Wests career, he

was aiming to reach a superstar status as
quickly as possible to ensure his dominance
within the music industry, especially in the rap
and hip-hop genres. Therefore, to achieve this
West empowered himself by following common
stereotypes of artists in the same genres at the
time by positioning himself to the audience to
be inspiring by showing his wealth and having
the models drawn to his affluence. For example,
like 50 Cent who commonly objectified women
and showed his wealth through Jewellery, cars
and property.
Impact:

This was meant to impact the audience to understand

West superstar status as throughout the video he is
using his wealth and this status to objectifying the women
who are in his video, thus allowing a dominant character
to be presented. From this West did just that as now he is
one of the most famous artist in the industry. Now that he
has reached this level of fame, he has been able to
change his ideologies and representations to fit his new
and current forms, which he now follows.
This impacted our decision making on our film as we
conformed to West being the main centre of attention in
our film, as in our film we decided that he would be the
main character and would be centred him throughout the
majority of the shots. However, we subverted Wests
objectification of women as this was an old ideology of
West, which he developed in his early career, but as he
grew and is now more successful he has moved away
from this and now takes a more simplistic approach.
 Goodwins conventions of music
videos:

The Gold Digger music video follows Goodwins

convections of music videos as throughout the
video West is filmed through mid-shots and close
ups which emphasises to the audience that he is
the main actors and focus within the film and thus
all the attention is focused on him. The music
video also follows Goodwins conventions as the
narrative and performance are interlinked and
continues through the film. The music video also
follows Goodwins conventions as the lyrics of the
video link with the visuals as West is rapping
about Gold Diggers, women who are attracted to
wealth and status, and this is shown in the visuals
as the women in the video are objectified.