The video begins facing a ceiling, leading the audience to question where the location is. The first thing the audience see is 'Vic Mensa' superimposed on the screen, which is then closely followed by the title of the song 'Down On My Luck'. This will establish with the audience who the artist is and what the song is called. It is ideal for new audiences. The producers would have felt that this was necessary for this particular video as this is completely different to Vic Mensa's conventional hip-hop genre. Therefore, this song would attract a different audience, who may have no idea of who the artist is. It could then encourage them to look up other songs of his, helping bring in new fans.
At first the low-key lighting hides Vic Mensa's identity. It keeps him slightly mysterious for new audiences. There is then eye-line match editing to show that he has made eye-contact with a girl in the club. There is a shallow focus on her, which signifies that she is an important character in the plot. By her happy facial expressions and inviting body language, it is clear that she wants to grab Vic Mensa's attention. The eye-line match editing representing his point of view will hint to the audience that he feels the same way. The fact her costume is all light colours suggests to the audience that she is going to be a good character. When looking at Propp's character theory, it could be suggested that she is the princess of the narrative.
Finally his identity is clarified by the high-key lighting that is suddenly shone on him. After the audience are shown that him and the girl are attracted to each other, the spotlight on the artist could indicate the fact that he as the male has to make the first move. It is the stereotypical view that males should always approach the female and take the lead role. In the medium shot of the artist; the audience can see that he is wearing a black jacket. One connotation associated with the colour black is power. As black is such a strong and bold colour, when a character's costume is black it can depict them as powerful. This is again linking to the stereotypical view that men hold a lot of power.
Panning shots follow him through the club, which makes the video more exciting for the audience as it gives them a sense of involvement, it creates a realistic interpretation of what it would be like to actually be there. Throughout this shot a series of events take place, which commonly happen in a night club, such as he gets caught up in a fight. People may be able to relate to situations that have happened to them on a night out. Every time a bad event takes place, the video cuts back to the beginning of the story line and all the events take place again, however the artist deals with it much better and avoids getting into a bad situation. This is called a forking path narrative. It meets the audience's uses and gratifications, because it provides them with entertainment due to the fact that it is an unusual story line. Therefore they want to see how it ends. It also gives them satisfaction as repeating an experience is that people often wish they could do. By the artist having the chance to do this and proving that being given the chance to deal with something again will mean that you deal with it better.`
As he finally gets to the girl, the audience see a close-up shot of her dropping a pill into his drink, going against the stereotype of males usually taking advantage of women. The close-up tells the viewer that this is a significant moment in the narrative.
The multi-coloured lagged visual effect shows the audience that the artist is under the influence of drugs and is not capable of looking after himself. It highlights that he is vulnerable and acts as an action code, suggesting that the female character is about to some how take advantage of him due to his incapability to look after himself. The artist leaning against the female for support, goes against the conventions of gender roles in music videos. Usually, the male is supporting and looking after the female. The female is also usually the upset or vulnerable character. After falling on the floor the girl takes his wallet out of his pocket. The audience now learn that she is in fact the antagonist rather than the princess of the story. Her stealing the protagonist's wallet contradicts the earlier unconventional idea of the male looking for the females support. This is because her taking his wallet implies that women cannot look after themselves financially and depends on males for this support.
Eventually, after repeating the series of events a number of times, the artist finally deals with every situation perfectly. He avoids all of the things that got him in a bag situation, resulting in him ending the night by having a good time. It will give the audience a massive sense of satisfaction and happiness because their hope of successfully repeating situations has been confirmed.
At first the low-key lighting hides Vic Mensa's identity. It keeps him slightly mysterious for new audiences. There is then eye-line match editing to show that he has made eye-contact with a girl in the club. There is a shallow focus on her, which signifies that she is an important character in the plot. By her happy facial expressions and inviting body language, it is clear that she wants to grab Vic Mensa's attention. The eye-line match editing representing his point of view will hint to the audience that he feels the same way. The fact her costume is all light colours suggests to the audience that she is going to be a good character. When looking at Propp's character theory, it could be suggested that she is the princess of the narrative.
Finally his identity is clarified by the high-key lighting that is suddenly shone on him. After the audience are shown that him and the girl are attracted to each other, the spotlight on the artist could indicate the fact that he as the male has to make the first move. It is the stereotypical view that males should always approach the female and take the lead role. In the medium shot of the artist; the audience can see that he is wearing a black jacket. One connotation associated with the colour black is power. As black is such a strong and bold colour, when a character's costume is black it can depict them as powerful. This is again linking to the stereotypical view that men hold a lot of power.
Panning shots follow him through the club, which makes the video more exciting for the audience as it gives them a sense of involvement, it creates a realistic interpretation of what it would be like to actually be there. Throughout this shot a series of events take place, which commonly happen in a night club, such as he gets caught up in a fight. People may be able to relate to situations that have happened to them on a night out. Every time a bad event takes place, the video cuts back to the beginning of the story line and all the events take place again, however the artist deals with it much better and avoids getting into a bad situation. This is called a forking path narrative. It meets the audience's uses and gratifications, because it provides them with entertainment due to the fact that it is an unusual story line. Therefore they want to see how it ends. It also gives them satisfaction as repeating an experience is that people often wish they could do. By the artist having the chance to do this and proving that being given the chance to deal with something again will mean that you deal with it better.`
As he finally gets to the girl, the audience see a close-up shot of her dropping a pill into his drink, going against the stereotype of males usually taking advantage of women. The close-up tells the viewer that this is a significant moment in the narrative.
The multi-coloured lagged visual effect shows the audience that the artist is under the influence of drugs and is not capable of looking after himself. It highlights that he is vulnerable and acts as an action code, suggesting that the female character is about to some how take advantage of him due to his incapability to look after himself. The artist leaning against the female for support, goes against the conventions of gender roles in music videos. Usually, the male is supporting and looking after the female. The female is also usually the upset or vulnerable character. After falling on the floor the girl takes his wallet out of his pocket. The audience now learn that she is in fact the antagonist rather than the princess of the story. Her stealing the protagonist's wallet contradicts the earlier unconventional idea of the male looking for the females support. This is because her taking his wallet implies that women cannot look after themselves financially and depends on males for this support.
Eventually, after repeating the series of events a number of times, the artist finally deals with every situation perfectly. He avoids all of the things that got him in a bag situation, resulting in him ending the night by having a good time. It will give the audience a massive sense of satisfaction and happiness because their hope of successfully repeating situations has been confirmed.
When leaving the club, the artist has a black hat added to his costume. He walks out keeping his head down, which the audience would at first assume is because of his fame.
However, it then becomes clear that it is due to the fact he is about to commit a crime (vandalism). Alvarado suggested that there are four usual representations of ethnic minorities. One of the themes is the fact that they are often represented as dangerous/criminal. The artist could be identifying with his race here, especially considering it is commonly black people that are stereotyped as dangerous. The black hat contributes to the stereotype, as there is the idea that it helps to hide there identity making them more intimidating. He is showing that he sees how his race is labelled as dangerous. He gets caught by two security guards. In a close up you can see that the white security guard hand cuffs him and takes him away. Whilst this is happening the black security guard is remaining relatively passive and is not doing much, the artist also shouts the lyrics 'look at you' at him. This is suggesting that he is saying to the security guard that they are the same and although he may think he has the power, ultimately he is inferior due to his ethnicity.
In the repeat of the scene, Mensa does not commit a crime. However when walking past the security guards, they barge into him hinting the lack of respect he feels there is for African Americans. He turns around and puts his middle finger up at them, hinting the hatred there may be between the two parties. The audience then see that the artist gets hit by car. He could be highlighting the fact that this conflict will not end and that there is no point in reacting, as it will still just end badly for them. The next time around he just brushes it off and does not react, resulting in him finally getting through his whole night problem free.
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