Travie McCoy Ft. Bruno Mars - Billionaire

Ideas I Like

I really love the use of sunset in this video I think it helps add to the video by providing a gentle lighting that we might associate as people being or becoming happy. I also like the use of shadows I think again it is a very clever effect and nice and simple in terms of creating.

This is very simple indeed and is part of the reason I like it throughout the video we often see Travie acting out what he is saying here is making and love heart and talking about 'The ones he loves'. It would be very easy to include something like this in our video and I would like to try and do so.

I love the use of graffiti in this video I think it is used really well although it may be hard to find somewhere we can legally graffiti and make it look good I would still like to try and use an effect like this in our video.

Analysis of Video

The storyline to this video is very simple, Travie wants to become rich and show off his money by treating family and random strangers to gifts of some kind. At the very start of the video we see Bruno sitting on a ledge looking out to the see, it is quite often we see images of people looking out to see when they are wishing or hoping for something as it represents them looking out into this big ocean for a little fish (so to speak). When then see a clip of Travie doing something a little similar looking around wishing and looking unhappy, then we cut to several clips of other people facing troubles in there life. All of these people need someone else to help them and it just so happens that all of there problems somehow link to money. First we see a hitch hiker he is looking for a ride presumably because he has no money to buy travel to his set destination. We see several people driving past and none stop to help him or offer him a lift so he is slowly losing hope. Then we see a clip of a man trying to sell what we presume is a song or album he has made on the street we see some people engage with him and look as if they are going to buy it and then at the last minute they don't, so just like the hitch hiker his problems are seemingly worsening and he is losing hope. Then we see a graffiti artist who has ran out of paint another very inconvenient problem wee see him throw an empty can into the see in anger and can only presume he can't afford to buy any more. Then the main beat of the song kicks in and Travie begins his part. He is talking about what he would do with the money and the up beat tempo of the song suggests things are about to get better. He is talking always about how he would help others with his money and not himself to show how is completely selfless and a true hero, I think he has perhaps chosen to portray himself in this way so his audience look up to him more and want to be like him. Then we see the final person who has a problem and young skateboarder who can't land a trick so lashes out in anger and breaks his board. He now has no board and again we can only guess he has no money for a new one so like all of the other people with issues in the video he is waiting for a rich hero to come along. Then just as the lyrics talk about Travie becoming 'Travie Clause' we release he is now a billionaire in the video and start to see him doing good deeds with his money. He then goes round and fixes most peoples problem he buys a new board for the skateboarder, he buys the CD off the man who is trying to sell his music, he gives the hitch hiker a mini to drive and then he goes off to a party to celebrate his good deeds. Half way through the party we see him buy a bag of spray cans for the graffiti artist and he can finish his art work he has now done all of his duties as 'Travie Clause' and can rightfully go back to partying. I think the reason for choosing to style the video like this was because most people want to become rich and we would all like to think we would be generous with our money and donate to charity and give to others etc. So by creating a video with a storyline that shows this really appeals to his audience as most of them will be young and more than likely want to be billionaires who can do what they wish with there money and make others feel happy as well as themselves. Also some people might have money problems themselves and might think that Travie will help them so they will be inclined to idolize him more as they will see him as more of a hero figure because they are in need of a hero like him.

Generic Conventions

I think the editing of this video is mainly action editing as the main beat of the song is matched by the things we see in the video at the start we see Bruno playing the guitar which is obviously perfectly in time with the song so it look good and not out of time. Then again we see people walking or 'dancing' in time to the beat of the very occasionally we have a few cuts that are on the beat of the song. The shots in this video are all quite quick as unlike the Kanye West video this is a more storyline based video and so to prevent us from being bored and watching one shot for 3 minutes there are lots of different shots and different things happening in the background. I think the mood of the song is represented through the lyrics/song and in the video. This can be seen through several things e.g. the lighting quite a nice sunset usually associated with happiness, also there are lots of people smiling (mainly after Travie has helped them) which again we will associate with happiness like the song is trying to get across. There isn't a lot in this video that the audience would see and immediately think that this is a Hip-Hop video. There is lots of skating in the background which we might often associate more with rock music however recently skating is becoming bigger and more widely accepted in the Hip-Hop world.

Application of Theory

Andrew Goodwin
In this video there isn't much that we would associate with the genre there are cars in it but there not really the fast, sporty and expensive cars we are used to seeing in Hip-Hop videos. This is because Travie himself is different to most of the artist in the genre and has his own take on what Hip-Hop music is. The is some illustrative relations in the video for example when the lyric 'every time I close my eyes' is sung either Travie or Bruno will be seen with their eyes closed. Also you could argue that the lyrics match up slightly when he refers to himself as 'Travie Clause' and is giving things to people although he is literally doing what he saying the lyrics at this point.

John Stewart
In this music video there are quite a few close ups of both Bruno and Travie and lighting is used in a special way because they have used a sunset lighting to create a certain visual effect for the video. Also this sunset styled lighting is seen quite a lot in photographs as it is aesthetic and nice for the audience to look at.

Steve Archer
The video has a big relationship between narrative and performance because the lyrics are all talking about how he wants to be a billionaire and what he would do with his money, and the video is showing you what he would be like if he was a billionaire.

Evaluation of Video

Billionaire has a really good story to the lyrics and I like that Travie has presented this story in his video. It is fun for us the audience to be able to watch him on his travels and him achieving his dream. By showing us clips of people who are in need he has created affection for those characters so we want them to get what there after e.g. a new skateboard. This also means that we will now respect Travie more as we have seen him help out the people we wanted to see helped. So the video has a nice happy ending to it which most people enjoy. The rhythm of the video is also nice in my opinion it isn't too fast or too slow it flows at the right pace for us to follow the story but without getting bored. There was a lot of visual aspects for us to watch we saw people skating and messing around on scooters/mopeds and both of these things could be quite fun to watch in real life so therefore are also enjoyable in a video. I think this video has ticked most of the boxes that the audience has and is a really good video to watch I would give it 8/10.