Weekly Blog Post 6

India.Arie’s “Video” uses a variety of visual tricks to create a feeling of logically unity throughout her music video. These tricks make it easy for the viewer to understand the progression of the video and tie the lyrics to the visual content. The first thing that is most obvious in each of the scenes is the number of objects that the camera focuses on. The camera generally focuses on her, but it also expands its view to include other objects to help tell the story. There is a trend throughout the video of her and her guitar combined with one other object (such as a bike or a mirror) or just her with another set of objects (like the other women). This trend of visual elements highlights the obvious purpose of the focus of the video on India.Arie.

Added to this set of visual elements is a linear hierarchy that ties each set of objects from scene to scene. The main tying element of the video is India.Arie’s body in contrast with the background. She is in a bright yellow top that contrasts with the dark backgrounds, but her dark skin tone is also used to contrast with the light backgrounds to make her stand out. One specific point in which contrast is used in the video to create an emphasis on India.Arie is when she is standing in the line-up of the women and her yellow and orange clothing shouts in comparison to the other women’s dark clothing. In this scene she is also intentionally placed in the center of the screen. This is a common theme through the video- the focus of the shot is placed in the center of the screen.

As well as the number of objects and the arrangement of images in a shot, repetition is a common thread that weaves through the scenes of the video. The color palette used in the video remains the same throughout. Every scene includes the warm yellows and oranges introduced in the opening house sequence. The objects in each scene remain the same as well. Near the middle, the objects begin to vary with the introduction of a new location, but India.Arie, the bike, and the guitar remain throughout the video. Structurally, the video is also set up in a repeated pattern. From the beginning, a shot will focus on the location India.Arie is in, an object or her in that locale, or a close up shot of a part of her or another important object. This sequence remains the same from start to finish and allows the reader to focus in on more detailed aspect of the video.