Music Video Analysis ("BLKKK SKKKN HEAD" by Kanye West)

This explicit music video is directed by acclaimed fashion photographer Nick Knight. The song has anti-establishment, anti-ideology and anti-racism themes. This music video both rejects and embraces the conventions of hip-hop and pop music videos.

Notes:

The video is a CGI animation. It was created using 3D scans of Kanye and then manipulating them to make him move and appear in different forms.

The first scene within the video is of what appears to be three people dressed similarly to the Ku Klux Klan. However in contrast they appear to be black people in black headpieces.
The fourth wall is also broken in the first scene by the masked people one by one opening their eyes and gazing into the camera in front of them. By doing so it indicates a self-aware perspective. The star image is removed.

The video starts reality as per the lyrics which evoke the media's distortion of reality.

There's irony within the songs title: skinheads have often been associated with neo-nazi and white supremacy groups - hence the opening scene being black skinheads per-say.

Kanye has been accused of being racist towards whites so he has therefore taken this and used it as an ironic title for this anti-rasim song.

The visuals illustrate the lyrics by showing wolves (kanye says "I'm aware Im a wolf") and by cutting to an entirely black shot as the word "black" is mentioned.

There are two distinctive white triangular shapes that partially confine the video. These could represent fangs and hence amplify the songs theme of oppression and dehumanisation.

You can't see his face in some shots - choosing to not be seen - he expanded this idea on tour by wearing masks. Daft Punk also produced this track and perhaps its a reference to their hidden personas - a longing for perhaps? - intertextuality
The iconography of his face is removed.
also this shows Kanye removing the voyeuristic elements from the piece.

many horror conventions are incorporated as if it were a heavy rock music video.

The literal boundaries (aspect ratio/borders) of the video are skewed - in some instances the video some imagery is confined to an square aspect ratio and is then juxtaposed with imagery that is not. Kanye is visual showing us him breaking boundaries - ignoring the status-quo.

No females are shown in tbhe video - going against the popular hip-hop video convention of showing scantly clad females

The video is entirely black and white. infact a strive for as much contrast as possible is made by the background being completely black.  - signifying a distinction between races.

His expensive jewellery is emphasised with high key lighting - a convention of hip hop music videos of showing expensive assets.

The editing emphasises the crash of the cymbals by cutting away from Kanye to a shot of something in smudge motion blur as we hear the cymbal.

Narrative & Performance