Case Study - Professor Green Read All About It

Priscilla Quarcoo

 Professor Green – Read All About It Ft. Emeli Sande

 

The video Read all about it by Professor Green shows the broken relationship between a father and a son as the Dad is married into a new family. The video is narrative based as it has a liner narrative. The music video shows the narrative with occasional jump cuts to the music artists. The narrative problem is that the dad does not spend time with his son. Lip synching is included in the video when it jump cuts to Professor Green and Emeli Sande.

The themes represented in the video are broken family, divorce and custody of children. These themes are represented in this music video through the camera angles, editing techniques and mise en scene.

The boy in the video is represented as angry and confused about his relationship with his dad and his new family. This is seen when the dad brings the son into his house but lets go of the boy’s hand as soon as they get into the house, this shot also linked to the lyrics of the song where it said “I wonder what I did to you to make you hate me” A close up shot of the dad letting go of his son’s hand was used here to show the audience of this music video how the father treated his son around his new family. High angle shots are used to show the boy in the music video to show that he is less powerful in this situation.  

The mise en scene of the house helps to convey to the audience that the boy in this story is not part of his new step family. This is evident as on the walls of the house are pictures drawn by his step sister. In the music video the camera appears to be hand held as the boy smashes up the furniture in the house which is used to show the destruction in the house and to represent the theme of a broken family.

Editing techniques such as shot- reverse – shot and the cutting rate also contribute to the representation of the themes running through the video. Towards the end of the music video the cutting rate increases as the boy and the step mum in the video argue. Shot reverse shot is used in the scene and extreme close-ups are used to show the boy’s and the step mum’s eyes to show the audience the anger they have towards each other.

The main artist Professor Green is represented as reflective looking at his past saying he’s not going to turn out like his dad, Professor Green is also represented as hurt in the video as his lyrics say that we have to see him “hurt”. Close up shot’s of Professor Green’s face were used in the music video to convey his emotions to the target audience.  At the end of the music video a wide shot is used to show the little boy and Professor Green in the same location with Professor Green looking at him to signify to the audience that he was looking into his past. Professor Green has a performance role in the music video as he is lip singing and also “acting” as he is using his hands to portray his feelings, he is not just standing still. Pans and long shots are used in these scenes.

The target audience of this music video would be teenagers who listen to grime and hip hop music. The target audience of this music video are encouraged to buy the record as they would be able to relate to the feelings and themes portrayed in the music video. I wish to include the concept used at the end of the music video, when Professor Green was looking at the boy, in my own music video of the main artist looking at their past self.