The Pharcyde - Drop (Video Analysis)

                                              

Overview

"Drop" is a single released by Alternative Hip-Hop group The Pharcyde in 1995. The music video was directed by eventual Oscar winning director Spike Jonze. This video interests me due to the sureal-ness of it, the video is actually a number of clips played backwards yet somehow the rappers mouths still move accordingly with the actual lyrics. To achieve this a linguist was hired to figure out how to pronounce the words backwards so that when the video was played backwards it appears as if they are saying the words normally. Although it doesn't always work amazingly throughout the video when it does actually work it looks brilliant and gives the video a really weird and interesting affect.

Here is a more in-depth video of how the video was made:



Genre Characteristics

The camera shots used follow the conventions of a 90s Hip-Hop video, throughout the video the camera moves backwards while the rappers follow and walk towards it which during that time was very common, a famous example of this would be N.W.A's music video for Straight out of Compton. The mise-en-scene  also follows conventions of genre, at the time baggy clothes were very much in fashion especially in Hip-Hop and this video is no different also it is set within the streets of city another common location for a hip-hop video. Although the Mise-en-Scene and Camera shots are conventional for Hip-Hop the way it has been edited is far from the usual. The whole video is played is actually played back to front giving what would be a very conventional video a complete fresh feel. This suits The Pharcydes music hugely as they themselves broke general conventions of Hip-Hop at the time through their music with the content of their lyrics being about broader subjects then gang culture and crime. Also the way the characters are acting is much less serious than the usual Hip-Hop videos of the time including lots of dancing around and at one point even stripping down.

Star Treatment

All members of the The Pharcyde are featured equally throughout the video but usually the cameras main subject of the shot will be the one performing the rap, this is obvious as they'll often come up to the the camera such as Bootie Brown during the opening verse. However this isn't always true as the video starts with a close up of Fatlip even though he has no verse on this particular song. This shows that the group has an equal level of fame throughout and that the director, Spike Jonze, believes the audience wants to see all members of the group regardless of input on the song.

Performance Style

As mentioned in the overview, the whole video was film backwards and then re-winded yet somehow their mouths move as if the music video was in fact not re-winded at all. This was achieved by hiring a linguist who taught the performers how to speak the lyrics so that when re-winded it looks as if they are rapping normally while their bodies and surrounding objects move unnaturally. This gives the video a fantastically surreal effect and helps it stand out among more conventional Hip-Hop videos of the same era