Hip Hop- Christina Millian "Say I"

Christina Millian - Say I is part of the Hip-hop/R&B genres. These genres are both very popular and the track Say I reached 4 in the UK charts and 21 in the US.
The music video suits the music genre and the feel of the track very well; it is very urban, the word "gangsta" is repeated in the song and is represented with Christina dancing and hanging around cars with "hard" and "gangster" looking men and women. The scenery is covered in graffiti, which also shows this. The main location is set in a bridge concrete underpass, this is a deserted area which also represents the feel of the music. The songs lyrics create a message of standing up for what you believe in and rebelling against the majority, this is portrayed with the group of people in the music videos (backing dancers and extras) in suitable locations that seem to look like a hide out. There is one scene for example under a bridge with a car, everybody is sitting in or standing around the car, this makes the viewer wonder why they are there- is this promoting trouble? or are they gathering in a hideout for a reason? The lyrics suggest that they may be gathering for a reason.
The video is original, however not completely. This is the type of music video is typical for a R&B style of music, with dancing and a narrative involving amplification, this means that the narrative takes something from the lyrics and the meaning of the song, but its not completely narrative and mostly performance. The dance scene is situated on an isolated road, it is also dark and must have been filmed during the night. This also reflects the lyrics and the message of the song.
Christina millians outfits are very suitable for this type of music video; they match up with the locations. She is wearing typical R&B pop video style clothes, with a twist though, as although she is wearing heels and accessories, she sticks to the urban theme and wears urban style clothes like the combat 3/4 length trousers and vest top she wears in one of the scenes. Her hair is made up in different styles as well as her outfits to create variety, and her make-up is fully done too, this is common within the music industry. There is a bright yellow car in one of the scenes that has extras hanging around it with her as she lip syncs. This prop doesn't necessarily mean anything or link to any of the lyrics, however it does add to the look of the video to help expand the urban feel for the viewer. The colour of the car adds something extra and brightens up the colour pallete of the scene, as there are no bright colours in most of the scenes, including what the extras and Christina Millian is wearing.
There are a variety of shots used in this music video. At the very beginning of the video there is a clip of christina over another clip this is called "super imposed" this is very effective and looks more effective than just two shots after eachother. There are a number of close up shots, showing that she is the main character. At the beginning, when the two shots are super imposed, it is followed by another super imposed shot, this is of a tracking shot of the main location (underneith the bridge) and a close up of her lip syncing from profile.
There is a flicker effect used to create a transition from two very different shots (a midshot of Christina lip synching in daylight to a longshot of her dancing with around 6 people at night) this adds something different to the video as well as creating a smooth transition.
There are several different filters used within this video; in the sunlight, there is a definate filter hint of sepia added to create more of a sunlit scene. There is a blue filter on the night scene, where she is dancing. There is high key lighting used throughout the music video, especially in the night time scenes, this creates a big contrast as well as the blue filter.