Nelly just a dream analysis

Nelly- Just a dream

The music video for Nelly just a dream is set in a fantasy world with many amazing and non-logical connotations denoted to the demographic. This ideology behind this is the fact the artist is telling a story; he is reminiscing on a previous relationship which he is not completely over.

The music video begins in a state of equilibrium in which many peaceful connotations are explored through the use of extreme close ups of the calm waves of the ocean and the sun rise,

A series of quick jump cuts switch the scene to the artist sitting in a floating car next to a very attractive female, both the male and female gaze theory can be connoted from the opening 15 seconds of the video as both characters including the artist are denoted as being two very attractive people. As the non-dietetic music begins to play the state of equilibrium is officially gone. This happens synergistic to the lyrics “it was only just a dream” signifying to the demographic the artist is still not over the female this song is about. A series of close ups denoted a juxtaposition in emotion as the character’s facial expression do not synergies with the beautiful environment he is currently in. as the character is sitting in the floating car a zoom in is used as the majority of the shot begins to blur. This ideology denotes the confusion the artist is currently feeling. The black and white filter used at this point in the feeling signifies darkness and the possible emptiness the character is feeling internally
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At the start of the video the majority of the shots used where a low angled shot denoting the character as being top of the world now as this state of equilibrium has been broken the higher angled shots have been used looking down at the artist. On a connotative level the audience can encode the characters drop from being onto of the world to sinking to the bottom. One of the many codes and conventions of the R&b genre is Emotions brought on from the end of a relationship this has already been explored heavily in the early stages of the music video answering many enigmas the audience may have.

The next part of the music video jump cuts back the fantasy world with the floating car. At this point a long shot denotes the floating car in front of a giant rotating wedding ring. The fact that the audience are looking through this wedding ring denotes he wants them to relate to him on an emotional level this links to the uses and gratification theory as almost all the people listening to the song will be able to relate to it in some way or another. Having the car and the ring side by side denotes the two different outcomes he could have possibly had next to each other.

As the music video continues the video enters a much deeper state of disequilibrium in the final stages of the video both the car and the wedding ring are on fire. This ideology switches the dream to a nightmare and denotes the character coming back to reality.

The video ends with an extreme close up of the character crying followed by an extreme close up of the character’s eyes shattering connoting the character’s life has fallen apart.