Music Video Analysis

Rock Your Body – Justin Timberlake

The video that I am going to analyse is “Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake. The song by Justin Timberlake is an R&B track; the video is a typical R&B video as it has lots of shots of Justin dancing.

The video for “Rock Your Body” convey the lyrics very literally. The video is mainly Justin Timberlake dancing in a room with colourful flashing lights all over the walls. The lights have a retro feel to them although the costumes and the dancing is very modern. The movement of the camera convey the lyrics sometimes. For example Justin sings the word ‘Twirl’ at one point and the camera spins around him. Justin also sings ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ a few times at which point he dances in a movement to the left or right.

The video relates to the music. It is cut to the beat and also speeds up and slows down with the music. In one section the music breaks down and Justin is beat boxing. We see Justin dancing in a cage type structure with cameras mounted on it. This is very unconventional as we are being shown that Justin is being recorded. It is very rare in any media production to be shown the camera. It takes away the realness and we see that actually it is all fake and the people are acting, although it makes for some really great shots it is very unconventional. This sequence of shots with the cage and the cameras keep the audience engaged, and almost shocks them. This makes the video more interesting and not just your normal, everyday music video.

There are several close-ups in the video. These are the star shots that make the money. We can see that it is Justin Timberlake. Justin looks like he is enjoying his dancing. The song he is singing is very energetic and lively, not so much a serious issue or experience. He is just singing about a girl whose body he wants to ‘Rock’. This is conveyed in the way he is dancing and looking. He looks very seductive and confident when he is dancing. This relates to the lyrics of the song and again is quite typical of an R&B music video. However, some of the time he just looks like he is enjoying the dancing which gives the video a fun and enjoyable feel.

The Justin Timberlake video is pretty much all performance based. It is all of Justin Timberlake dancing in a room full of lights. This is often the case when dancing is a main feature of the video as the way the people dance tell a story of the lead singer and his ego, therefore there is no need for a conventional narrative.

In conclusion the video is a very stereotypical R&B music video. There is lots of dancing and lots of fast, energetic camera movements. There are however, some unconventional shots that make the video quite interesting and keeps the audience engaged.