Black Eyed Peas - "Where is The Love" Music Video Analysis

This video is about the band and normal people asking the world where is the love? Will.I.Am and Taboo are going around in a van trying to get the word out whilst Fergie and others are posting question marks over the streets. apl.de.ap gets arrested near the end for trying to spread the truth.

This music video is in the hip-hop genre as this is what the band are associated with. The lyrics and their outfits also show this. They also collaborated with Justin Timberlake who is also associated with this type of music.  This video is positive and it is unlike other hip-hop videos which are more to do with money and wealthy lifestyles. The song's lyrics suggest that there is no more love in the world and this appeals to an audience as they are showing a humanitarian stance.

The target audience is 11- 30+ appealing to both male and females.

This video uses the generic conventions of the artist performing with lots of fast cuts and close ups. This video also contains a story behind it which is also quite common.

Artist Image
- The band are portrayed as being quite trendy and fashionable. The sunglasses and the hats are quite common images of hip-hop artists.
- They are also portrayed as humanitarians as they are trying to spread the love.
- However they are also shown to be working against the law as one of them gets arrested at the end.

This is appealing to the audience as they expect hip-hop artists to be quite fashionable and rebellious.

Camerawork and editing
-  Close up of the question mark symbol
- Voyeur shots of people sticking the stickers everywhere
- Jump cuts between the band and the people around the city
- Close up of children singing the song
- Crane shots of the crowd of children
- Handheld shots and fast tracking of the police chase
-  Low angle of the artist who was arrested
- Lack of motivated cut at the end as they all look to the sky but the audience doesn't get to see what they are seeing.

Mise En Scene
- The question mark posters seen in the video is meant to question people where is the love?
- The black van is used to spread the message as public service announcement to not just the people in the video but to everyone watching.
- The statue of liberty and the graffiti of Che Guevara are meant to represent freedom.
- Violent video games show that young children are being influence by what they see
- City landmarks show that they are taking over

Representation
- The band consists of 3 males and a female, they are all equal.
- Positive representation as they are trying to represent that we are all the same and that we should love each other.
-  The moral of this video is to spread the love
- This video has a positive effect on young people who question why there is so much hate in the world.

Sound
- The sound is not altered at all and no extra sounds are used. The track is just used and the artists are lip synching in the video along with extras.

In conclusion, my personal opinion of video is that it is a very good video and I like it. I like the fact that they are trying to spread the love to the audience watching the video. The children is this video play on your emotions and this can be compared to the Band Aid music videos where they show the starving children in order to get people to interact with the video.