2. The Weeknd – ‘OFTEN’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPIhUaONiLU
3. The location:
• The location of the entire video is in a penthouse (1). This is seen because the
building is very nice, well furnished and looks pricey. The main location is the
bedroom in the apartment and is where most of the music video takes place
(2).
• The location is used because the music video is about him sleeping with many
different women and how ‘often’ he does this. The location of a bedroom is
fitting as this is where his actions would be taking place. The fact it’s a nice
building which would give the idea of wealth adds to the ‘pimp’ factor within
him.
• They’re trying to portray the fact he’s a ‘player’ who enjoys sexual intercourse
‘often’ and having a setting of a bedroom in a fancy building adds to this
portrayal. Additionally, the settings lighting and props make it look nice and
appealing with modern furniture and darkened lighting.
• The location of penthouse shows wealth being the highest part of the
building overlooking the city. These rooms have the highest price-tag
meaning whoever owns/lives in one has a high income and have a wealthy
bank account. They most likely don’t worry about spending.
4. Genders:
• Within the music video we see both male and female genders. We see mainly
one male (‘The Weeknd’) and many women. At one point the room is
populated with many of both genders.
• The male gender is presented fully clothed walking around as the main owner
of the apartment or floor. Showing that what he says happens and what he
wants he gets. He’s represented as more dominant than the females, the
female is laid on the bed whilst him on the other hand is walking around as if
he doesn’t want her attention anymore (3).
• The female however is only in underwear and is laid on the bed as if they just
took part in intercourse (4). The female is seen as less dominant as for the
duration of the music videos she doesn’t get up. Although there are other
women which are walking him downstairs or waiting and watching him whilst
drinking alcohol. The women are seen as less important than him. The
women have a tag on them as if they’re just seen as a sexual object to him,
almost like a trophy. How many can he get?
5. Age:
• Within the music video to ‘Often’ by The Weeknd we only see one age group.
Of adults from 18 to 60 years old, the specific look is from the age of 20 to 30
due to their faces and their clothing choices. The male has a beard and still
dresses very ‘trendy’ following his own branding and clothing line. The make-
up of the male and females gives off the impression they’re within this
bracket (5).
• We don’t see a different age group, everyone within the music video looks
roughly the same age and are portrayed as being people who ‘chill’ and
‘relax’. They take life slowly but the male role only cares about sexual
encounters.
• Although we don’t see much of a different age group I believe the women in
the music video are younger than the male by roughly 2 to 3 years possibly
older. This is due to them looking soft skinned and the make-up for the video.
• This music video will be relatable to a certain proportion of the target
audience. Mainly the males that consider themselves as ‘players’ who sleep
with numerous women. However, I believe the rest of the target audience
enjoy this due to the beat and the voice Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) has.
6. Class:
• The class we see the main role/character to be is in-between the middle class
and upper class. We know he has money and is wealthy as he has a
penthouse apartment/suite. Additionally, the clothing brands he’s wearing
are expensive and the apartment is well furnished showing us he lives a lavish
lifestyle. You only really see the focus on him so we don’t get to fully
understand what class the females and rest of the males are. We can only
assume they’re close to the middle class or lower class this makes it hard to
distinguish who’s from what background (6). We can assume the women are
of lower class due to the way they’re represented within the music video as
being sexual objects.
• This is due to them being in his apartment, from an assumption we can say
that he only hangs around with males and sleeps with women of middle
class/standards.
7. Ethnicity:
• From looking at the music video I can see the ethnicities of African American.
The main character (The Weeknd) is African American and is portrayed as a
‘pimp’ and ‘player’ (7). He sleeps with numerous women and acts as if it’s a
‘hobby’. We know he’s African American due to his hair being afro with a
Rastafarian feel.
• The other characters include some white people and you can see this from
their skin colour being pale (8). The male white character within the music
video is a room service butler, this shows he’s out of the way almost, he’s not
on the same stature as ‘The Weeknd’ is. The white females however are
treated and represented just like the other females as sexual objects and are
just their for enjoyment/entertainment purposes.
• Although there are different ethnicities they all have the same body language
because they’re all dancing and relaxing. The women on the bed however are
having a ‘relaxed’ attitude and aren’t doing much.
8. Costumes:
• There is difference between the costumes. The males are fully clothes with
brands such as ‘XO’ . However, the women are in miniscule clothing, the main
woman who’s seen on the bed is just in her underwear and this is seen as
sexualising the women within the music video. They also include two women
kissing on the bed in minimal clothing, they do this to increase sex sells with
the viewers (9).
• The clothing worn by the males suggests he’s about to go out and leave the
girl in the bed to look after herself, it seems like he doesn’t care.
• Near to the end of the music video we see there is more people in the
apartment who are fully clothed. The men are in longline fashion whereas the
women are still wearing tight clothing to increase sex sells. In particular one
woman who is seen staring at ‘The Weeknd’ and looking at her drink who is a
in a dark tight dress. Once again, this is seen to attract the audience making
them watch till the end and possibly watch again.
9. Props:
• The props used within ‘The Weeknd’s’ music video consist of beds, clothes,
curtains, lights, smoke and alcohol. The props have a purpose and most of
them can link to sexual acts that the main male character is lyrically saying.
• The beds are a place where he does what he’s saying. The bed links to sexual
acts as that’s the place it will most likely be taking place, linking the music
video to the lyrics. The clothes on the floor (bra, shoes) show that the girl in
the bed has undressed for him (10). Once again this links to sexual acts the
two will have been doing. The curtains are translucent as you can still slightly
see through them, the curtains being closed means the idea of privacy is
what they want, however, being translucent means there is a blurry view of
the buildings at night (11). The lights in the room and throughout the
apartment are minimal, coming from table lamps, this is darkened as it ‘sets
the mood’. Finally, the props of smoke and alcohol are common links to
people losing control of what they’re doing. Most likely due to stereotyping
the smoke will be of marijuana.
10. Product placement:
• The one and only main product placement within this music video is the
brand ‘XO’. The brand is personal to ‘The Weeknd’ as its his brand. The full
name being ‘XOTWOD’. He shows this in a way of clothing by wearing a
bomber jacket throughout the entire sequence. He doesn’t take it off (12).
• The product is featured to increase the popularity within his clothing brand,
this in turn makes more people buy it increasing sales.
• This type of clothing does appeal to the target audience and most audiences
below too. The clothing is of common fashion following the trends, and
appealing to the current generation between 15 – 30, who’d most likely wear
this type of clothing.
• The products to ‘XOTWOD’ are worn and used by the target audience, me
personally can say I own a product from his brand. The brand is huge and is
liked by many, making the product placement perfect for the overall
outcome.
