The predominate motif in the music videos for Sweatpants and 3005 by Childish Gambino is the use of the medium shot. A medium shot is a camera angle that faces the subject of the video, showing their face and a majority of the body. The music videos for Sweatpants and 3005, both by Childish Gambino, make use of the medium shot throughout the videos. This motif allows the viewer to follow Gambino throughout the video, and see his facial expressions and body language. This helps to improve the communication between the artist and viewer as he attempts to convey a feeling of confusion and solitude in both of these videos.  

The Sweatpants video takes place in a diner at night. Gambino walks in and sits down with his friends in a booth. As he walks in, he is facing the camera that pans with him, maintaining a medium shot. He is facing the camera for the majority of the video, so his face is visible to the audience. The song is playing over the video, and we see him lip syncing with it throughout. He maintains a neutral composure as he walks in and sits down with his friends, gets up to turn on the jukebox, then walks out through the back to check his phone. He turns around to go back, but finds himself back at the entrance where he initially walked in. He looks slightly confused, but shrugs it off and sits back down with his friends. He looks left to his friend, but sees his own head on his friend’s body. He begins to look even more confused as he walks to the jukebox and back outside to check his phone again. He looks to his left and right and sees the people out there also have his head on their bodies. He walks back inside, finding himself at the front entrance again. As he walks back to his seat, he notices that everyone in the diner now has his head, and have stopped what they are doing to stare at him. He slowly walks to his seat as the music becomes more intense by the music picking up significantly in pace and becoming more difficult to understand the lyrics. He sits down, and as the song comes to an end, he slams on the table in anger. The song shifts to only instrumentals, as the camera pans 360 degrees around to view all of the patrons, all staring at him with their heads replaced with his own. As the camera passes over everyone that is staring at him, it reaches a person that is staring directly into the camera, at which point the camera cuts to black and the video ends. As the video progresses, and we reach the point where he sees his own face on other people, a feeling of unease begins to be conveyed to the viewer. This feeling grows as we see more and more faces change to his, but there is also a feeling of detachment. The faces are all fixed on him, leaving the viewer as an outsider watching him deal with this uncomfortable situation, up until the last person comes into view who is looking into the camera. This breaks the fourth wall and pulls the viewer into the scene to experience the same unease and confusion that we watched Gambino go through. 

The 3005 video begins with the blurry lights of a Ferris Wheel passing by the camera. The video comes into focus when Gambino’s seat comes into view, at which point the camera follows the seat. Gambino is sitting in his seat, again lip syncing with the song, and sitting next to a large teddy bear. The bear appears to be looking around as the wheel spins, the lights from the wheel leaving shadows over Gambino and the bear that pass in and out of view. As the song reaches the chorus, the camera swings to show the arms of the Ferris Wheel come in and out of view with its impressive colors and lights. As the camera comes back into its medium shot on Gambino, the bear appears to be worn and damaged, with a tear exposing the stuffing. As the song reaches its chorus again, the camera pans left to show a massive fire in the distance, and the lights of the Ferris Wheel shutting off. The camera then shows the seats swinging by some more, until it focuses back on Gambino’s seat. This time, he is gone and the bear is still sitting there, only this time it is significantly damaged and not moving. This view continues until the song finishes playing and the scene fades to black. This video also gives the viewer a feeling of discomfort and confusion like the last video. Gambino appears to be relaxed throughout the video, so the feeling of unease actually comes from the teddy bear. We see the bear deteriorate significantly in between the shots for no apparent reason. The fire that we see, followed by an almost destroyed bear abandoned by Gambino leaves many questions in the viewer’s head as to what is occurring and what went wrong to lead up to these events. 

The use of the medium shot in both of these videos is very effective at allowing to view the emotions that the artist is trying to convey. Both videos aim to make the viewer feel uneasy and confused. Sweatpants uses the medium shot to follow Gambino as he moves through the diner, while also letting us view his surroundings. The changing of his surroundings, as well his change in facial expression and body language allows the viewer to watch him as he experiences these feelings. The person looking into the camera just before the video cuts to black changes the dynamic of the viewer being an outsider to actively involved in the situation, therefore making the emotions we see Gambino feel, the emotions of the viewer. 3005 has the same effect, but in a much more direct way. Instead of watching Gambino experience these emotions, we are made to feel them directly as we see the events play out from our point of view. Gambino maintains a calm demeanor throughout the video, but the medium shot gives a view of the teddy bear that deteriorates throughout the video, leaving the audience wondering what is causing it and what is wrong. The medium shot is the most effective at accomplishing this because it allows for the best view of the subjects as well as the surrounding area that were both important for the themes in these videos. 