Unlike the majority of most music videos of the rock genre, this video has no real narrative and the performance, instead of being performed to the camera, is carried out during a dance routine. This is a somewhat common convention of pop music videos, where the artist is not performing to the viewer, although this is not always the case. A characteristic of the whole pop genre is that it aims to appeal to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology, the song and video follow this characteristic with their content being the universaly accepted topic of love, which in itself is a common characteristic, being a constantly used topic in many pop songs. The music video also caters to the characteristic of pop music that is that the music is intended to encourage dancing the use of dance-oriented beats or rhythms, it does so by following the convention of most pop music videos; using dance sequences, which this particular video is full of. The video uses a variety of close up's, medium shots and long shots. The Close up's are used to capture the artists expression and her singing, whereas the medium and long shots are used as to capture movement in the video resulting in them being used alot due to the many dance sequences. The lighting used is a contrast between light and dark creating shadows; the placement of cast members has the artist in the centre of a circle of the dancers, with the light coming down above the artist, casting shadows of the dancers. This use of light emphasises the superiority and importance of the artist. Both the location and clothing complement each other, with the location appearing to be a ball room in which case the clothing is suitable. In the video the artist is dancing with the various dancers in the ballroom, this along with the songs topic of love, may be a reference to the old fashioned romance involved in a couple ballroom dancing, further emphasising the theme of the song. The video represents her as a romantic, due to the romantic connotations of ballroom dancing, but also as unfaithful due to her many dance partners. The positioning of the artist inbetween a circle of the dancers underneath a bright light goes on to represent her as being superior to the men, connoting that she is above them and does not a permanent lover, although this would go against the songs content, so maybe it connotes that the dancers are not worthy or good enough for her and only the lover of whom she references in the song is her true love. The media theorist Goodwin’s theory of music videos can also be applied to this video; Goodwin said that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, which this video does, using a number of dance sequences and covering the topic of love and romance, which are common characteristics of the pop genre. Goodwin also said that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, as well as between music and visuals; This video doesnt exactly show any specific relationship between the lyrics and the visulas, but the overalls songs them of love and romance is portrayed through the romantic and flirtacious dancing. Another theorist Mulvey said that in music videos that everything is constructed around 'the male gaze'. For the majority of the video, this is not the case, but in the later second half of the video the artistis is more skimply dressed and her body language becomes much more sexualised. Mulvey also said that in music videos, women are used to provoke sexual pleasure in through their costume, body language etc.; this can be applied to the video, as throughout the artists body language is very flirtacious and sexual, along with her costumes becoming more revealing as the video progresses. Another theorist Claric’s theory of music videos could also be applied to this video; Claric said that close up’s are the dominant shot used, as performance demands close up, along with the need to show expression. This music video used plenty of close up's as to show expression and performance, but due to the dance sequences, close up was not the dominant shot used. He also said that music videos mostly use fast cuts, editing appropriate to the beat as to ensure multiple viewing. This is also true, the music video uses alot of fast cuts due to the dance sequences and the need for multiple viewing.
No comments:
Post a Comment