CASE STUDY 1: Fortnight - Taylor Swift
Genre Conventions: As a pop ballad, Fortnight uses monochrome, two shot, and is centred around love and heartbreak. Furthermore, the video uses surrealist elements of burning pages and limited colour to connect Swift and Post Malone.
Intertextuality: Swift uses references to the film Dead Poets Society as a sort of pun towards the artist's album The Tortured Poets Department. Actors Ethan Hawke (Todd Anderson) and Josh Charles (Knox Overstreet) feature in the video as scientists experimenting on Swift's character.
Media Language: Swift's conveying of emotional claustrophobia is seen throughout the video. Rooted in gothic fiction, the 'Fortnight' music video presents a clear narrative, easily followed by audiences.
Representation: Taylor Swift in this video is represented as a lost, mentally unstable, greiving lover. The story connotes the complexities of love and heartbreak, with Post Malone playing the character Swift does not want to forget.
Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory: There are clear links between the visuals and lyrics. The slow movement of shots also reflect the music in portraying the solemn story Swift tells. Lip-syncing is rare, and only used to accentuate lyrics.
Camerawork: The establishing shot consists of a zoom out of Taylor as the artist/star of the video. The following shots are filmed upside-down, connoting the distorted life Swift is evoking witin both the lyrics and video. Scene changes are seamless, with Swift walking through doorways, entering new settings wearing new costumes. A lot of two shots are seen throughout the video, connoting the relationship between Swift and Post Malone's characters in the narratie. The camera is still in almost all shots, with the rare tracking shot.
Mise-en-scene + Editing: The video is shot in black and white, paying homage to vintage films in the 1930s. Furthermore, the title card displaying the song's name also references vintage films with no sound. All editing is done to the rhythm of the soundtrack. In addition, props such as typewriters, a vitage telephone box and masses of scientific techology symbolic of 1950s. Set in a mental facility, the video references lobotomies, mad scientists and failed experiments of forgetting.
Soundtrack: The opening shot of the video consists of a title card with non-deigetic sound of a camera rolling. For the rest of the video, the song 'Fortnight' plays as diegetic sound.
CASE STUDY 2: Daylight - David Kushner
Genre Conventions: Surrealist elements of a black whisp of negativity, as well as a burning person. Additionally, isolated shots of Kusher performing are used to support the pop ballad.
Intertextuality: Michelangelo's paiting of God and Adam is referenced in the scene where Kushner reaches out to the boy on fire, his younger self.
Media Language: As the song becomes more intense, so does Kushner's acting and conveying of emotion. However, in the last couple of shots during the outro of the song, audiences see the artist as silent and emotionless, both looking at the camera and away from it to connote his exhaustion. The video captures the complexity of human emotion and the desire to consistently please others, and how this may end negatively.
Representation: The younger version of Kushner, along with other characters in the video have blurred faces, bringing the focus back to Kushner as the performer.
Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory: Lip-syncing is used in the majority of the video, conveying Kushner's emotions towards the lyris. In addition, there is consistent links between lyrics and visuals.
Camerawork: Kushner is mainly seen by himself, isolated in bleak settings to connote loneliness and solidarity. The opening shot consists of Kushner in the woods, chopping a root. This establishing shot shows Kushner as a small being in a vast space. As the song progresses, Kushner gets closer to the camera. Much of the camerawork is fixed in position.
Mise-en-scene + Editing: Rain is used as pathetic fallacy while Kushner performs. Shots are slow and cut during breaks between lines and verses.
Soundtrack: Diegetic sound of chopping wood in the establishing shot. This is heard over the song.
CASE STUDY 3: The Feminine Urge - The Last Dinner Party
Intertextuality: There is no apparent intertextuality in this video.
Media Language: There is a lot of performance in this video, when compared to others, in terms of both lip-syncing and band elements such as guitar. The song discusses the complexness of femininity and the struggles women face in navigating societal expectations. This is particularly true of the peeling away of skin as looking at the rawness a female body hides away from the world.
Representations: All members of the band 'The Last Dinner Party' are represented as expressing their true selves and their femininity with no shame. From feminine rage in smashing plates in a beautiful dining room, to peeling away the masks women hide under, the video represents women as being expected to act in a way that suits society. Through the video, however, audiences can see that expressing your true self and letting your femininity shine is the best way to live.
Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory: The singer in the band is the only member to lip-sync. There are clear links between lyrics and visuals, elevating the meaning of the video.
Camerawork: The camerawork in this video is much more unstable, with a lot of tracking shots without the use of a camera track. The video was shot on vintage, traditional film. In addition, with the climax of the song comes a faster editing pace.
Mise-en-scene + Editing: The fairytale look of this video is very clear in its setting of an old house and airy dresses and fabrics.
Soundtrack: Only the song 'The Feminine Urge' can be heard.
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