Lady GaGa is mostly known for her extravagant dress style as well as her music. Her music goes into the genre of pop/electronic dance she has the attitude that nothing in life will hold her back and this is shown in the music video Paparazzi. The 'boyfriend' of Gaga pushes her off a balcony this is shown through a romantic close up scene between the two, switching back and forth with long shots as the struggle begins between the two. As he pushes her off she is shown falling from a high angle shot above her with an animated spiralling background. This connotes that she is falling into a world which will be constantly revolving around her in her hectic life.
Lady Gaga has been known best for her hand gestures that she uses in almost all of her music videos and her ever changing hair. These have become her very own conventions that the fans are always expecting to see. Gaga started creating a narrative for the audience from her second single; Paparazzi falls in the middle of this narrative, she falls in love with someone (Pokerface/Lovegame), he tries to kill her (Paparazzi). The list continues and this is something that also has created herself a convention and a gripping audience whom forever want to know how the story is going to end, if it ever does. Her hand gestures are shown usually with a close up of her doing them as they are almost always on her face.
Andrew Goodwin stated that there is often a link between the visuals either where the visuals emphasise the lyrics or the contradict them. I find that Gaga does both of these in Paparazzi as throughout the video she is being followed by the paparazzi, constantly taking photos of her, "Chase you down" - chasing down her every move and "Follow you until you love me," after Gaga had killed her boyfriend, the pap find her and love her again.
Lady Gaga also often contradicts her lyrics as when she is singing she says "Promise I'll be kind" but yet there are dead people shown around her home. This is shown with quick cuts which connote how quickly she can make things happen almost as if she is a very powerful person.
Gaga often synchronises her music videos to the music speed this is mostly because of her music genre being electronic dance. The beats are very upbeat fast but yet quite tamed. If the music video was based on dancing, I could imagine the dances to be doing elegant contemporary dancing for the slow parts and possibly some street dance for the fast parts of the song. In Lady GaGa's video the slow parts of the song is where she is singing or dancing and the fast parts show snap shots of the dead people and quick shots of the individual dance moves that she does. These shots make it seem as though she doesn't care what she is doing and she is just getting on with her daily routine. A mid shot shows people behind her who are possibly her slaves, who are mimicking her every move just incase they could be the next victim.
In Paparazzi Lady GaGa uses intertextuality in reference to the media, and all aspects of it. This is made obvious because of the name of the song being Paparazzi and also because of through the song she is singing about being in the media spotlight because of how she acts. I think that she does this because at the time the song was released everyone wanted to know all about her as she was a brand new artist who was already making an impact on the music industry which has now caused more new artists to want to be like her.
Eminem - Not Afraid
Eminem is known for his on/off relationship with his childhood sweetheart Kimberley Scott and his hate for his mother, but most of all, his outstanding Hip Hop/Rap music. Eminem had a struggle throughout his life with drugs and the relationship he had with his family. In Eminem's video 'Not Afraid,' the video signifies what the lyrics in his songs generally mean without having to put on a show to prove himself to his fans.
In the opening scene you hear the lyrics of the song which are being muffled by the voice over of Eminem mentioning going from 'that place' to 'this place' meaning overcoming his addiction to drugs. Eminem is standing on the edge of a building looking over New Jersey this is encoded so that the audience can decode that he has been looking back at his life and decided to make a change/approach things differently. The shot is shown with a close up of his face speaking these words often flicking to a close up behind him and a pan over him so we can see how low that the drop is. The drop signifies his past that he doesn't want to fall back into.
Conventions that the audience look for in Eminem's videos are usually comical, but in this, Eminem is taking a more serious approach to his music videos he has just come out of rehab, almost as though he is starting a new life, but in the next scene he appears to be in a grotty room. This could connote his old life living in a trailer park, that he is still the same person but he is approaching things differently. In this scene there is close ups of Eminem singing into the camera which makes the audience feel as though he is doing it personally for them. A montage edit is used throughout this scene, going back to when he was on the building which signifies that no matter where he is he still means the same thing.
Throughout the two scenes there are quick cuts back and forth as he is singing about his life and how he feels like he’s let his fans down. Eminem raps “He's got the urge to pull his dick from the dirt and fuck the whole universe” the audience could decode this as him saying that he has been holding back for a while and he’s back to corrupt his fans the way he has been for his whole career. Once he has rapped this, he looks as though he is going to walk out the room; and he turns round to walk out the building. This could connote that he is going back to entertain the people who have always loved him.
“To the fans, I’ll never let you down again I’m back. I promise to never go back on that promise.” Eminem reassures his fans that he won’t take another gap out of his career, his says this with what appears to be genuine emotion on his face. “I ain’t going back to that now” talking about the drugs that were slowly destroying him but helped him make it through to get to where he is today.
As Eminem is walking through the streets of New Jersey he looks as his reflection in windows, he looks different, almost as though he was reflecting back on the old self of him and realised that he was a monster. “Thought I had it mapped out but I guess I didn’t. This fucking black cloud still follows me around,” with these lyrics in the video, there are mirrors surrounding him almost as though they are trying to remind him of the person he used to be. The lyrics connote that he will still have the reminder always there of the person he used to be.
Eminem starts to break down the wall of the room that he was in at the beginning and from the street scene with the mirrors; he ends up in a room full of them as the chorus starts. In both of the scenes he starts to break out of the room as the bridge begins, “And I just can’t keep living this way. So starting today I’m breaking out of this cage,” Eminem starts to break out of both of the rooms, breaking out of all his old habits whilst stating that he did it all for himself and his fans and nobody else. As he is rapping the final verse, he jumps of the edge of the road which has been edited out to look like it has fallen apart in a cliff and he flies back up like he has superpowers. This connotes that if he ever went back to the person that he used to be with the drug taking, he’d immediately realise and get clean as soon as he could.
Eminem uses intertextuality in his music video by his choice of having a flight as a ‘super power’ he is referring to Superman but rather than being exactly like Superman and saving others, he’s saving himself. This almost contradicts the main purpose of having a superhero. The choice of the song title, ‘Not Afraid’ could suggest that he isn’t afraid anymore as he now has the power (like Superman) to get back to where is now if he ever relapsed again.
You Me at Six – Liquid Confidence
You Me at Six’s video starts off with a medium shot of the lead singer, zooming out to show the rest of the band members performing their song, recording a music video for it.
The director is not happy what they are doing so they have to keep repeating it until they get it right. Close ups show the annoyance in the band members faces because of the director as you can tell by their facial expression that they don’t think that they’re doing anything wrong.
The eventually give up with trying to work with them and walk out. The camera follows them through a hallway where we see quick cuts of the band singing again but in a different room.
The next shot is the band in another different location which looks like they’re dressing room, the lead singer is continuously sings whilst writing something as there is a pan of the other band members joking around behind him.
The band then make their way down the hall again where we see where the quick shots were taking place, in another room where they are filming the music video by a director that loves what they are doing as you see them receive no criticism.
No comments:
Post a Comment