Music Video Analysis
TITLE: Blank Space
ARTIST: Taylor Swift
RUN TIME: 282 Seconds
FORMAT: Narrative Story
The video is compiled of separate elements that make up the
overall music video, these elements can be split up into ten individual
sections.
NARRATIVE
The Music video sees Taylor in a big house, with lots of
glamour and exclusive items, along with who is shown as her boyfriend. From the
rest of the video we understand that he is only temporary and there is always
someone new.
From the narrative we get the understanding that everything
is good with Taylor and she is in her dream relationship. Quickly that takes a
bad turn and she is seen to go crazy and quickly let her emotions get the
better of her and attack the man.
The video consists of 19 scenes compiled with multiple shots
that makes the video. Throughout the scenes there were at least 22 hair and
outfit changes for Taylor and 16 for the man, this shows us that Taylor is very
wealthy and can afford lots of different clothes, it shows that Taylor can discard
clothes often as well moreover this can relate to how the media presents her to
be using her money and wealth to support and discard her relationships.
MISE-EN-SCENE
The mise-en-scene within this music video uses satire to
reflect the media’s view on Taylor Swift and how she is portrayed. The
prestigious house, clothes, car, and boyfriend are all part of an act that
mocks the way she is represented within physical and social media, moreover the
way she acts on twitter as well as how the press capture her. The large mansion
suggests that she is very wealthy and has expensive clothing such as the
expensive looking shoes that convey the image that she could be very
materialistic and only soughts as after only the best products available. A
grey sky is used from 0.48 seconds in the music video when there is a long-shot
of her and the man walking outside of her mansion. This and her black dress
further conveys her supposed ‘dark’, ‘twisted’ character that we see being
brought alive later in the music video. The red lipstick throughout suggests
that she is dangerous, red is classified classically as evil, and as you watch
the video ahead you see her turn from very sweet and innocent, portrayed via
summer clothing, into a very deranged and irrational person that makes snap decisions.
The red car that turns up at the end of
the music video reinforces the red t-shirt syndrome, showing that whoever is
driving the car is in danger and may reach the same fate as the others.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The cinematography is introduced with a traditional
establishing shot which also reflects the prestigious mansion-like building. This
establishing shot shows an expensive sports car and therefore, the audience can
assume that whoever lives here must be wealthy. There is a pan at 0.05 seconds
which also graphic matches with the bedroom scene at 0.08 where Taylor moves
her arm to the right, in the direction of the previous pan.
EDITING
The pace of the editing becomes faster as the narrative
progresses onto Taylor Finding out that the man in the video had cheated on
her. 1.54 - the shots become fast paced and more frequent . The use of
animation at 3.00 could further represent the surreal way media portrays Taylor
Swift.
SOUND
The only sound within this music is the non-digetic
soundtrack. However, music videos such as ‘Rihanna - We Found Love ft. Calvin
Harris’ has a one minute dialogue that sets the tone for the rest of the video.
This therefore could reinforce that the music video is more of a short-story in
that case. Rihanna – We Found Love ft. Calvin Harris.
LANGUAGE
If you analyse the lyrics from a first-glance view, you can
interpret that the song is about getting into a relationship. However, in
collaboration with the song’s music video, the song lyrics become a lot more
reckless and encrypted.
IDEOLOGY
The ideology of Taylor Swift is conventionally teenage
relationship troubles. However, after bringing out her new album ‘1989’, her
ideology has seemingly changed slightly. She was quoted saying that she wanted
her new album to be about being free and not being tied down by things such as
relationships is reinforced by her hit single ‘Shake it Off’ that came out on
8th October 2014.
INSTITUTION
Taylor Swift is a singer/songwriter from Wyomissing,
Pennsylvania. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was just 14 and was
signed to the independent label Big Machine Records. Creating her first hit
album at just 17.
AUDIENCE
For this specific music video by Taylor Swift, I think that
her target audience is for those who create false representations of her such
as: the media and certain characters within society. It highlights a very
prestigious lifestyle that can only be obtained through money.
REPRESENTATION
There are distinct representations of both men and women in
this music video. The woman is represented as a clingy, attached ex-girlfriend
who is also slightly insane.
No comments:
Post a Comment