Music Video Analysis
Video 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E Taylor Swift – Love Story
The video
seems to start off in a typical setting of a college or a university with
students walking around what looks like a campus, with some of the students
holding equipment like books. But then the video seems o take a more abstract
approach with the whole theme of the video changing and it becoming a Victorian
style ball with there being a group of people in old attire and dancing in a
style that seems like it would be considered old. It also cuts to the singer,
Taylor Swift, standing near a balcony of a castle which seems to be a big nod
to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, that being one of the most famous love
stories of all time which takes the whole thing back to the title of the music
video which is “Love Story”. Along with this shift, the colours go from bright
and modern to slightly off colour to match the older setting of the video.
Despite all of these shifts, the main focus of the video always stays the same
with it being on Taylor and her love interest who are constant themes. There is
also a big juxtaposition with them walking through what seems like a forest
late at night with a lantern. The lantern acts as a natural and only source of
light within the scene, as well as this scene being the only darker scene with
the lighting going against everything else. The target audience for this does
seem to be mainly for girls, with Taylor portraying the role of damsel in
distress in the Romeo and Juliet scenes, but apart from that, the videos seem
to be accessible to everyone and be enjoyed by anyone of any age or gender.
Video 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk Bruno Mars - Just the Way You
Are
This music
video can be seen as more abstract than the video above but at the same time has
elements that does ground this video into reality than other videos about love.
The video shows a man and a woman sitting in a room who are quite obviously in
love. The man pulls out a cassette tape and the actual tape begins to form
images that he is singing about like the way her hair looks or the woman in
general. The video only takes place in one room with two people, but the
abstract part comes into play when the cassette shows images like Bruno Mars
playing on the piano after he just sat down on the sofa, to the camera panning
up and then showing Bruno Mars on the piano. Apart from the cassette, there is
nothing extraordinary about the video and it can be seen as a very basic video,
normal lighting, setting, props, costumes etc. The target audience for this
video is not very clear but yet it seems to be for everyone, not being only for
younger or older people or anyone of a specific gender, however it does seem to
be for people who are already in love with someone else, rather than a song
that focuses on falling in love with someone, which is the complete opposite
than Taylor Swift’s Love Story. This video also goes to serve that the genre
and the video itself doesn’t have to be flashy and have a lot of different cuts
and shots to fit in and can just be a simplistic idea.
Despite the
title and even the song being about love, the video has nothing to do with love
and is about someone who works days and nights, through injuries and a lot of
setbacks to launch a rocket successfully. It shows us all of the pain he has
been through seemingly in the past few weeks and maybe even months, going
through changes in his looks and wardrobe and different mindsets. The message
of the video is to persevere throughout anything, and you’ll see the fruits of
your labour eventually. However the song seems to be split into 2 parts with
the 1st part being very upbeat and fast paced but then the second
half hits and it goes from fast to a slow almost orchestral piece which
completely goes against the first half of the song, however in the video we can
see the main character stealing the rocket (presumably since he was not meant
to ride it) and going to space by himself, leaving his crew back on earth,
showing he has gotten the fruits of his labour one way or another. The target
audience for this song again is once again unclear but can be shown to anyone,
but probably directed towards a teenager to young adult age range but not tied
to a specific gender. This video is very
different since it doesn’t cover a love of two people but rather the love of a
man and his job who wants to see how all his hard work paid off by any means
necessary.
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