Detailed analysis of Beyonce- Pretty Hurts

This music video is an illustration as it has a clear narrative and also contains some performance from the artist. Therefore it has a long open which opens the narrative. The video starts with a close up of the artists face in the mirror, examining her face. This could represent the problems that many women have with their flaws, behind her you can also see other women doing the same and getting ready with crowns e.c.t on; which indicates that she is at a pageant. Also the first shot immediately relates to the songs name 'pretty hurts'. This shot is followed by a different mid-shot of the artist wearing a sachet that says 'miss 3rd ward', she has a negative look on her face which could suggest that she is upset with the placing that she has come. While this shot is shown non-digetic sound of a piano is playing, which may be used to represent her sadness. While this non-diegetic piano is still playing, diegetic sound is also used which is the women talking whilst getting ready, a long shot is used in the of the artist getting ready for the pageant, while also showing her competitors around her getting ready. The shots change as the the piano key changes, and then shows a very slim woman pulling her skin as though she needs to lose weight, this also links to the name of the song as the woman clearly doesn't need to lose weight however she thinks she does to be pretty and become successful in the competition.

As the intro is still playing, there is then a long take shot of the artist; who clearly doesn't fit in with the women that are also taking part in the pageant as she argues with one and sits on her own. The shot then quickly changes to a long shot of her coming out of a toilet with her hand over her mouth, this therefore suggests she is not happy with her weight due to the pressures of society. After a few more close up shots of the other women, the artist is then called to the stage and starts to perform her song, there is a mid shot of her doing this. However for the first bit of the song there is no sound just her singing and then the audience clapping her; which is to make the scene of the video realistic. The non-diegetic sound of the sound track then comes in and there is a close up of the artists face looking unhappy, this follows with many other shots of her with the same expression on her face, suggesting she is having a hard time at the pageant due to not having confidence. This could be an inspiration to teenage girls as many suffer from low self esteem, in addition the target audience for this video is teenage girls and young women.

Further on, when the lyrics of the song come in there is then a mid shot of a shot that's been used before of the artist standing with the sachet on. This shot contains performance as she is lip syncing to the song. It then cuts to more long shots of the artist continuing to get ready, however these are different shots at different times of the pageants; which implicates the artist as she is in the narrative has done more than one of these pageants. There is then a shot that is literal to the lyrics as the mid shot shows the the artist brushing her hair and the lyrics are 'brush your hair' these lyrics are explaining what her mother told her to do, and that she is pretty no matter what she thinks. This is then also followed with a long shot of another literal meaning to the lyrics, as the artist is putting wax on her teeth and the lyrics says 'fix your teeth', this implies the measure you have to go to in order be perfect for the pageant.

Continuing this, there a variety of shots of the women continuing to get ready for the pageant. There is then a tracking shot of the artist getting weighed and measured by on of the employees at the pageant, at first she looks happy and confident, but then he waves her off as though she is too big. Then he measures her waist and is also then dismissive of her, which creates an unconfident look on her face. These shots are clearly linked to the lyrics 'pageant the pain away'. There is then an establishing shot of all the woman on stage at the pageant, including the artist. They are all smiling and all look confident. Straight after that shot there is then a long shot of the artist sitting down and then two of the girls at the pageant moving away from her; which emphasises again that she doesn't fit in. This then cuts to an extreme close up of the artist taking some pills, this could be drugs or diet pills as it looks like the artist doesn't see herself to fit in due to not being as skinny as her competitors. The shots carry on to the artist being shouted at by one of the workers as he makes suck in and lengthen out her legs, he only picks her out, out of all of the other girls that are there. As the lyric 'tv says thinner is better' the is a long shot of the artist exercising, therefore these lyrics have a literal meaning to the visuals. She then weighs herself and looks hugely disappointed.

After this the music then cuts out and a man asks the artist a pageant question, this makes it realistic. While she's answering the question the non-diegetic backing tracks cuts in again, there is then a long shot of the artist jumping into what looks like a pool, therefore this could express her trying to get away from all the pressures, this quickly cuts to a close up shot of her crying, implying that the pageant isn't actually her aspiration. The answer to the question doesn't get an answer straight away there are shots in between of the artist at the pageant looking unhappy, therefore this suggests that there is more to life than your appearance. The answer to her question is quite ironic as she says her aspiration in life is to be happy but all of the shots show her looking unhappy and not fitting in. The next shot shows her breaking the trophies she has won, implying she no longer wants to do pageants.

There is then a close up to the artists face that shows her having some plastic surgery as the lyrics say 'there's no doctor or pill that can take the pain away' therefore this means that you'll only be happy once you accept yourself in the way you look and who you are. After this, it then shows a two shot of the artist and the woman that was from the beginning of the video, that is clearly scarily skinny. The artist doesn't win, the other woman does, you can tell the artist is clearly upset by this as she tries to put on a fake smile and then cuts to shots of her shouting and braking her trophies again to express her anger. The end of the video is how the video started however this time she is looking into the mirror with a happy look, suggesting she has now accepted herself, as this is shown the lyric is 'are you happy with yourself?... yeah'. There is then a quick flash back of her winning a competition as a little girl, but this competition is a singing one.

Analysis of J Cole Ft TLC- Crooked Smile

This song was released September 18th 2013, the genre of this song is rap/hip hop. The video is a narrative and disjunction video about a little girl that gets shot by the police due to a drug raid. The artist in this video is represented as a drug dealer and a father, the start of the video shows the father preparing for his daughters birthday as he is doing this the subheading on the video says 'anywhere in america'. Therefore this shows that drug problems are not uncommon in America. The video shows how people lead completely different lives but still go through the same troubles, in addition it portrays the difference between a drug dealer and a police man; who are completely different people, however they are both fathers and both lose their daughters.

The relationship between the lyrics and visuals isn't particularly clear, as the song is about imperfections and how we should let our flaws effect us, however the lyrics could relate as the video shows that the little girl dies therefore it could be seen as this is the message the father is saying to his daughter but it is too late now she has died 'to all the women, know its hard my darling'.

Furthermore, the opening of the video is a mid shot of the artist in a police car, with the diegetic sound of police sirens; which instantly indicates that he is related to crime. It then quickly cuts to a black screen, and then cuts to a flash back of an action shot of the artist washing his face and then looking in the mirror, the shot is then cut to a mid shot of a man standing in the mirror, the mid shots of the two men are followed by each other showing each of them brushing their teeth. This implies that although people's appearances and what their occupation is, they still do the same things a person would do in their day to day life.

The diegetic backing track of the song then cuts in, while there is a diegetic sound and a shot of a hoover and also shots of the artist mowing the lawn and preparing a birthday cake; while he is doing all of this the diegetic sound of the song is still playing as though he is listening to it himself, this makes the video realistic. There is then shots of him setting a BBQ up, therefore it's suggesting his is preparing a birthday party. The setting he is in isn't a stereotypical setting for the genre of the music which is RnB/Rap as these genres usually relate to wealth, designer and voyeuristic images of women. However this setting is a normal house and no voyeuristic images of women. This relates to the meaning of the song.

This then cuts back to shots of the other man and the artist again, the artist looks as though he is waiting for someone as the other man is sitting having breakfast with his daughter. There is a variety of shot-reverse-shots of the daughter and the man making faces at each other whilst laughing. By this time the music has been made non-diegetic. The shots the move back to artist, showing him looking at drugs he has in his house, also showing him then hiding them, after this there is a close up of the other man now showing to be a police man. Therefore by this we can interpret how different the different mans lives are.

Move over, there is then an establishing shot of a car pulling up to the artists house and two older people and a girl getting out of the car, the girl runs up to the artist and hugs him. From this we can see that that girl is his daughter and it also implies that she doesn't live with him due to drug crime. However, despite this the shots show that his family still love him a lot.

The next shots are now night time and close ups of the four holding sprinklers. After that, diegetic sound is uses as a close up of the police man comes in talking. The police look like they are plotting something and we can imply that the are plotting something on the artists house as it cuts straight back to the family celebrating the little girls birthday, diegetic sound is also used here of them singing happy birthday to her.

There is then a sub-heading 'later that night' which is showing the outside of the artists house. The police van pulls up here and the police run into the house with guns, therefore the police are raiding the artists house. There is then a long shot of the little girl in bed scared and showing a shot from her point of view of her Father being arrested. Sad non-diegetic sound then quickly cuts in as a gun is pointed at the little girl due to the police thinking she is a threat and a gun sound is made. There is then flash backs of previous shots, suggesting this is what the little girl is thinking of just before her death, the artist who has been arrested realises his little girl has been shot and is taking away trying to get to her. The police officer that has shot her has a instant look of regret on his face. The song then is cut back in while the other non-diegetic sound is still playing and there is a mid shot of the artist crying and a close up of the officer looking as though he sympathises with him. There are then shots of the two daughters of the artist and the police man together in school, as though they are both in heaven. By this we can see that the police mans daughter also died, but we don't know how. The shot then cuts to both of the men upset as the child's body is carried out. The video ends on the shot it began with.

Analysis of Tom Odell- Another Love

The genre of this song is indie and its was released in November 2012. The video is simplistic and is a combination of conceptual and narrative, which makes it a hybrid. Through this video Tom Odell is displaying how he acts due his bad past relationship and the difficulty of loving somebody else. Therefore this video can be seen as a short insight into Tom Odell's relationship with girl (linking to the lyrics) making it a narrative. Also this video is conceptual because it is a one take continuous shot displaying the relationship in a small time frame, starting with the woman pleading affection, soon turning into her anger due to Toms lack of change and stubbornness.


This video is taken in two shots officially but is predominantly one shot before the last five seconds cut back to the beginning of the video. More over the video begins with a extreme close up of Toms face and continuously zooms out to a medium shot, then a long shot further showing the setting of the video.


The location of the video is an apartment/flat, which makes us presume that its the place of where they both live. The dull room expresses Toms feeling due to him being numb towards being able to love another person. The lighting changes throughout the video which makes the apartment seem more lived in, although Toms opinion still isn't changed as we know by listening to the lyrics.


The visuals and music are linked as the visual entitles a progression of time between two people in a relationship, and one of the people can't open up and love the other one due to the hurt of his past relationship 'All my tears have been used up on another love'. Therefore we see the woman is trying to be affectionate towards the man but is not getting it back. We hear this in the lyrics 'I wanna take you somewhere so you know I care, but it's so cold' therefore the lyrics link to the video as we see Tom trying to give affection back but he doesn't/can't.

Analysis of Lana Del Rey- Summertime Sadness

This song is from the alum 'Born to die'; which was released June 22nd 2012. This particular song is about Lana del rey who had a friend that committed suicide and the song was therefore dedicated to her. However just listening to this song I first thought it was about a summer romance that had ended, therefore when watching the video it makes it clear what the song is actually about. Consequently there is a relationship between the lyrics and the and visuals as the video illustrates Lana Del Rey's story between what happened between her and her friend. The lyrics and the visuals are shown in the video as the lyric says 'I know if I go, i'll die happy tonight'. Consequently, it shows Lana Del Rey jumping off a bridge and then shows her late friend jumping too, therefore this is expressing that if she died she would be happy because she would be with her friend again.

There is also a clear relationship between the music and the visuals as the music to this video is at a very slow pace; which creates a sad atmosphere. Therefore the video has dim lighting and disorientated effects, to express the music. The video consists of many different shots which tell the story of what Lana Del rey is singing about, therefore there are many shots of the two best friends happy together, and when they are parted the shots are emotional up closes. Therefore this portrays to how Lana Del Rey now feels without her friend. There are a variety of shots of the friends together, therefore at during the video there are close ups of the artist friends face, in this close ups where she is on her own she is crying; which could relate to her unhappiness and her suicide. Also there are long shots towards the end of the video that shows her jumping off a bridge. This shows a literal vision of what the song is about. However, not only are there long shots of the artists friend jumping but there are also shots of the artist jumping; which is not a literal meaning as we know she is still alive. Therefore this could mean that when the artists friend died a part of the artist died with her.

Detailed Analysis Of Music Video Using Goodwin's Points- Tove Lo Habits

The video I have chosen to analyse, is Tove Lo- Habits (Stay High)- Hippie Sabotage Remix.

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics: The genre of this music video is House, therefore this video demonstrates this by showing a woman on her nights out. Consequently, the video consists of alcohol, drugs, flashing lights and crowded clubs. Also the woman is the main objective of the video; which is stereotypical and has a constant close up of her face to show her experiences during her nights out. The video also shows her to be highly drunk as you would expect, however she isn't dressed provocatively and is more realistic as her makeup isn't in perfect placing; which is also a characteristic of the music genre of House.

2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals: This video consists of an up close following of a woman while she's been on several nights out. Therefore the there is a relationship between the song and the visuals as the song is about staying in the habit of going out or being high. Consequently, you see in the video that the woman looks sectioned out of from everybody else which relates to the lyrics 'can't go home alone again'. Also the video is consists of night clubs and alcohol, this also relates to the lyric 'where the fun ain't got no end' therefore the video shows a woman constantly going out to clubs.

3) There is a relationship between music and visuals : In this music video the relationship between the music and visuals is seen very clearly. Therefore in this video when a beat is changed or moved at a faster pace the is a camera shot change. Consequently, this makes the video run smoothly with the music. In addition when the beat of the song is the same, there is slow motion shots used as it is staying the same.

4)  The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups: Throughout this whole video, the constant focus is the close up of the main woman.

5) There is frequently reference to notion of looking: The scenes in this music video are constantly changing in a fast motion. Also the video could be seen as a voyeuristic treatment of the female, as the camera is constantly focused on her, therefore as a viewer you are always drawn to her and what she is doing in the video.

6) There is often intertextual reference: This music video has it's on story line; which can be worked out very easily due to the scenes shown in the music video.

Lip sync

I did this task to practice for my final video, this enabled me to recognise how many different types of shots I needed in order to create a successful end product. The lip sync task also helped me realise the importance of it all being on time to the beat and the lyrics; which I was able to do through editing. Whilst being able capture many different types of shots (close ups for example). 

Andrew Goodwin's Theory: The Six Points

Andrew Goodwin wrote a book called 'dancing in the distraction factory'. He was interested in the visual language and imagery that was implicit and explicit within music videos.


Goodwin had identified six key point that are presented in music videos:


1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in rock video, dance routine for a pop song).This means that music videos of the same genre often show similarities. This could be through shot types, or settings. 

For example the artist Chris Brown produces RnB songs therefore in the video 'loyal' he's dressed in up to date clothing; which is typical of RnB and also many tattoos. There is also a gang of men which are all wearing similar clothing.

2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The footage/shots/ and mise en scene should reflect the lyrics of the song in some way. This is effective as the link between lyrics and visuals creates a narrative.

For example in Beyonce's 'If I were A Boy' music video she uses a narrative and a performance based video, the lyrics match up with the actions she does on screen. When the lyric 'I turn off my phone' the image shows Beyonce turing off her mobile.

3)  There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
For example the editing should mirror the music or beat of the song.

In the video 'faded' fast paced editing is used to match the beat of the song. When there is a new beat added, the frame will change.

4)  The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups.
 A method of using lots of close-ups of the artist themselves is used by the record label to market and advertise the artist. Moreover it gives the artist a familiar brand identity.

In 'Take a bow' by Rihanna, the director has chose a variety of close up shots of her, showing her short hair; which most people relate Rihanna to. The use of close ups establishes her target audience as many teenage girls envy Rihanna.

5)   There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This is drawing from the fact that in a lot of music videos, women are portrayed as sexual objects. This may or may not be relevant to every genre of music but it is the majority.

In Beyonce's 'Crazy In Love' video there is an awareness of Goodwin's point 5. The is one point where the artist is on a pedestal with lots of cameras flashing along with fragmented shots of different parts of her body. The is a shot of her looking into a camera:

6) There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc)
In other words, parts of other films, music videos, characters etc. may be used in a video to attract attention of people who already know and like the material being referenced.

For example in Kanye Wests 'Diamonds' music video there are lots of references to James Bond. Therefore the start id his videos features Shirley Bassies 'Diamonds are Forever' song which featured in  a James Bond film. His video shot is also in a James Bond style.

History of music videos

Codes and Conventions Of Different Music Genres

Pop-

It is often performance based, therefore the performance usually illustrates the lyrics. The pace if the editing is also usually fast and has a party atmosphere. Often shot on holidays or in the summer time to give the video a positive feel. The artist mostly wears designer labels; which suggests wealth while also making the viewers envy what the artist has/owns. The pop genre is highly accessible to audiences; which is typically the younger generation. An example of this genre is Justin Bieber 'What do you mean?'

Rap- 

Rap is a relatively new genre of music and is incredibly popular amongst younger consumers. Rap artists will usually perform solo, often 'rapping' about an issue or experience that a younger audience can relate to.  In many rap videos, we the mise-en-scene is usually materialistic and showing wealth, therefore showing huge holiday homes or expensive cars. These music videos often exploit women as the target audience for this type of audience is usually males. 

Indie- 

Indie is shortened down from the world independent and as other genres do this one has sub-genres including: Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Indie Dance, Indie Folk, Indie Rap and Indie Electronic. Indie usually has an emphasis on being untypical compared to other music genres therefore it is not 'main stream'. Indie music videos also usually cost a lot less compared to other genres. Being an Indie artist doesn't necessarily mean that the music is done in an different way the fundamentals of each genre or sun genre are still there, however the way it is produced may be more unusual to keep the soul of the music alive and for it to be mainly just about the music. Therefore an example of Indie Folk would be Mumford and Sons, 'Little lion man':

Rock- 

Rock usually consists of a band and the target audience has a wider range of ages (teenagers and older). Rock more about the music and the live performance element of music as you will often see in the music videos. Rock music is usually very fast paced and can be seen as quite violent, therefore this is because in their live performances you often see mosh pits e.c.t. Therefore rock is an expansive genre which has rooted outwards from music culture in the 1940's.