Music video analysis

Taylor Swift – We are never ever getting back together

Music video

One of my real media artefacts is my analysis of the music video to 'We are never ever getting back together' by Taylor Swift. I have done this in order to help me think of ideas for my music video and think about camera angles and performance elements.

This is a pop song which was released in 2012, the music video is both a performance and concept one, at the beginning of the video there is a long shot of the view from the artists bedroom window setting the scene, an establishing shot. This is happening whilst the introduction music is played. The artist is doing actions to express the lyrics of the song and make the meanings more clear, the song is about the artist not getting back together with her boyfriend, therefore she is trying to change and become a different person, this is shown by matching the visuals and lyrics. Throughout the whole video, the artist is singing to the audience and looking directly at the camera, making the video more interesting and this makes the audience want to watch it more. This makes the video more personal with the use of close ups and extreme close ups making the audience feel like the song is directly aimed at them.

There is a medium close up on the artist just as she starts to sing. She sings 'I remember when we broke up, saying this time I've had enough, because like we hadn’t seen each other in a month when you said you needed space' as she says the word 'space'  at 0.18 seconds, she puts her glasses on and moves from sitting on the window, this shows throughout the song she is changing as a person because she is not getting back with her boyfriend.

The artists’ boyfriend walks out of the front door just as the lyrics say ‘I say I hate you...’ this matches the lyrics, as well as the speed of the music matching the actions. After the first few lines of the song has been sung, the song speeds up and so do the actions. The speed of the editing changes in order to match the lyrics and the artist walks across the room and starts dancing, because the music has sped up, as well as the editing. At this point in the video, there are a lot of elements of a concept video because there are people dressed as furry animals dancing with the artist and in the club, this only occurs when the music is fast and more upbeat. This music video has a repeatability element to it because the furry animals keep coming onto the scene matching the visuals with the lyrics, especially when the music and editing is faster during the chorus. There is a lot of tracking camera angles, the camera is constantly following the artist and there are a lot of medium close ups so that the audience can see all of her actions. When the lyrics say 'I’m really going to miss you picking fights' she is sitting down again and talking to her boyfriend instead of talking to the audience. Panning is used at this point in the music video to create a smooth transition between different shots and make the story flow together. This tells the story better and makes the audience look at the music video and understand the story line.

The video ends exactly how it started, a long shot of the building opposite the artists' bedroom window, whilst she is sitting on the window sill. This creates continuity and repeatability, making the whole video link together and each scene work with the other, showing the audience that the story is over and she has finished telling it.

Bruno Mars – Just the way you are

Music Video

The first shot of this music video is an extreme close up of the girl playing with the headphone wire from which she is listening to the song, this black wire is what is going to be used throughout the music video in order to narrate it. There is then an extreme close up of the girl starring in the music video, showing the audience who this song is about, her facial expressions are also telling the audience what the artist might do next. The extreme close ups of the artists represent the type of artist he is because of the lyrics to all of his songs are very relatable and many people see him as someone who could be a friend, this relates to the close ups in this music video.

This music video is narrative, however it is different to many other narrative music videos as the lyrics are not being told by people acting out the lyrics, they are being told by images made with the tape. This happens for the first 0.15 to 0.37 seconds, after this the camera does another close up on the artist singing. Throughout the video, the camera constantly switches between the artist singing and the narrative element with the use of the tape. The music video has been edited so that the cuts are very slow and not very frequent, this is because the song is very slow and the lyrics are very emotional.

The music video then turns into being mostly performance because the images being shown by the tape are made to be like they are real. The name if the song is 'Just the way you are' this links with the way the music video is made. It is very simple and the majority of it is just a black image. This links with the lyrics and how the artist feels in this song. At 3.13 the artist is playing the piano as well as singing, this shows his roar tallent and promotes the artst as a naturally tallented man.

The last 30 seconds of the music video is just the artist singing, involving close ups and extreme close ups of him. This makes the audience feel closer to the artist, this is what the record company and the artist want as the audience are more likely to buy the artists music if they feel like they know them. After the music video has finished there is an image of the album cover in an old fashioned video camera, this is because the record company know that whoever is watching this video will probably be interested in buying the album, therefore if they are aware of what the album looks like and its name they will be able to buy it or order it for when it comes out.