For homework we had to carry out some research by analysing a music video of a relevant artist and consider how the technical codes (such as camera shots, angles, movement, mise-en-scene, editing...) construct the conventions we expect of music videos according to their genre.
The video I chose to analyse was "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga. When the hwk was set we were still unsure of which artist / genre we would be focusing on for our project so I decided to opt. for a pretty mainstream artist to complete this hwk on.
I decided to type up some key details below as the image / my handwriting may not be perfectly legible...
Key notes: Lady Gaga's music fits under the electro-pop / dance genre, so attributes typically expected in her videos would be; choreographed routine with backing dancers, bold + quite revealing outfits (to promote artists sex appeal), party-style sequence, bright lights in a slightly dark setting...
The video was predominantly performance based, so the majority of shots were close-ups of Gaga singing and performing directly towards the camera. A lot of close ups of the artist were used to create a recognisable image and promote her identity via her music videos. There was also a lot of close ups on imagery relevant to the songs lyrics; such as "you can't read my poker face" = close up on face, shots of group playing poker, close ups on cards / gambling chips.
The atmosphere seemed dark in places but bright illuminating lights were used (in front of camera but behind artist) to lighten the mood - creating a bold contrast of tone within the video. Smoke was also used during the choreographed dance sequence - which made the atmosphere seem slightly mysterious. The mansion setting was very lavish which seemed to be promoting the artists 'glamorous lifestyle' and would provide viewers with a sense of fantasy (and potentially something to aspire towards).
Due to the pace of the song the editing is pretty fast; with an average shot duration of 2-3seconds. Intentional jump cuts, flashing transitions, and 'split screen' shots were used- this could have been to maintain the audiences attention, or to encourage the idea the video isn't portraying reality but simply a world of escapism. The shots and style of this video do not challenge or contradict expectations for a video of this genre, but instead they seem to encourage the typical ideals.
Posted by Lorna.
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