taylor swift music video analysis

BY: KLAUDIA GIL

Taylor Swift Music Video Analysis

Representation

o In the video there are very few people of colour, to accurately represent the time the video has been set, not to discriminate anyone but to set the scene and express the video truthfully in the way it would have been in the 1950's. The representation of this music video shows a tragic love story in a historic African setting, representing the artist to be aware of the issue donating their funds from the video to charity.

o Unlike in pop music video’s where women are portrayed to be sexual, this video uses costumes of 'the time' highlighting the artists figure with costumes significant of the time of the setting of the video which reflects more of a innocence persona compared to a sexual representation of herself, however there are scenes where male gaze is fulfilled with the central positions of the screen with a spotlight out upon her. It's a typical representation of the character when the lyrics reflect on the setting of the video.

Narrative Structureo The narrative structure in this music video follows the basic structure of Todorov's

theory where the music video just like a film follows conventions with a basic 5 step structure. You expect all love stories to end with a positive ending but not all do which is going away from the stereotypical ending of 'living happily ever after'.

1. Equilibrium - begins with setting the scene acting at a movie set playing a loved up couple, introducing the characters.

Narrative Structureo The narrative structure in this music video follows the basic structure of

Todorov's theory where the music video just like a film follows conventions with a basic 5 step structure. You expect all love stories to end with a positive ending but not all do which is going away from the stereotypical ending of 'living happily ever after'.

2. Disruption of the equilibrium - the couple are only together on the movie set when they play a couple.



3. Recognition of the disruption - Taylor cannot be with her love, realising that this is not 'reality' but acting, she seems unhappy and her happiness is a matter of an act.



4. An attempt to repair the damage - the protagonist is heart broken that she cannot be with her 'love', wanting reality to be true. The love interest realises he feels the same way about her.



5. New equilibrium - it' too late, Taylor drives away and the love interest is left standing on his own.

Narrative Themeso Narrative themes get explored throughout the media in many different ways

trying to make the media connect with the audience by finding ‘the same language’. With common clichés like boy meets girl, class, sexuality, as well as relationships and the concept of love being present. Genuinely things that people commonly strive for and want to have or reach at some point in their life. It’s a sense of escapism where personal identity wants are created through the producer to the audience, where shared values are being shown. In this music video girl meets boy, it is clear for the audience to interpret even though that there are single scenes of them for the audience to pick up that the female (image 1) is singing through the lyrics that they involve visual of the male interest (image 2) in a long shot before they come together (image 3)

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Narrative Themeso ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces” theory can be applied when “crossing of the first threshold”,

because the hero leaves the real world into the unknown. The music video isn’t the real world but it is portrayed to be – as if it is an everyday lifestyle for the characters. The set of the ‘film’ is diversion from reality and a place that the characters escape from reality as well as the audience do. (image 4, 5, 5.5 ) The last two images show the different between ‘diversion’ and ‘reality’ from the lead females role and the males leading role, that occur in the music video. They are positioned centrally in all these shots to give great focus on their personas to show their ‘everyday’ job with the reflection onto reality with the fame.

o “The hero meets his love”, typical of pop music video including the storyline, narrative and lyrics. Hero experiences unconditional love from his love interest since when he seems to be what looks like his fiancée who he isn’t happy and ‘in the moment’ like he was on set with Taylor Swift – this also reflects on his lifestyle. “Refusal of the return” – the hero isn’t happy to be coming back the real world (when he is on the red carpet) he seems disappointed and unhappy not to be on set.

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Ideologyo The male interest doesn't necessarily poses a dominant stereotype but

one that reflects more in the romance of the story. The female is portrayed as a sexual character that is shown to have two faces. One that can be of a sexual character with a spotlight put upon her, positioned centrally to the screen so that all attention can be brought to her and having the man in the background. (Bed scenes) (image 1) And the other showing her in a girls position (yellow dress) having a typical scene in the open fields with a floating dress which has also been used in videos such as Selena Gomez. (image 2)

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Cinematographyo Cinematography in this video is very dramatic and ‘movie like’ suiting the theme of the music

video, of the 1950’s as well as the feel of the video and the layout of the clip. All throughout the video there are many aerial/birds view/eyes shots which act as an establishing shot as well as transitions in between shots/scenes. (image 1) Characters/actors scenes are broken up with nature pans and shots to show a unity between where the setting is and the characters themselves. The central focus shoot (image 2) shows that the main female/male roles are looking at each other, with them being in focus and the surrounding blurred out reflecting on the genre commercially showing the characters are observing each other, almost in a stalkish manner. Hugh Morris says that there have to be moving shots that have to be filmed in line with the track and that an important factor is for the camera operator to be able to hear the sound in order to be able to record the footage in sync. Therefore, when it come to the editing stage the editor won’t have an issue matching sound against visuals. Another thing he mentioned was to record more than one shot and to provide a variety of different shots that will enable him to choose a shot in the editing process, and even if during the recording process a shot might be ‘ok’, it could be an effective shot that is better than the primarily planned shot in the planning stage.

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Cinematographyo Mid shots that change into close ups of the couple standing in front of each other show great

emotions where their NVC is expressed very well. (image 3) Over the shoulder, shows a shot as if the audience were there making them able to relate to the media text. Cultivation theory is present where the more you look at the TV the more you believe that it is ‘realism’, and that’s the way the video was constructed – to be as authentic as it possibly can, starting from recreating the setting of the time the video has been placed in. Same as Ariana Grande (Into You Music Video) there are time lapses that are showing a sunny sky where the action is happy and positive – like in a ‘fairytale’, which what it is when the role of the male and female are ‘on set’ and where there is a problem in the lighting comes along juxtaposing the ideal reality, music videos are set in. (image 4) Blinding quick flash of the camera light gets the audience involved on the scene and makes them feel like they are there, personal identity, because for a couple of seconds it makes it bright and uncomfortable making audiences able to escape from reality and feel like the artist in the video. (image 5)

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Cinematography

o Image 6 is a close up that brings the main female lead female/male role to reality, gripping hands shows the closeness of their relationship that the audience will be diverting and trying to create a personal relationship with the stars. There are common certain representations in a pop music video like (image 7) where there is a typical window scene which has been used by other artists like Selena Gomez which has an effective mirror focused shot. Finally ending with a zoom out establishing shot creating a dramatic finish give a impression that it’s ‘all over’ and we’re going back to ‘reality’, everyday lives.

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Mise-en-sceneo Setting – the setting of this video varies between two different

locations: both the desert being the set and the film premiere that the lead man and female are attending.

o Lighting - there is high key lighting with a sepia filter to connote the time of day and theme the producer has been going for. It later changes to a low key lighting because of the setting being at night time but has bright lights lighting up the scene.

o Make-up – typically of the genre there is heavy makeup which the artist is wearing to signify what is said to be ‘beauty’.

o Costumes – the costumes reflect the 1950’s, when the video has been set with toned down colours. There are scenes where the artist is shining like when she wears a ‘flowy’ dress or is at the awards ceremony.

o Props – props that have been used in the video are significant to the scenes from the film that the lead roles are acting. They are like the aeroplane they flew in but also have each other as each other’s props because they’re giving all the attention to each other.

Editing effects

o A Sepia effect was put ‘on top’ of the video almost creating a romantic colour, it suits the dust and mud that is around them, it’s common to use in the 1950’s suiting the genre, the producer decided to put the setting in.

o There is a clear title, giving credits to the artists work and the director of the video – letting audiences know who was involved in the project fulfilling conventions of a music video.

o The transitions are nice and smooth and well coordinated going with the beat of the music. An example will be with the light and the sun (image 1) where the sun transitions into the set light/lamp, using editing creatively to show the setting/scene transition. It joins the settings together and unites everything together, the audience become familiar with the settings.

o There is a dramatic zoom out to show the dramatic setting (image 2), it acts as a establishing shot making the audience familiar with what they see. There are fast pace transitions (image 3) showing the quick change in scenes reflecting on the little time the loved up couple have for themselves while they are filming the film. Towards the end of the music video the romantic shots (when the couple are together with each other) slow down to give them a more dramatic shot and more emphasis on their emotions towards each other. Black and white filter in the cinema towards the end, connote something in the past which is a good effect to show the past experiences they have had together, since now they are in reality (image 4) fitting the dramatic overall feel of the music video, it feels empowering and shows great expression and feelings.

Examples: Cinematography

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taylor swift music video analysis

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