For my research into music videos I have needed to look at and analyse professional music videos to get more of a grasp at how they are put together and what conventions they use. I haven't fully decided what song I want to make a video for yet, however I know I want to use a relatively slow/mid speed pop/rock song with a lot of meaning for my project as I want to show a lot of meaning in my video. For my first analysis I have chosen the video to Mine by Taylor Swift and I have chosen this for it's meaning and story telling within the video but also I think Taylor Swift is different as she is very adaptable to the music she plays and in a matter of years has gone from Country to Country/Pop to even including Rock. I have chosen this also because they make a quite a simple video in terms of locations and costumes look very professional. In addition the music video was coveted the Video of the Year Award in the CMT Music Awards 2011.
Synopsis
The video begins with Swift entering the coffee shop. As she sits down, she notices that couple, opposite where she was sitting, was arguing, reminding about Swift's parents arguing when she was very young. Then the waiter (Toby Hemingway) came by to take Swift's order, who looks up and she infatuated him, resulting a romantic relationship between the two. Time passes in the video and he proposed to her, who then cheerfully accepted it. However, the two was seen arguing at that night, resulting Swift running away from the house, like she did when she was young and running away from her parents arguing. The boyfriend found her, and the two reconcile the relationship. Then, the two got married and having two sons. Throughout the video, there are some scenes of Swift singing the verses of the song while walking barefoot on a green pasture amongst photos of her and her family. The photos are hanging on a white string in between two large trees.
Verse 1: The song starts straight away as a mid shot captures a pretty, sweet looking Swift as she walks into what looks like a cabin cafe and sits down at a table before she notices a couple that are arguing at a table near her. The next shot is a flashback to show a young girl watching her parents argue showing that she is comparing the situation. During the song, there are a mixture of different shots where Swift is singing her lyrics bare foot in a forest whilst pictures of her life are hanging from the trees by string, this gives an element of performance alongside a story. The next couple of shots are close ups of the waiter and Swift that comes to ask the order, there eyes meet which establishes some sort of relationship to the audience without it being definite, however when the shot goes back to mid shots of the forests and pictures, there's a focused picture in one of the shots with the waiter and Swift embracing, this definitely establishes the relationship between them which carries on within the song. The star image is also established in this through Swifts costume and location. The pretty summer dresses she wears in the first verse teamed with the small cafe and forest shows her own personality as an artist; shes a fresh, young and her songs are normally stories about her own life but the videos are perhaps what has happened or what she wants to/not happen.
Chorus 1: The shots within the chorus are in 2 locations, the forest where Swift sings some of her lyrics and the beach where the waiter and Swift are embracing and laughing together. This looks like a date and is coherent with the lyrics she sings 'Do you remember we were sitting there by the water, you put your arm around me for the first time'. This shows that she is remembering her first date/embrace with the waiter. These beach shots that switch between the 2 locations are very important at it shows the connection between the two of them and the last beach shot is a mid shot of them both sitting on the beach as they lean in to kiss.This helps the audience to grasp the video and connect. The casting for the waiter in this video has been done cleverly to help engage with her main target audience of young/teen/young women. The male in this video doesn't just attract to watching it but it is a believable match with Swift and the storyline.
Verse 2: The next verse shows how their life together continues and they make another step by moving in together. Just like the chorus this part also moves between 2 locations a house/flat of some sort and the forest again. I like this mix up as it is not all narrative and not all performance but combining the both in an equal yet not annoying way is quite effective and something I would think about doing for my project. The shots include mid shots of them bringing in boxes together and a close up of Swift character holding a picture from when she was younger with her parents this then goes back to a shot of her younger self. This showing that she fears her relationship will be like her parents, full of arguments. Unlike other artists Swift maintains to have a relatively normal dress sense in this like she would have in her life, Swift doesn't usually wear costumes like GaGa would do in her videos.
Chorus 2: This is another part of the video where you see their life progress more and near the end of this section, both of them in a row boat where the male proposes to Swift who accepts happily. As well as the shots of Swift singing the lyrics in the forest, the other shots that are providing the story are in this section mainly close ups or mid shots. These are used to establish more of a serious relationship growing by showing their close proximities to each other. When it gets to this part of the video, we can now tell that they're trying to show that time is passing and they're getting older by the change in costumes. Swift was wearing more summery dresses being portrayed as a young women however now in these scenes, she tends to wear more mature clothing. This is the same for the male. This is clearly trying to make the lyrics match with the story as she is talking about remembering times in their life together and these times need to portrayed correctly.
Third Verse/Bridge: This is the section of the video where they have a fight and each image matches with the lyrics as they fight the song says 'And I remember that fight, 2.30am'. This follows Goodwins theories and this helps the audience still engage with the story. The same flash back of the close up of her as a young child with her parents arguing then another flashback of her running out of her home when she was younger from her parents. These shots could be showing her thought track whilst she is running out of her home from her fiancee. She runs away like she did when she was younger. However the man runs out after her and holds her as the lyrics say 'You took me by surprise, you said I'll never leave you alone'.
Final Chorus and Ending: The start of this section shows the both of them in close up shots from the video sharing eye contact whilst being very close to each other. In a way showing how their relationship gets stronger as the shots after this is a montage of relatively fast shots showing how their life pans out, such as the both of them getting married, having 2 baby boys and celebrating their boys birthdays. Time is again shown that it is passing by with the costume getting more mature as they turn into parenthood. In this last section there's more shots of Swift in the forest due to the climax of the song and these shots turn to shots of the story again where the family is having a great time on the beach. The last 2 shots is in the cafe again, where the both of them met before it fades after one more shot of Swift singing the last line 'I can see it now'.
This song has a lot of meaning to it. The literal meaning is that she was raised by watching her parents argue and their relationship fall apart in from of her, so she was lead to believe that all relationships would end like that. Then she met a boy in a cafe who understood her and then fell in love with him, in the video he asks her to marry her. The part of the song wear she sings "you saw me start to believe for the first time" is the part of the song where she starts to realize that not all relationships have to end up badly. Overall I really love this video as it tells a story whilst featuring performance at the same time which is something that I might like to explore. I like videos that have acting and a story in it also as it keeps the fully engaged, especially with a love story, it attracts Swifts young female audiences because stereotypically we are more emotional and connect to these story lines.
No comments:
Post a Comment