1. T H I S I S T H E W I N N E R O F T H E V I D E O O F
T H E Y E A R 2 0 1 3 AT M T V AWA R D S . I L O O K E D
AT A N D R E W G O O D W I N ' S 7 C O N V E N T I O N S
O F A M U S I C V I D E O A N D H O W T H E Y L I N K TO
T H I S M U S I C V I D E O .

2. 1. Music videos
demonstrate certain
genre characteristics -
Timberlake's "Mirrors" is
in the pop genre so I
would expect something
quite different from this
video. There are some
aspects that are
conventional such as the
party and young love.
However, there are
several characteristics
which are untypical such
as no performance from
the artist and no lip
syncing.

3. 2. There is a
relationship between
lyrics and visual - the
song in called
"Mirrors" and many of
the shots include
mirrors or are filmed
from behind a mirror.
The lyrics play with the
idea of mirrors, for
example "It's like
you're my mirror, My
mirror staring back at
me" and "We're
making two reflections
into one"

4. 3. There is a relationship between music and visual - it is unusual in
that the takes are quite long. However, there are also some quick
shots changing on the beat. The rhythm of the song is quite slow
which goes with the slow camera movement and editing.
This shot last 16
seconds
This shot last 2 seconds

5. 4. The demands of the
record label will include
the need for lots of
close-ups of the artist -
although Justin
Timberlake does not
feature all throughout
the music video, he
does appear towards
the end in a room full of
mirrors and showing off
his dancing skills.

6. 5. The artist may
develop motifs or
iconography that
recur across their
work (a visual
style) - this video is
unique as it's made
in the style of a
"short film" (Daily
Mail - 20th March
2013) and is
dedicated to his
grandparents
which we see at
the beginning.

7. 6. There is frequent reference to the
notion of 'looking’ and particularly
voyeuristic treatment of the female
body - the whole video is dedicated
to mirrors and reflection so the
whole thing is based around the
notion of 'looking'. Unusually there
are close ups of old people,
however you also see a close up of
an attractive girl in her underwear
and Timberlake is also shown
dancing with an attractive female
performer dressed only in flesh
colour bra and tights.

8. 7. There are often intertextual references-mostly to film,
television and popular culture - the whole film is biographical
referring to various events in his grandparents relationship.
This is his grandparents when
they first met…
…and this is his grandparents
in their later years