1. Camera Shots: Close ups, mid shots, Panning, Birds eye shots, Longview shots
The first scene Taylor Swift is in is she allows the audience to get up and
personal with her whilst she is lying in bed in her night attire. Many other female
artists have done this and this becoming more and more common with the
female artists. This fits in with Goodwin’s theory it is shown using Voyeuristic
technique to give an insight of the artists’ life this also links to the star’s image.
As they are showing that they are comfortable in their own skin also this is
promoting their Sex appeal. As they know if they portray and act in this way that
they will get a wider audience and may also get media attention. And Taylor
Swift has shown that as she is in provocative clothes throughout her music video
this is reinforcing her Sex Appeal. Also the background is pure white and this
symbolises purity and innocence. However as the artist is dressed in black
lingerie it is linked to the idea of class and elegances when it is associated with
dating.
The beginning of her video is constantly cut with shots consisting of long, mid
and close up shots. The mid and close up shots shows her and shows she is really
comfortable in her own skin.
And the props used in the scene of her in the bedroom links to the Andrew
Goodwin’s theory of the star’s image. This is shown as she has a puppy in her
hand therefore she is portraying her as a star has an innocent image. Also the
breakfast table and expensive furniture gives us the insight of the star’s lifestyle
and by looking at that she is giving the impression of how she lives a wealthy
lifestyle. And the Long shots show the mise-en-scene it really shows the wealth
as it shows the chandeliers, the private gardens, horses etc. This is all linking
back to Taylor Swift’s expensive lifestyle.
2. Generally the music video has been edited quit fast as most scenes are mainly up
to 5 second long and not that many scenes are longer than that. The music video
has been edited in this way to show the reckoning of their relationship and it is
also getting to the point of the music video rather than dragging the audience
along. As if the music video is longer than 3 minutes than the audience will most
likely to lose interest in the video and by having the music video edited to a fast
pace does allow the audience to engage more with the narrative and the lyrics of
the music video.
The first scenes without the music you would expect this to be a happy song
however as the music changes that expectation changes. The music shows that
also being an Electropop song is different as there are more beats and this is
unique genre for an artist like Taylor Swift. The video’s storyline starts with
scenes of her being happy in the relationship and then it starts going wrong as
she is getting revenge on him. However this is not conventional as she is
dominant and is she is giving females power. As it is showing that female should
not take this from their partners and they should stand up. The lyric dies
reinforce this and linking it to the scenes as she sings ‘They will tell you I’m
insane’. And the action she creates does show how insane she has got for
example she starts cutting up his shirt. The video ends with her not actually
doing those things rather than that was actually a day dream this is
foreshadowed throughout the video as the scenes are quit unrealistic as for
example there were horses in her bedroom. She was giving her audience the idea
that this is unrealistic and this only happens in the minds of females rather than
actually happening in reality. By the artist having this as a daydream does
suggest that women are not really dominant in their relationships as they can’t
truly express themselves.
