music video analysis

1. Lady Gaga :
Million Reasons
Music video analysis

2. Performance
• Gaga’s singing does not begin until around 1 minute into the
video, previously only having a backstory shown.
• Gaga is shown singing in her dressing room as well as on a white
set,
• When performing on the white set, being filmed by cameras,
Gaga is not the object of focus. She is hidden by the shadow of
her hat and is therefore not illustrative of Goodwin’s theory that
the star persona is the main feature of a music video.

3. Narrative
• This music video follows a fairly simple narrative, Gaga is lost in
the desert only to be found and ‘saved’ by people who are
presumably her friends and support system, brought to hair and
makeup, and then performs her new song in front of a camera.
• This video begins as a continuation of her music video of
previously re-released ‘Perfect illusion’ in which she imagines
she is at a party but later realises that she was imagining it all and
is now left alone in a desert.
• The opening scenes of the video show us Gaga as we left off,
laying alone in the desert until a herd of black SUV’s come to
collect her; in totality, this music video doesn’t follow a
‘traditional love narrative’ rather making it about Gaga’s support
system, creating a very emotionally transparent music video.

4. Narrative
• Throughout the video, it highlights the theme of loss and
eventually redemption.
• The music video follows a fairly linear narrative leading up to the
performance shots however the narrative does frequently employ
a temporal shift as to fill in pieces of the story line that had been
previously missing such as Gaga’s friends coming to collect her
from the desert.
• Later in the narrative, Gaga receives a box from who we later
discover is her sister, this becomes a frequent part of the storyline,
in one of the three different stories.

5. Lighting
• The scene opens in the desert and frequents a lens flare, the desert
lighting is meant to reflect natural sunlight as to add realism and
suggest she is genuinely stranded. The high key lighting in this
scene also suggests that it’s incredibly hot, characterising and
emphasising the desperation that Gaga feels.
• The lighting in the performance dominated scenes is also
interesting as it’s not lit in the way the audience would expect for
Gaga, who has built up a reputation for being very theatrical. The
lighting does not seem to focus on Gaga as a character, but rather
on the clothes she wears and directs a lot of the lighting to the
backdrop. This could represent emotions of sadness and
vulnerability as she’s being hidden by her materialistic items and
shadows.

6. Lighting
• The lack of attention on Gaga shows that in this particular song,
the lyrics are more important than Gaga herself.
• This could also represent the idea that Gaga has become a shadow
of herself, and is no longer the character she had created for the
audience.
• The lighting in the dressing room scene is high-key as this is
styled as if it’s a real event that is happening. This reflects the
genre and style of the music as this style of lighting can be
interpreted as ‘cinematically raw’ and therefore may convey the
‘emotionally transparent’ style of song.
• The scenes in the SUV use low-key lighting, since the windows
are all tinted and this represents a time of emotional desperation.

7. Props
• The most prominent prop within this video is the guitar featured
within the performance scenes, this illustrates the raw quality of
the song and also adheres to some extent to the conventions often
displayed in other country genre songs.
• In addition to this, the guitar is a soft shade of pink which is a
colour that pulls all the album together. From the Joanne hat and
all matching clothing items to the consistent use of pale colours.
• In the dressing room scene, Gaga is given a black box containing
a necklace saying ‘Love you sis’, which again illustrates her
support network being there for her E.g. her younger sister but
also the album is entitled ‘Joanne’, who was her aunt who had
passed.

8. Colour
• The pastel colours as seen on the guitar display a common colour
scheme throughout. The light shade of pink present throughout
demonstrates the childlike qualities of Gaga’s personality, as she
is feeling lost and identity-less.
• Colour fades to black and white as Gaga sits down to get ready
and lyrics begin to be sang, this again illustrates the more
dramatic and emotionally raw emotions carried throughout the
video and lyrics.

9. Costume
• The video begins with Gaga dressed in dark items of clothing,
following the party she attended in ‘perfect illusion’, these clothes
demonstrate the ‘rock n roll’ side of her personality as shown in
her previous video however these clothes contrast strongly with
the ideas presented in this video. On the other hand, the choice of
wearing these clothes could be due to the theme of identity loss
and confusion as she attempts to reconnect with her old self and
understand why things are so difficult with her presumed lover.
• The second outfit worn is a white robe, as Gaga prepares for the
shoot of her video later in the video. This is shown half way
through the video itself, just as the lyrics begin; this could
represent wiping the slate clean of characterisation, perhaps
finding herself before creating her new persona influenced by her
new support group.

10. Costume
• Finally, she is pictured in a pink suit, often a suit is conative of
power and authority suggesting that Gaga has overcome being
controlled by the male figure mentioned in the song and is now
‘her own boss’. Conversely, the suit is a light shade of pink,
which is often conative of weakness and childlike behaviour.
Furthermore, it could show that Gaga has vulnerability but is also
strong, also illustrating how Gaga is now at comfort with who she
has become.
• The style of this outfit is reminiscent of looks of Stevie Nicks in
the 70’s/80’s – This is supported by the idea that all of the songs
on the album sound as if they’ve come from other eras, her music
on the album ‘Joanne’ does not sound contemporary in the same
way chart music is.

11. Location
• First scene is set in a desert, from the previous music video
‘Perfect Illusion’ as this music video is part of a continuing
storyline. The vastness of the desert in combination with the use
of extreme long shots again illustrates Gaga’s feelings of sadness
and isolation.
• The inside of the SUV is somewhat claustrophobic, it’s dark and
filled with people, creating the idea of suffocation.
• The scenes shot in the dressing room also all seem
claustrophobic, whilst all the rooms are clean and organised, the
rooms are also fairly square and tight. All the items are in the
right places too, showing some aspect that could perhaps be
perceived as OCD, contributing to ideas of poor mental health as
shown throughout this video.

12. Camera angles and movement
• The establishing shots include an extreme long shot of Gaga
against the desert, emphasising her isolation and perhaps mental
and emotional distance.
• The camera then pans upwards towards the sky, as to reveal the
title of the music video we’re about to see. After, it pans back to a
close up of Gaga, as ambient music begins. This shot is the first
time the audience actually get to see Gaga up-close, and is
therefore fairly significant.
• After a few frames of Gaga laying on the ground, the shot jumps
to her inside the SUV. This is shot close up to Gaga, with a
presumably hand held camera. A lot of shots used within this
video are demonstrating Goodwin’s voyeurism theory, as the
audience are almost getting a point of view shot from someone in
the vehicle with Gaga.

13. Camera angles and movement
• Following this, there are frequent tracking shots of Gaga,
continuing the theme that this song is raw and ‘emotionally
transparent. This is because it feels as if the audience are being
invited into Gaga’s personal life through the ability to constantly
follow her around.
• As Gaga enters her dressing room, the camera pans across the
room as to display all of Gaga’s costumes, shoes, makeup and
other expensive items. This contrasts with the mood of the song
heavily, Gaga is trying to be purely about imagination, rather than
materialistic items and by using this shot, it just focuses on the
material.
• However, the use of Gaga being in the next frame dressed in a
robe, with minimal makeup on shows that this music video is
about emotions & she’s left her character for this specific shoot.

14. Camera angles and movement
• In the performance scenes, the camera is often used on a tripod
using a medium long shot as to distract from ‘star persona’ and
attempts to connect Gaga to the audience, making her seem as if
she’s more relatable as she is no longer a character.
• On the other hand, there’s also frequent changes to close up’s of
Gaga’s face, whilst this endorses the ‘star persona’ idea, her face
is shadowed and this is purely used as to show passion and
emotion possessed in the lyrics and performance.

15. Editing and sound
• As the music video progresses, the cutting rhythm gets quicker.
The edits are fairly fast paced throughout, with quick and
frequent changes of locations.
• Throughout the video, there’s many jump and cross cuts in
addition to temporal shifts, as to illustrate the passing of time as
well as the worsening of Gaga’s mental health. (This is shown by
having an extremely shifty and harsh jump, suggesting unease
and poor mental stability.
• However, the clips of her performance in the studio are somewhat
longer than that of any other scene.
• The sound itself often links and is synchronous with the video, as
she performs the sound is diegetic and then also connects to the
actual narrative as well.

16. Theories
Andrew Goodwin established 5 main ideas in 1992 regarding music videos:
• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics:
• The genre of this music is pop-country, both pop and country have very noticeable
genre conventions. Pop often uses performances within their music videos, as does
Gaga for a significant amount of the video. Country also uses the performance aspect
as to illustrate a raw quality. The costume also is a characteristic followed by Gaga for
country. She wears a ‘cowboy’ hat and flared trousers, however, it is in baby pink,
which may be more pointed towards the pop genre.
• Pop music also often has a non-linear narrative, and as such frequently changes setting
and applies frequent temporal shifts. Which is also demonstrated in this music video.
• There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals:
• The lyrics themselves are all about desperation and dependency on someone who won’t
come through for you. Gaga said “Why these men, you know?' All these men - my dad,
my boyfriend, all the men in my life - they gave me a million reasons [to leave], but I
just need one good one to stick around but you're giving me a million to walk away.”
Visually, we do see a poignant relationship between the lyrics and visuals as Gaga is in
the desert alone, as if she’s given up, as she had in the lyrics, waiting for someone to
just give her a reason. Gaga’s support group becomes the ones discussed within the
video however. Whilst she’s holding out for a man, her friends are giving her one
reason to stay alive and keep looking for the reasons; both illustrating and amplifying
the songs lyrics.

17. Theories
• Frequent close ups of the artist (Star persona):
• Throughout there is a range of close ups and long shots of Gaga, showing
her as a star. Particularly, in the performance/studio scenes, many close ups
are used as to show Gaga’s emotions. However, there is also an abundance
of long shots where Gaga is shadowed and not fully shown to the audience.
This contradicts the idea of a ‘Star Persona’ being displayed.
• There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly
voyeuristic treatment of the female body:
• The audience are frequently shown shots that seem as if they’re meant to be
point of view shots from people who are in the car with Gaga, however
there’s no particular instances in which there’s a voyeuristic treatment of the
female body. As the song is all about raw emotions and transparency, it
wouldn’t make too much sense to have over sexualised scenes of Gaga.
• There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes,
other music videos etc):
• The whole video is a reference to the previous video, ‘Perfect illusion’ in
which Gaga had been at a festival and been again, mentally problemed.