Lady Gaga - Poker Face analysis

1. LADY GAGA
POKER FACE

2. EDITING
This music video begins with a fade-in, followed by many short takes which match the beat of the video and the momentum
of the song. The audience can see that the opening of the video appears slow to match the slow music to introduce the
audience to the song. This effect, along with the fades used, is created through the use of slow motion to show her
emerging from the water: This adds to the slow paced music and shows off her body by dressing her in tight clothing and
using close-ups of different parts of her body. Extremely short takes are seen here to show her emerging from the water to
match the short beats heard playing in the video: this successfully creates a more exciting video for audiences to watch.
We then see a different location where Gaga is being filmed with close-ups: four different shots are seen here which are
used to film the first line of the song. The beat in the background becomes quicker and the takes become shorter to match
the visuals and the lyrics. Many jump cuts are seen here to show the location seen previously interlinked with the new
location, this has been done to add to the fast speed of the song and create more shots of her singing to increase her
popularity. Blank cuts are seen in the video to separate an image and make it look as if there are more cuts than there are,
which is edited on the fast beat of the song, creating smoother editing in comparison to the jump cuts.
Throughout the video, an effect has been used on some close-up shots of her face to split the shot in order to incorporate
more shots of her face into the video. In addition, this effect is very successful as it differentiates these close-ups from
others and makes them more interesting for an audience to watch, allowing more content of her to be seen by the audience
is a short space of time.
In the Chorus, the editing is short and fast as with the previous takes in the video to increase the audiences enjoyment of it.
The shots then cut and change from a game of poker to a party with many people acting promiscuous, this again disrupts
the continuity of the video, which is a common convention of pop music videos, also showing the audience another side of
her personality, selling her to audiences.
Finally, a shot of her sat by a pool becomes silhouetted and then cuts to a shot of her with high-key. This is followed by a
series of shot during the final chorus from the previously used locations to show her singing and dancing to the camera.
Lighting from the back of the shots creates lens flares which have been enhanced during editing to emphasise that she is the
star of the video and is shown clearly on film to be incredibly important. The video then fades out slowly as the music pace
had slowed therefore, the editing changes with it match the sound and the visuals.

3. CINEMATOGRAPHY
In Gaga’s video, many tracking shots and close-ups are seen to draw attention to the artist: A zoom with a
close-up is used to film her singing as this creates more attention on her from the audience which makes her
more memorable and increases her popularity. A different location is seen with a tracking long shot to add to
the beat and to excite the audience. Also, this tracking shot, filmed with a handheld camera is used to create
an effect using the audiences perspective, this makes it look as is the audience is following her rather than a
camera.
Moreover, reverse zoom is used with a long shot to film her on sun bed which creates an effect, highlighting
her in the shot and adding emphasis on her as she is both the main character in this video and the star.
Zooming is seen often in this sequence of shots leading up to the chorus to emphasise her provocative
movements on camera and create a fast-paced motion to add to the upbeat song.
When the chorus plays in the video, we see Gaga’s body from many different angles such as low angles and
straight-on angles; this adds to the theory of the “male gaze” as she shows off her body with dance moves
and draws attention to her as she is the only constant thing seen in all of these shots.
We see a long shot of her legs when she is dancing, the camera then quickly pans up to show the rest of her
body. This creates fragmentation of the female body, showing audiences what they want to see most, drawing
attention to different aspects to please male audiences.

4. SOUND
In this video, the music sounds electronic, therefore, futuristic clothing as well as fast and smooth
editing is used in the video to provide this modern feel. For example, at the beginning of the video
short fast takes are used, appearing similar to an animation, to show Gaga exiting the water. This effect
adds to the music heard in the video and suites it as it is edited on the beat.
Furthermore, when she sings “poker face”, we see her playing a game of poker and winning to show
that she is powerful and clever as she is the star. This incorporates the visuals with the lyrics and allows
them to work together, resulting in a more successful video with audiences.

5. MISE-EN-SCENE
A change of location brings the video to the chorus, where Gaga is dancing in a mid-shot, bright lighting and lens flares are seen
to imply that she is the star of the video, also, the video appears diverse and interesting, allowing audiences to enjoy it.
She’s in the centre third of most shots scene in this video, using the rule of thirds, to show audiences that she is the most
important and requires the most attention from the audience. For example, Gaga’s music video features many dance routines,
a common convection or music videos within the pop genre; during these routines, she remains in the centre with other
dancers wearing dull and unexciting clothes behind her, in order to stress her importance.
There are many costume changes in the video to keep audiences interested in what they are watching and encourages them to
watch the video multiple times. Also, outfits seen in this video are a variety of colours, specifically blue, pink and black. The
colourful outfits she wears conform to the typical conventions of a pop genre video as she appears brighter, suiting the fast-
paced music heard in the video. These outfits are typically seen in mid shots and close-ups throughout the video to create less
emphasis towards them, compared with black outfits as they are less successful at accentuating her body. Black outfits also
have importance, for example, in a long, tracking shot with a zoom, we see more attention is attracted to Gaga’s body,
connotating domination and power which is something she emanates throughout this video. Moreover, both style of outfits are
successful at drawing the audiences eye towards her, making her more memorable.

6. CONCLUSION
Throughout this video, we can see that different media techniques have been used to draw attention to Lady Gaga
in order to sell her sound and image to increase her popularity. For example, we see zooming shots along with
many close-ups, often filmed with a handheld camera to show off Gaga’s body and draw attention to her in order to
please specifically male audiences. Also, different techniques have been used to excite the audience: Cutting
different shots on the beat to add to the fast-paced music, makes the video more easily watchable and therefore,
something audiences will enjoy more. Finally, short takes and slow motion is used to add to the beat and show off
the artists body, in order to please and excite the audience.