The document discusses several shots from a music video and how they relate to theories of male gaze. It analyzes how lighting, costumes, framing and other cinematography techniques are used to attract the male gaze and portray women as sexual objects. Specific shots highlight body parts like lips, legs and buttocks that are meant to appeal to male viewers. Color symbolism and silhouettes are also used to represent ideas of attraction, seduction and highlight the characters. Overall, the document examines how the video employs common male gaze techniques through its visual storytelling and framing of female characters.
1. This is an establishing shot that ables the viewer to see the scenery. Background lighting is used to
emphasise the siloate of the character. The woman is dressed in black that symbolises sexy and
sophisticated . Her head is held high whilst she walks which points out the fact that she is a
confident woman.
This is a wide shot that ables the audience to see a wider range of what the character’s are indulging
in. The characters are eating from an Asain cusine, this has relevance to the scenes that the audience
sees in the later scenes. Due to the woman who the main character (Micheal Jackson) has a crush
on is of an asian hertiage. High key lighting is used in this shot to draw attention to the characters
facial expression and body language.
In this frame both of the characetrs are looking at a woman that has just walked past them. The
director has chosen not to show the woman walking away because they have left it up to the
audience imagination to decide what body part the characters are looking at due to them looking in
that specific direction. This supports the male gaze theory because I when I saw this video I
automatically assumed that the charcter were looking at the females bum or waist. This makes the
2. woman appear to be an object to men and there is certain body parts that appeal to the majority of
men when they are looking fo ra companion.
The screenshot above shows an extreme close up of the main character (Michael Jackson) love
interest. High key lighting is used to draw attention to the female’s facial features and expressions.
This shot highlights to me personally the characters eyes and lips, these features are known to
attract male attention so the director has purposely done this in order to capture specially the
attention of males.
In this frame the audience sees a female whom is wearing revealing clothing. The choice of the black
dress with the split in the side is purposely chosen in order to attract male attention because it is
known to be sexy because she is revealing her legs. The colour black also represents confidence, but
on the contrary it is also used to hide someone’s insecurities. Orange background lighting is also
used to symbolise attraction, fascination and stimulation. This colour complements what is occurring
in the scene because the male that is stood behind the female is attracted to her because he is
looking at her in a seductive manner. The low lighting also represents seduction. This shot is an
example of the male gaze theory because the woman’s thighs are highlighted in this particular music
video.
3. The frame is a wide shot that shows the silhouette of the main character. The background lighting
helps to emphasise the character. The use of orange and black complement each other because the
black silhouette stands out on a black background. Also what the colours symbolise accompany each
other.
This shot is a 2 mid-shot which the audience sees the main male character touching the main
females characters bum. This represents to the viewer that the Michael Jackson is attracted to the
physical features of the woman. Low key lighting is used to emphasise the sexual attraction between
the characters. This shot emphasises the male gaze theory where assets of the women are stressed,
in this shot the woman’s bum is stressed which most males are attracted to women’s bums.
In this 2 mid shot high key lighting is used in order to make both of the main characters stand out.
They are dressed in black and red clothing to emphasise the characters and make them both the
focal point of the shot.