2. TaylorSwift – Love Story
• This song was released in 2008 and is a country pop love song.
The music video for this song is narrative and is a modernised story
of Romeo and Juliet with a more fantasised ending making it more of
an intertextuality steeringaway from the originaltragic ending,
appealingit more to her target audience who may not have shown as
much interest if the ending had been tragic like the original Shakespeare
play. The setting of a high school makes her viewers able to relate with
her and references stereotypicalmodern romance stories in which
the setting tends to be a high school. The main protagonistsare
introduced at the high school and the video returns to this setting at the
end to represent how the love story is current and happeningin the
moment but is being imagined by TaylorSwift through Romeo and
Juliet. This concept would suggest that the classic love story of Romeo
and Juliet can be relatableto modern day which would be appreciated
by the majority of her audience being teenagersand young adults. A
love song convention featuredstrongly throughout this music video is
the continuouslip syncing and extreme close-up shots of Taylor,
however they are not sexualised shots but more to engage her to her
audience. Thisis proven by her long ballgown as apposed to revealing
clothes and her natural makeup enhancing her purity and creating a
realistic role model for her younger audience with naturalbeauty being
a concept Taylorlikes to promote hence having had no phicallyvisible
surgery. These close ups help to focus on emotionsand through visual
means help to portray the functionalityof this relationshipaided by
romantic iconography.
3. • Romantic iconography and conventions can be seen
throughout the whole video and this includes
horses, dancing, candle-light, flowers, fancy dresses
and suits, an angel statue – representative of the
love angel cupid, warm sun light, two ‘lovers’
running towards each other similar to the dancing
scene from dirty dancing and a wedding
dress. Taylor is also in a castle type building in many
of her own shots which conveys a fairytale story in
which there is a princess often in a castle. With
love, more specifically forbidden love, and desire
being prominent themes within the video, we can
refer to the narrative theory by Todorov in relation
to the equilibrium, then the disruption of this and
how the couple are no longer together, before again
being reunited at the end. Throughout the video, a
story is portrayed through the visuals which are
interlinked with the audio codes and lyrics. For
example, she sings the Lyrics ‘see the party, the ball
gowns’ in which the video cuts to a medium shot of
Taylor in a ball gown at the party. One of the most
frequent scenes is Taylor being ‘on a balcony in
summer air’ which is the fourth line of the song.
This refers to the famous balcony scene in the play.
The lyrics can also relate back to Todorovs theory.
The video has been inspired by the lyrics but also
helps to make a clear division between modern
day and the dream love story Taylor is imagining in
her head. This is strongly done by the use of mise-
en-scene in this music video.
4. • In the line ‘I sneak out to the garden to see you’ the video mirrors
the lyrics and we see Taylorsearching the garden for ‘Romeo’. In this
scene the lighting used creates a fairy-tale element by being from a
carried lantern.The dimmed lighting creates a mysteriousatmosphere
and resembles a sign of hope for finding her love interest and hope for
their relationship.Throughoutthe majority of the rest of the video,
sunlight is used which creates a blissful mood and focuses on the
happy expectationof how the couple may end up in Taylor’s romance
ideal. Another form of lighting used during the video, mainly in the
Romeo and Juliet setting, is the use of candle-light.This helpsto create
a romantic scene and relatesthe lighting back to the 1800’s where
Romeo and Juliet was written and there wouldn’thave been bright
white unnatural lookinglighting.The use of the director including
literary references to Romeo and Juliet makes it more appealingand
understandablefor the audience even the detailof lighting. The mise-
en-scene used to created this is powerful in realisticallydevelopingthe
love story ideal. The audience would be able to feel connected to the
narrativeand characters as there would be familiaritywith the story
being one of the most well-knownShakespeare plays.The women are
wearing traditional 1800 ballgowns and the men are wearing waist
coats with tails, in keeping with the time era. In the last scene in the
1800 setting, the main protagonistsare both wearing white which
relatesto weddings and romance as white is a typical convention oflove
and marriage. Taylor wears a white dress throughoutthe video balcony
scenes which is representativeof her teenage innocence and purity.
5. • The locationsin this video includea castle, high school, ballroom, balcony,garden at night and the field. All of these
locationshave connotationsof romantic love which fit into the whole visual of the video. These locationsalso relate to the
Shakespeare inspired film directed by Baz Luhrmann which have similarlocationsto the play all being inspired by the
medievaltime period. These examples of intertextualreferences again,help the audienceto engage and recognise the
narrative.There is some use of discontinuity editingin which the video starts at the end of the story and then we see the
love story flashbacks throughoutthe video of the protagonistsshown together. The video also features a lot of cross
cutting to cut between scenes of the characters dancingand also when they are running towards each other in the field
towardsthe end of the video. The use of continuityediting enables the audienceto clearly follow the narrative. The
steady pace of the video makes it appearpeaceful and blissful along with the lighting. At the start of the video when they
first see each other and when he first spots Taylorin the ballroom,there is the use of eye line camera work to show that
the male protagonistis looking at her. It creates a romantic feel as it appearshe is intentlyfocused on her. There is also an
eye line match in the garden scene when the find each other. Thiscontinuityediting technique is a typical convention of
love songs.
A comparison of the Baz
Luhrmann film in which the two
are in the garden near a statue
and the music video in which
wesee a similarset up with
the statue.
6. The music video features many two shots perhaps to show the closeness of the characters. In the
first two shot on the left, we are in the present day at the start of the love story for these
characters. It focuses on the new narrativeas opposed to the complicatedRomeo and
Juliet narrative,implying this is more of a simple love as the charactershave just met but walk up to
each other and it is impliedthey kiss. There is still intertextualityhere as it relatesto how quick
Romeo and Juliet’srelationshipstarted. The next two shot is a mid shot presenting the two
characters in an intimateway with Taylor’s handspositionedon her lover’s face. Thisis affectionate
and shows her love for him by the use of physicalcontact. The next two shot is similar in the way it
shows their affection for each other. In both of these shots we can see the emotions expressed on
Taylor’sface which presents joy. In the last two shot, it is more of a close up shot in which the
romantic lighting lightsup Taylor’sface and we can see the male charactersmiling at her despite
her not looking at him. Thisconveyslove he has for her even when she can’t see it. This close
up shot of two cherries hanging together connotescloseness between Romeo and Julietand the
protagonistsof the story.
7. • The use of a fan creates a romantic
mood as historically, fans were a way
to send messages in Japanese culture.
The revealing of only the eyes would
be mysterious and create tension
between two people. The fan being
fully open symbolises prosperity as it
spreads out and is similar to that of a
blooming flower or opening up to
someone. The extreme close-up
enhances the intensity
already developing between the two.
8. • In this shot, Taylor appears to be ‘trapped’
as she is framed between the pillars and the
walls. This references towards the play
where Juliet is banned from seeing Romeo
and kept in her room
• In this extreme close-up shot we can see
the man whispering into Taylor’s ear. It
is an intimate shot in which a sense
of mystery is created. It conveys the idea of
their forbidden love as the
audience doesn’t know what is said and he
is whispering to prevent anyone else
hearing in an attempt to keep their love a
secret.
