2. Genre/Mise en scene
The very first costume we see Britney wearing is a very revealing Air
stewardess costume, e.g. showing of cleavage and a very short skirt.
Along with this she has red fake nails which give off connotations of
fierceness and passion. The second costume is a skin tight translucent cat
suit with diamantes on. She has on natural face make-up but with a smoky
eye which can be considered a more daring and sexual make-up look.
Thirdly, we then see Britney playing the part of the a spy wearing skin tight
red and black leather cat suit with red diamante sunglasses. She is also
wearing a red wig with over the top red and black make-up with yet
again more cleavage on show. Wearing the colours red and black give
Britney’s character the connotations of being quite dangerous, bad, and
passionate. The final costume is again made of black leather,
accompanying with black boots, collar, bra, and long fingerless gloves,
with a black wig and her stomach on show. The only thing red is her cape.
The music video comes under the pop/dance music genre.
3. Cinematography
As this is a pop music video, lots of close up’s and mid-shot’s are used to
show and Britney (the star) is in pretty much every shot of the music video
as she is the one appealing to a audience demographic.
At the start of the video when Britney is portraying the part of an air
stewardess, there are close-up’s of Britney’s hand on a phone in which we
can see she is wearing long, red false nails. We see this again when a
close-up of the champagne is used which she then spills over a passenger
which becomes seductive and we can see by the male characters facial
expression that he is enjoying the attention. A horizontal pan is also used
on the plane to show all of the passengers (which happen to all be male,
again appealing to a demographic).
Close up and mid-shot’s are used to show Britney lip-syncing the lyrics of
the song.
When Britney changes costumes/characters, a low angle shot is used to
show the new personality and outfit she has changed into.
4. Editing
In terms of editing, a variety of CGI techniques are used to create a
science fiction atmosphere for the audience. Although this effects seem
outdated now, when the video was released (2003), it successfully
portrayed a futuristic scene.
All the clips/shots chosen in the music video match the beat, movement
and mood of the song which gives the song a certain atmosphere for the
audience to view. Rapid editing is used throughout to compliment the
tempo of the song when switching between shots.
Cross cutting is used to switch between scenes in the music video, the
scenes have contrasting connotations to each other for example in the
first scene where Britney is an air stewardess, she is wearing a blue dress
with natural make-up giving connotations of innocence, whereas in the
next scene where she is riding on a bike through Paris, she is wearing a skin
tight black leather cat suit with a red wig and red eye make-up giving
connotations of danger and passion.
5. Lyrics
“I need a hit, baby give me it”
“You’re toxic I’m slipping under”
“Too high can’t come down”
“I’m addicted to you”
“You’re dangerous, I’m lovin’ it”
“With a taste of your lips I’m on a ride”
“I took a sip from my devil’s cup”
All of these lyrics have many connotations relating to sexual references.
Many of these lyrics suggest the man she’s describing is like a dangerous
drug that she’s addicted too and therefore the song being titled ‘Toxic’
reinforces the lyrics.
6. Intertextuality
The Holly Valance video for ‘Kiss Kiss’, could have been an inspiration for
them when they made the Toxic music video. A similar nude suit with
diamantes on is used in the Kiss Kiss video as it is for the Toxic music video.
For a more modern representation, Taylor Swift’s music video ‘Bad Blood’
uses a similar outfit and red wig when she is a portraying a spy and so does
Britney in toxic when she goes to get the drug. Both music video’s were
directed by Joseph Kahn so he may have used similar idea’s from Toxic
when creating Bad Blood.
7. Narrative/Performance
In terms of narrative, the start of the narrative begins with Britney being an
Air stewardess, and is shown being overly attentive towards the passengers
which become sexual.
In the second part of the narrative, Britney is playing the part of a spy
going to retrieve the ‘toxic’, showing she’ll go to any lengths to reach the
object, much Britney’s own desire to escape her past that she had just
overcome when the music video was release (2003).
In terms of performance, her performance can be described as
provocative, relating to Laura Mulvey’s theory the ‘Male Gaze’. A main
feature of performance in this music video is the use of close-up’s and
shot’s of Britney lip-syncing the song.
8. Star image/The brand
Fans have certain expectations of what they want to see in the music
video so record companies have to be careful what they produce as they
want to make sure it still appears to the widest demographic.
The ‘look’ of the star and the music video itself determine what the viewer
would like to see.
9. Voyeruism/Looking
Laura Mulvey proposed the idea that because most directors are male,
the presence of women in film/music videos are solely for one purpose
which is to appeal to the male eye (‘The male gaze’).
Women are often sexualized by using close up’s of the woman’s body to
make her an object of desire. They achieve this by putting women in
clothes that are very revealing and sexual which show off their bodies.
In the toxic music video, lot’s of close up’s are used to show, like the theory
by Laura Mulvey, Britney as a sex symbol to her male viewers.
