1. ‘You Oughta Know’ - By Alanis Morrisette
Analysis
Alex Goodwinisamediatheoristwhoclaimsthatmusicvideoscanbe analysedin 5 differentways
and there are 5 stepsto analyse musicvideos.Thiscanbe appliedtoeveryvideohoweveritmaynot
alwaysworkfor everysingle one.
To start off with,Step1 in the theory.In‘You OughtaKnow’the songis clearlywrittenabout
someone andhowthe personisangry at anotherperson.The waythe song issung showsthe sense
of angerwiththe rock style of it,the song has a differentfeeltoitthan anyotheraverage
‘passionate’andsongwith‘feelings’involved.Itisunique anddifferent.
The 2nd
stepof Goodwin’stheory aboutnarrative andperformance. The videoandthe lyricsof the
songdo not match togetherhoweveryougetthe ideaof whatis goingon throughthe narrative of
the song lyrics.
The main star inthisvideoisa girl. We can tell thatshe is annoyedabouta relationship andineach
of the differentclipsshe isshown. Ineveryclip,she islipsyncingandshe isshownandthere are no
otheractors on that. Whichshowsshe islonelynow.The waythe star isrepresented inthislinksto
the lyricsbut notnecessarythe musicvideo.
I feel forthisone of Goodwin’s5 stepsthere isnorelationbetweenthe lyricsandthe musicvideo.I
thinkthe lyricsare ignoredwhenmakingthe musicvideoandisveryrandombutmay possiblyhave
meaningif youthoughtmore deeplyintoit.
Last of all the 5 step.Withinmise-en-scene Ifeelitparticularly showscolour,all the clipshave been
tinteda brightorange whichshowsheranger.The camera shotsshow a lot of wide shots,close ups
and mediumclose upstoshowherexpressionsandthe wayshe isacting to geta feel forhow she
may be feelingwhensingingthis.There isalow use of lightingsomaybe representinghow she is
feeling(quite lowandina dark place).The songand clipsare fastbeat and are in time.There are lots
of differentlocationse.g.heronherown,herwitha band, ina desert,ona bench,insome flowers
etc.whichmay meanshe is lostinthe world. These locationschange quicklywhichfitswiththe
song.
