This document provides a semiotic analysis of the music video for "Heart Attack" by Trey Songz. It summarizes the key elements and story of the video, which uses visuals to illustrate the song lyrics by showing the singer experiencing a literal heart attack. It then discusses how the video aligns with Torodov's five stages of a music video narrative. The analysis notes similarities and differences between this video and the one being created, including using flashbacks to show disruption and relationship highs and lows, with the goal of ending on a positive note. Color use and having separate actors for the vocalist and couple are highlighted as differences from "Heart Attack."

1. Smita Roy.
SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF A SIMILAR EXISTING MUSIC VIDEO:
Trey Songz: ‘Heart-Attack.’
This music video starts of at a very dramatic note
and uses what Goodwin would describe as
amplification and illustration of the lyrics by literally
translating the actions of Trey Songs palpitating and
jumping referring directly to the title of the song;
Heart-Attack.The song revolves around the couple's
everyday life and allows audience to relate to the
common romance in everyday couples which
improves the number of viewers of this video as it allows the audience to relate to the story line. We
have taken this concept further into our final product and have been influenced by the illustration of
a relatable story through the images of a couple in their everyday life.
This video correspondswithTorodov's 5 stages that
make up a music video. The video begins with the
'original equilibrium' in the form of flashbacks
shown of the couple's life but we are immediately
focused towards the repetitive glances of Trey
Songz in pain which Torodov will explain as the
'recognition of disruption,’ Here we come across
the main problem caused between the couple. As
for our final video, we have decided to emphasise
these particular stages but in a simpler way. Our
video will initially begin with the ‘disruption,’ of the couple and the ‘original equilibrium’ will be
demonstrated through the flashbacks of the couple’s previous lives. Here we see a clear similarity
between our and Trey Songz video through the slight alteration in the proposed structure of
Torodov’s theory where both these video introduce the disruption first and then go onto to explain
and visualise the ‘original equilibrium.’
After all the disruption, eventually the video ends on a sad note; yet it may still be defined as a 'new
equilibrium,' (Torodov) as it aims to show the potential in their relationship having recovered the
terrible incident that has left him in this physical state also shown in the very beginning. This allows
the audience to treat this whole music video like a whole life cycle where both the ends finally meet.
In contrast to that, we have decided to use this idea as an inspiration however the only subversion
from this video is that we want to end our video on a happy note where the couple realises that they
are made for one another and that such insignificant disruptions should not affect their relationship
Throughout the video we see several close ups of
Trey Songz when he is repenting on his actions
which signifies the 'attempt to restore,' and the
intensity in doing it. However the girl is hard to
please and does not reconcile easily. For our video,
we do not intend to show any repentance as such
by the male protagonist as our video mainly consist
of visuals divided between the vocalist and the
couple’s life and therefore the disruption and

2. Smita Roy.
equilibriums will primarily be imaged through the use of flashbacks and the present day.
The use of black and white is vital for this video because
it distinguishes between their past life and their present
where the couple’s happy moments were shown in
black and white whereas the parts where Trey Songz is
repenting are shown in colour. This helps the audience
to clearly identify and understand the story line. As
oppose to this, we have decided to use the flashbacks
for their snapshots in particular and leave some
elements of the picture in colour, such as a red rose,
which exaggerates that particular object and provided
something appealing to the eye. We conformed to the use of leaving the vocalist’s portions in colour
to provide contrast.
The most important difference in the our video, is
that we will use a separate girl to be the vocalist
and 2 separate individuals to be our couples as it
allows the audience to see the life of an ordinary
couple through the eyes of someone else and
thereby provides an objective view of their
relationship whereas in ‘Heart Attack,’ Trey Songz
both were incorporated in the role of the vocalist
and the couple which provides a combined plot of
a guy looking back at his own life.