This music video tells the story of several young women who have been emotionally hurt by men through cheating and abandonment. It follows the stories of a woman finding another woman's underwear, a woman crying on a sofa after a fight with her partner, and a woman looking through old photos after a breakup. The video cuts between these stories and scenes of singer Leona Lewis singing lyrics about heartbreak and love. It aims to portray the emotional pain caused by untrustworthy male partners through its female characters and Lewis' vocals and lyrics. The video utilizes camerawork like close-ups and split screens to further link the visual narrative to the song.

1. Francesca Boote
-Title/artist Leona Lewis-Bleeding love
Genre Chart/pop
Target
audience
13-25
Lyrics The music ties in with the video and I think it works
really well.
‘I don’t care what they say I’min love with you’ –
Whatever heartbreak the men have put the women
through they will always love them.
The next few seconds cut back and forth between
Leona Lewis singing in the hall ways, and to the
young girl on the bed as she looks through photos of
happier times.
The next part of this story is when the blond girl
from the sofa is able to confront the man about the
underwear.
He doesn’t seem to make much of an excuse and so
it turns into a fight. A mid-shot of both the girl and
the boy allows us as the audience to see it from her
point of view, the camera is behind her.
The camera cuts back to Leona Lewis where again
the lyrics are very relevant to the video and work well together. ‘yet everyone
around me think that I’mgoing crazy’ – I interpreted these lyrics as people that she
trust and cares for have told her that this man is not honest however she still puts
her trust in him even though everyone knows he will let her down.
He shows his emotions, which the audience genuinely believe to be him upset that
he has been caught, however we find out these are just
‘crocodile tears’ as he then composes himself before he
finds his way into another women’s flat just moments
later. The camera then shows a close up of the women
face,she is clearly very upset and was obviously in love
with this man.
Narrative
The opening shot is an establishing,
low angle shot of a block of flats.
From the background we can see it is
dark and the moon in the top left
represents it is night time. The
camera then cuts into a close up of
one window, this shows that the
main focus of the video is on what is
happening in the flat.
We then see Leona Lewis for the first time; the camera zooms into her showing a
full body shot. The camera cuts to another girl who is lying on a bed surrounded by
photos of herself and her boyfriend/lover. This makes clear the genre and themes
of the song and the video-Love and romance, heart break of women.

2. Francesca Boote
The next shoot tracks along past a young lady
that has been crying, it is an establishing shit
allowing the audience to recognise she is
alone on the sofa. Then we see a close up of
her face which again shows she has been
crying. It also tells us that she has a lot of
makeup on and therefore was planning on
going out. This is the beginning of the story
line and I feel opens the video well.
The story that the girl is waiting for her
boyfriend/husband/lover to come home because she
has found another women’s underwear in the flat.
This represents women positively but also shows
men negatively stereotyping it’s always men that let
women down.
The next part cuts to an establishing shot of 4 flats, I think this is a very clever
picture that they can create showing the audience what each girl is experiencing
and how they are being treated by their partners. Again this gives a negative
representation of men. In the top left image we can see Leona Lewis on the floor,
alone all dressed up this could represent she is in the same position as the other
girls, where she has been let down by a man who she is waiting for. In the bottom
left photo the girl is still on the bed, very upset and has started to destroy the
photos.

3. Francesca Boote
This represents women through sex,
beauty and I believe this also gives
women a negative view as she is
allowing a man to come into her
home for sex.
We see her just after the lyrics ‘they
try to fill me with doubts’ I think this
proves the men in this video very
untrustworthy and very uncaring
proving they cannot be trusted.
Then the audience are introduced to a new girl, also very young
helping for the song to appealto young girls.
This shot is very well made, we can see she is also dressed up;
she is very anxious which is shown through her body language.
Also she is watching the door hoping that someone will be
coming for her very soon.
I think this split screen shot of Leona Lewis singing ‘I keep,
keep bleeding the love’ kelps explain and tell the story of the
way the girl feels, how she has been let down by someone she
truly loves and trusted. At this point, the man that has turned up
at the women’s house, her partner comes home to find she is in
bed with the other man. Now the story starts to portray women
just as badly as men, that they are also capable of cheating and
that they are not as innocent as they have been represented in
the other story lines the audience follow. This then starts a fight
between the two men, just before it breaks out in a fight we cut
to the other girl burning the photo of her and her boyfriend.
Again the split screen shows the audience
Leona Lewis narrating the story of the
lives of all these couples and she does it
through the lyrics of the song. I think it is
very clever how well the lyrics work with
the video.
The camera then quickly cuts between all
4 girls and how they are left. One girl
burning photos, another girl caught in a
fight because she is having an
affair/cheating on her boyfriend, the next
girl attempting to drown herself because
she has been forgotten, and finally back
to Leona.

4. Francesca Boote
These four pictures from the video show how there lives of the 3 people are all
connected and that they all have been treated badly by a partner. I think the lyric
work well with these short scenes and Leona tells the story very well through her
lyrics.
Themes Love and romance.
heart break
Lust over men and women
Cheating and affairs
Ideology Beautiful women
Men that cheat
Women can’t stay loyal to their husbands
Story ends with a happy ending-fairy tale ending
As the song is finishing our faith in men is restored when he turns up at her door
with flowers, he was never with another women cheating, he didn’t leave her
waiting all night and he was just late.
The video then is on Leona Lewis as
she finishes the song, she smiles at
the last line. The camera then cuts
away and slowly zooms out on the
same image as the video opened on.
This all happened in one night.
Representation
of gender
within this
video
Female Male
Young girls a vulnerable
Some seen as sex objects
No commitment to a man
Very emotional and attached
Left waiting- they are easily lead on
Cheating
Untrusting in relationships
Lies
Can be romantic (man with flowers)
Use women for sex
Technical
codes
Camera work: Pans across the empty sofa, I think this shows she’s alone, making
the room look empty and shows she’s sad.
Shot reverse shot of the girl in the bath and the boy at the door. Makes the audience
wonder what’s going to happen. Creating a suspense feeling among the audience.
Sound effects:In the beginning the loud base sound reminds me of a heart beat
‘keep bleeding’ relating to the song well. Creates a theme flowing throughout the
video.
No Diegetic sound from the narration is in the video, no doors slamming is heard,
no shouting during the fights. I think this works because it keeps the audience
wanting to understand everything that is happening so they keep watching.

5. Francesca Boote
Symbolic codes Wearing jewellery and the sparkling dress suggests she is dressed up. She has all
her hair perfect and makeup is done. Costume and makeup
are important in this video. All the girls seem very dressed up
as if they are waiting for a boy. Not only does the boy ruin
their night but as she cry’s she is ruining her makeup.
The importance of the quick shot of a phone then a cut to her
checking the time again shows the audience she is waiting for
someone to ring or meet her.
Audience
readings Preferred reading I believe is the way I have understood the video, I believe it’s a
serious video and does not want to make people laugh however nor does it want to
offend people. It has a serious message and she is signing about something she is
passionate about.
My overall opinion about this music video is very positive; I think it works well
together with the song and with the narrative. I think she is a very successfulartist
and she is creative with her song choice and video.