1. Sarah Cunningham
Music Video Analysis
“Call The Shots” - Girls Aloud
The third music video I have chosen to analyse is “Call The Shots” by Girls Aloud. This music
video was released on December 25th, 2009 and is of the dance pop genre. It is performance style
video with subtle hints of narrative style, featuring the five female members of the band, pieced
together through a montage edit. The song and video depicts a message of troubled relationships
and female empowerment.
The characters within the music video are made up of the five leading singers of the band Girls
Aloud, all dressed in purple attire along with big hair and well done make up. The females are
shown dancing fluidly around fire with sexy body language encouraging the audience to focus on
their bodies and facial appearance. This objectification of the female body is a controversial gender
representation that is stereotypically shown within a popular girl group’s music video.
Part way through the video, a topless showering male is shown which therefore objectifies the
male body which breaks the convention just stated. However, this may not mean that it goes
against audiences expectations for this genre of music video, as the celebrity cast would be
assumed to feature good-looking men as ‘arm candy’ for the characters to make the audience lust
to be them.
Performance is the main narrative of this music video as the characters are shown miming the
lyrics whilst giving the camera direct address, creating a stereotypical pop music video. A narrative
style is also used suggesting that the characters are dealing with relationship problems with some
resulting in break ups. This is shown through the mise en scene, when close up shots focus on one
of the characters seeing a miss call on her boyfriend’s phone, and another character burning the
photographs of her and her partner together.
However, there is a suggestion of a conceptual style within the video as the message of female
empowerment and independence are shown throughout the mise en scene. For example, the use
of the colour purple with its connotations of power and independence, and through the lyrics about
calling the shots: ’I won't cry for all the hunger in my heart, no I won't cry because I've stumbled
through this far’. The lyrics suggest that the females are becoming independent, giving up on

2. relying on their partners after all the heart ache they have ‘stumbled’ through, becoming stronger
as a person. The use of this conceptual message breaks the stereotype of a meaningless
aesthetically appealing music video that is expected of a popular girl group.
There is a lot of iconography used throughout this music video, for example, the love and
relationship problems are presented to the audience through iconography within the mise en scene
include objects such as the flowers being thrown into the pool, photographs of a couple being set
alight and missed calls on one of the characters boyfriends phones.
As well as this iconography showing the breakdown of a relationship, the use of fire and flags
within the music video are symbolic of war and suggest a battle between the sexes, man vs
woman. As fire is symbolic of danger, this could be a suggestion of trouble between the couples
emphasising the relationship problems within the storyline.
There is a strong use of the colour purple within the mise en scene, connecting connotations of
royalty, power, luxury and independence to the music video. Power and independence could link to
the recent break up within the story line, suggesting that the women are now becoming
independent and reliant on themselves. Royalty and luxury could link to the appeal of the female in
the video, creating the perfect image for the audience to lust for and wish to be. This is also
supported with the setting of a grand villa by the beach with a pool in the mise en scene, making
the characters look like they are wealthy due to all the expensive luxuries featured throughout.
Close up shots of women and their bodies are used within the music video to allow the audience to
draw their attention to the characters, objectifying them and making the women appeal to the
viewer. High key lighting is also used to show the characters in the most flattering light, even when
dancing around the fire, to ensure the character appear lustful and glamorous. The male character
also appears to be objectified, with a midshot of a physically fit male in the shower topless – as the
character is not properly introduced to the audience, and is just featured a couple times within the
video, he is not considered a character but more of an object to appeal aesthetically to the viewers
as the majority of the assumed viewers will be female.

3. In relation to Neale’s mental machinery, the music video appears to meet audiences expectations
as a typical pop girl group video as it focuses on the females looking all made up, objectifying them
with use of close ups of body and revealing outfits to appeal to viewer. This is conventional of a
popular music video and is expected of a mainstream girl group. However, the video also breaks
conventions for example, the conceptual use of a message of the women asserting independence
- a message such as this one is not considered stereotypical for a music video of this genre as
they are assumed to be meaningless, with a heavy focus on style at the expense of substance.