Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video begins with a close-up of her crying face to spark audience interest in why she's upset. It then shows her miming the lyrics against a brick wall with a sledgehammer, differing from the song's theme of a broken relationship. Throughout the video, shots of Cyrus naked or in revealing clothing are used to potentially sexualize her body but could also represent her being emotionally stripped bare. The video concludes with her sitting on a wrecking ball, illustrating the song's lyrics and her role in breaking up the relationship. Including the director's name at the end boosts their career as music videos increasingly function as short films with narratives.

1. Miley Cyrus ft. Goodwin’s Theory-
Wrecking Ball
Alex Reddish

2. The first thing we see in the music video for ‘Wrecking Ball’ is a close up of Miley Cyrus’
face. This would satisfy the want of the record company as they often like to have their
stars’ front and centre so more people will see them and therefore recognise them in the
future, this may eventually boost details.
This shot is 00:01 into the music video meaning that people will see the artist
immediately even if they may not have meant to click on the videos link.
Within the close up of Cyrus’ face
we see tears rolling down her cheek,
this will spark an interest within the
audience and they are likely to
continue watching the video
to try and decipher why she is crying.
Miley Cyrus is miming and through
this shot (that continue until 00:32)
we can come to the conclusion that
she is telling the story of the song.

3. These two shots only last for 2 seconds;
however, the previous shot of Cyrus miming
to the camera lasted for over 30 seconds,
this short period of time in which the shot
changes will once again hook in the
audiences attention so they are not tempted
to watch a different video.
In this we can see that
Cyrus is in a very simple
location and she is leaning
against a brick wall with a
large sledgehammer. This
differs from the lyrics as they
are about the breaking up of
a relationship and no
sledgehammers are
mentioned in the song.
As we move onto a low angle shot of Cyrus
walking we see that she has no trousers or
clothing covering the lower half of her
body. This can be seen as voyeurism as
her body may be being sexualised through
this lack of clothing.

4. Voyeurism again can be seen in the beginning of the first
chorus, in the above shot we can see that she is naked
and this is sexualising her body. But, if we listen to the
lyrics we may interpret this as her being stripped bare
emotionally.
In the shot to the right we see that Cyrus is running the hammer along the wall
wearing only a cropped vest, some pants and some Doc Marts. The white colour of
her clothes may connote innocence and the lyrics support this idea as is her saying
that she ‘never hit so hard in love’ and this implies that this is her first real heartbreak.

5. Here we see Cyrus sat on a wrecking ball, this connotes that she is
the ‘wrecking ball’ that broke the relationship.
This illustrates the lyrics and also adds to the story that she is trying
to tell.
This is screenshot is from the second chorus, the images within this
chorus have been manipulated slightly, we still see Cyrus miming to
the camera for some parts but now she is on the wrecking ball rather
than her running a sledgehammer along the wall. This change will keep
the audience interested and this benefits the record company and the
artist as people are more likely to go out and buy the song if it has a
memorable music video.
*in the video, Cyrus is
completely naked so I
used this image as it is a
little bit more
appropriate.

6. The ‘Directed by’ insert at the end is becoming
increasingly popular on music videos as they are
becoming more like short films as they often tell
a story of have a narrative.
This benefits the director of the video as they will
gain more publicity and boost their own career.