music video analysis

1. Music video analysis
Sophie Harris-Brotherhood

2. ‘Love story’ is a song by American singer
and song writer Taylor Swift. ‘Love
story’ comes from her second studio
album , Fearless (2008)
The song is a country pop song and was
written about a love interest of Taylor’s.
The music video was directed by Trey
Fanjoy, the video is a period piece that
drew influences from the Medieval,
Renaissance and British Regency eras.

3. ‘Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics’
According to Goodwin’s theory, each genre portrays certain characteristics that define that genre. Taylor swift’s Love Story
fits into the pop genre and the music video to the song has lots of characteristics that contribute to the pop genre:
One element of pop videos is performance, this can be
based on a narrative side to the music video. The ’Love
Story’ music video is narrative based and Taylor swift is
playing the character of a love struck girl falling in love
with the man of her dreams. This shown through different
shots throughout the video, as an audience we watch as
the love story progresses.
Another aspect of pop videos is the cuts used, pop videos
use a lot of jump cuts. ‘love story’ fits into this as lots of
jump cuts are used to show the narrative progressing and
developing. The jump cuts also speed up the story and
make it seem more fast paced and exciting.

4. Colour schemes are also an important aspect of music videos and choosing the right one to fit the genre is very
important. Pop videos tend to have neutral colour schemes, and ‘Love Story’ follows this convention. Set in the
medieval era, the colour scheme consits of beige plain colours. The costume and mise en scene is all very bland and
monotomous. The music video contains dull shades such as white and cream.
The only time the music video doesn't’t follow the colour scheme is at the end of the love story when the two of
them are in a field. This then brings bright green colours to the video and it links back to when they first met

5. ‘There is a relationship between the lyrics and the
visuals.’
Taylor Swifts’ ‘Love Story’ is based on a love story, therefore the video represents the story told through the lyrics. The lyrics
describe a couple who cant be together because her father doesn’t approve of him. ‘And my daddy said, Stay away from
Juliet’. As well as the lyrics telling the story, the acting in the music video also makes the audience aware of what is going
on.
The visuals reflect the lyrics by having past and present, with jump cuts cutting to different moments in their relationship.
By doing this they make the story more emotive as the video along side the lyrics takes the listener/viewer on a journey
with the two characters.
‘You'll be the prince and I'll be
the princess’
‘Romeo, save me, they're trying
to tell me how to feel.’
‘Marry me, Juliet, you'll never
have to be alone.’

6. ‘The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups
of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their
work’Throughout the music video ‘Love Story’ there are lots of close ups of the main artist, Taylor. As well as close ups of Taylor Swift there are also
close ups of the love interest in the video. By showing close ups of the two the audience can relate more to the song and the video its self, as
the close-up shows the characters emotions and their passion. This will evoke emotions for the audience as it will make the situation and the
story more believable.
Taylor Swift doesn’t have a particular motif however a recurring factor that I have noticed amongst her music videos is the story line and
the type of setting. In another one of her videos ‘Blank Space’ she is standing in a similar setting of a big house. The story line is also
very similar with the idea of love and relationships being at the heart of it.

7. ”There are frequent references to the notion of looking and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body”
Throughout the music video we can often see the male character looking at
the female artist in a certain way that presents her as a sexual object to the
audience. Due to the male looking at the female in this way it makes her seem
more appealing to the viewers.
As well as seeing how the male looks at the female we can also see how they
look at each other. The music video of Love story shows frequent close ups of
the ‘star crossed’ lovers. By showing these close ups we are shown the love
that the two have or each other. This look makes the story seem more
believable for the audience.
The characters costumes also present the female in a sexual way. By making
her wear a low cut dress, this will attract the attention of men and will please
the audience.

8. “There is often intertextual references to films, TV,
other music videos, ect”
Taylor swift’s ‘Love Story’ has very close relations to the
Shakespeare play Rome and Juliet. Throughout the music
video and the song references to Romeo and Juliet are
seen and heard such as the lyrics ‘ Romeo save me,
they're trying to tell me how to feel’ and ‘Marry me
Juliet’. Another significant similarity is the ball in both
Romeo and Juliet and in Love story. Both stories feature a
ball where the lovers dance together, this can be seen in
both stories.
Taylor swift has tried to resemble Juliet in her music
video, she has done this by wearing similar outfits and
having a very similar setting, the famous balcony from
the Romeo and Juliet film. Watching both clips I
noticed a lot of the angles and position of the two
main female characters are very similar

9. “Whether the video is primarily performance-based,
narrative-based or concept based and how elements of
each is used in it”
” Love story” is primarily narrative based as it follows a story line of Tylor falling in love but her father doesn’t want her to
be with him, the music video shows us the story through visuals.

10. ’Jar of hearts’ is a debut single by
American singer Christina Perri. The
inspiration for the song comes from a
real-life experience with a al ove
interest who wanted to rekindle a
broken relationship. At the time of the
song release Perri was unsigned. This
created a lot of discussion between
critics.

11. ‘Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics’
Christina perri’s ‘Jar of Hearts’ fits in with the pop genre there for follows the conventions of a pop video. This
includes a narrative story being told. In the video Christina is playing the character of a woman who has has her
heart broken by a man who is ‘collecting a jar of hearts’ we can tell that the story isn’t a happy one through the
colours used throughout the video, they are all very dark colours connoting with a dark story.
We can also tell it’s a pop video through the camera shots used, a lot of the shots are either close ups or long shots,
there are also a lot of jump cuts, something used a lot in pop videos.

12. ‘There is a relationship between the lyrics and the
visuals.’
There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as the lyrics and the visuals are both telling the same love story so
they have to link. The song tells a story of a heartbroken girl who is angry at the man. She regrets ever being with him and
tells the audience that he breaks every ones heart. Not only do the lyrics tell us this but we can visually see it in the video
At this point in the video the lyrics
say ‘Can’t take one more step
towards you’ this shows a
relationship as she is sat on some
steps.
In this scene the dancers are
supposed to represent all the girls
that he has hurt ‘running around
leaving scars
The weather also shows a relationship
as it represents a cold mood. The
lyrics say ‘your’e going to catch a cold’
relating to the visual.

13. ‘The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of
close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which
recur across their work’
Throughout the music video there are lots of close-ups of the main characters. Close-ups are a good feature of music
videos as it helps the audience relate to the music video more and helps them connect to the story and the characters
more. In this case the audience can sympathise with the main character as the close-up allows the viewers to see her
emotions.

14. ”There are frequent references to the notion of looking
and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body”
In this music video the way women are treated is
presented negatively as they are shown to repeatedly
get their hearts broken. The video also shows two
intimate scenes, both represent women as sexual
objects. This will attract a male audience to the video
as this is what that type of audience want to see.
There is also a scene which makes women look
strong as they all join together. This makes the
women look strong and shows that they don’t
need a man. This relates with the story of the
song

15. “There is often intertextual references to films, TV,
other music videos, ect”
Although the song doesn’t have any direct references to any films or TV programmes it does have a slight
element to fairytale about it. The video shows a jar being filled with hearts and girls loosing their hearts. It
has a slight dark twist to it, similar to witch craft. The entire video is dark and sinister so this links in well
with the fairy tale idea.

16. “Whether the video is primarily performance-based, narrative-
based or concept based and how elements of each is used in it”
‘Jar of Hearts’ is both narrative based and performance based as it is performed in the video, it also tells a romance story to
the audience, which the audience follow.