3. My firstanalysis for comparable media will be a music video. The music video I have selected is ‘Girlfriend’ by AvrilLavigne. I have chosen this video as it is not the typical love story and the typical characters in most love videos. It shows the protagonist in which the audience will agree with, as it is different from a stereo typical love romance between two teenagers. It also differs as the artist plays 3 different girls in the video. She plays the pretty in pink mannerly girl, the rebel and the singer. In my comparable media I shall analyse mise-en-scene, camera, sound and editing.
4. Mise-en-scene Thevideo is first introduced with a boy and girl inlove, a teenage romance walking into a cafe, a typical place for a boyfriend and girlfriend to go after school. The girl is a typical girl, dressed mannerly in pink with wavy red hair and glasses, almost as a geek and would be described as a ‘girly girl ’. Her boyfriend is the typical boy, good looking, stylish hair, tight jeans, good physique however has a sense of a goth look being dressed mostly in the black which gives us a sense of the love story as the other girl in competition with the ‘girly girl’ has a goth look also. She is dressed all in black with black hair, not the typical thought in how you would describe a girl. She has a rebel look to her which is not very stereo typical as it is mostly the lads that are the rebels whom cause pranks and get into trouble. The third girl is presented as the singer, however she also takes part in being flirtatious with the boyfriend. She differs as she is not a one dimensional character, as she has long blonde hair in make up with shorts on and a little top, which would describe your average cheerleader however she also wears black fishnet tights which describes a more promiscuous person, which fits into stealing someone else’s boyfriend. However whenever she is seen on screen she is presented with a skull around her, which presents death however the skull is not fierce and dark covered in black, its covered in pink which has that sense of it being more light hearted and ‘girly’ which could confuse the audience.
5. She is also presented with many props such as a guitar with drums and a band playing behind her which gives her the rockish look, again not a typical girl in high school as it is normally a boy in a rock band. The story portrays typical boyfriend and girlfriend activities such as sharing a hot dog or going on the go karts as a couple, having ‘fun’ with no competition. In this love story another girl is corrupting their relationship, by bumping into her go kart and stealing their hotdog, these actions compliment the song words as they state ‘idont like your girlfriend I think you need a new one’. Also, the goth girl pushes the girly girl out of a photo booth and has a picture with her boyfriend, however they aren’t smiley photographs as a girl would normally do, there all of pulling faces, being a rebel . The girl presented as a rebel is very flirtatious with the boy which is not very conventional as it is always the boy who makes the first move and asks the girl on a date however the boy seems to be embarrassed and making no move in the slightest. Another unconventional manner is the fact that the girls are fighting which isnt very lady like, the rebel girl is dressed in black which shows she has a bad side to her, for example pulling pranks. Towards the end of the music video, the singer enters the toilets and draws an ‘X’ on the mirror, this shows graffiti which shows her being a rebel and she also repeatedly re acts the ‘shh’ sound with her mouth which mixes with her being very flirtatious and quite sexy as though she is keeping a secret. It is unconventional that the rebel and the boy end up together where the girly girl is left dumped in a river.
6. However in this situation, the audience has a liking to the protagonist whereas we do not like the antogonist. In this video AvrilLavigne plays both parts which shows two different ends to her personality, the girly girl side and the rebel gothish side showing she is different to the stereotypical girl which results in having different types of audiences liking her.
7. Camera The camera opens with an establishing shot which shows the location of the music video, being a cafe, this shows the audience it is a typical place to take your girlfriend and introduces who is going and where they are going. It includes a close up of the girly girl which shows the audience her manners and expression which determines whether the audience will like her or not. It then switches of a 2 shot to show the boyfriend and girlfriend holding hands walking away to establish that they are going out and are together as a couple. However it switches to show a different girls thought and reaction of seeing them as a couple, it does this using an over the shoulder shot at this instant the audience likes the protagonist, the rebel girl, as she is happy and although different . It presents a close up of the guitar to show a rock band feature which then switches to a long shot of AvrilLavigne playing the guitar which gives her a rockishor cool look. In the photo booth it has a 2 shot and a close up of the rebel girl and the boy together which fits perfect as they look better as a couple therefore this shot is took for longer to show its a perfect match and both people in the shot seem genuinaly happy and cool. It features a tracking shot of the original couple eating a hot dog, with the boys face looking uncertain as though he doesnt really want to be there which shows the audience we do not like them as a couple.
8. It also includes a ped down, which we then will recognise the singers, AvrilLavignes clothes, the shorts and top dancing sexily and flirtatious to show her being quite promiscuous, this develops more as they use a mid shot of them in a cubical toilet together and locking the door behind them therefore it is private. The last shot I will describe is the long shot, this is used when AvrilLavigne is dancing sexily in front of a number of other girls, this lets the audience view fully the dance moves and routine which looks more professional as if it was a mid shot the dances would not look as rehersed or sexy.
9. Editing The most popular editing in the music videos and in the majority of music videos is continuity editing. This is unseen and not noticeable so the music video flows with no gaps or mistakes. A jump shot is included frequently in the music video, the shot jumps from one girls reaction to another to show the different expressions, it also jumps from different scenes such as to the band and then to the characters and then back to the band. This is portrayed as its showing the artist singing and then showing what she is singing and what she feels by using a love story between characters. It uses a motivational cut on the golf course, it shows the rebel girl, protagonist, hitting a gold ball on to the antagonist head to show her pulling a prank, which surprisingly determines the audience to like her more. When the protagonist is falling into the river slow motion editing is used, this captures the moment as its vital that everybody sees it as it is very humerous to watch the antagonist, the girl not likeable fall into a river and made to look stupid and un presentable. When the artist is dancing and singing it shows a party going on around her however al their faces and background is blurred to black which has the audience concentrating on the artists actions and singing.
10. Sound At the beginning of the music video it features diegetic sounds, natural sounds of individuals speaking quietly over each other, this shows it being like everyday life of people walking and talking. It then switches to non diegetic sounds, which is the music in itself which has been edited and cut to match up with the scenes filmed. The most popular lyric includes ‘hey hey ,you, you I don’t like your girlfriend, I think you need a knew one’ this implies the new girlfriend should be herself . The lyrics feature singing about herself being the perfect girl for him or singing about his girlfriend being the complete wrong girl for him, this then matches with the scenes featured, showing the singer, or protagonist the perfect match for the boy and showing the antagonist to look stupid and completely wrong for the boy. It then shows the happy ending the audience was searching for which matched the lyrics of the protagonist being in a relationship with the boy, the perfect match.
