3. The second comparable media I analysed was sung by Beyonce Knowles, ‘If I were a Boy’. This video is different as it is has special effects as it is presented in black and white, something which I am considering to do with my own music video. It also differs as it begins with a strange story, the girl is in the mans shoes however it then switches around as the lyrics switch around and the characters change shoes again. The artist is also the actress in the video and I am also considering to use this situation in my music video.Iwill analyse the mise-en-scene, camera, sound and editing.
4. Mise-en-scene You first notice the video is presented in black and white therefore you can not distinguish the typical boy and girl colours to present someone in the video. The video first begins with the woman dressing into her works clothes, a police uniform. If you talk about a police officer you associate it being a man, fighting crime and protecting his city. However it is in reverse, the woman is wearing the police uniform. It shows the man making breakfast for his wife sat down waiting for her to join him , which is not stereotypical, it is normally the woman being a housewife. Then it shows the woman being quite promiscuous in her ways, she goes out flirting with her work colleagues while the man is being thoughtful searching for presents for his wife, this is unconventional. The girl in the police uniform is shown to be a sex symbol , as males enjoy to look at a woman in a uniform . She wears dark sunglasses at the beginning of the video, this shows numerous things, firstly the dark shades gives off a detective look, for example men in black. It also shows the woman hiding her face, like she does not want to be noticed and gives off a sexy fashionable look. The image then moves onto a car chase, something which boys and men would most enjoy and find exciting so the idea of a woman doing so is unconventional. To collide with this image it shows her partner lonely on a laptop with the look of him thinking about his wife.
5. The girl is then viewed handling a gun, then becoming close to a male with a flirtatious image of her showing him to use the weapon, this again is not stereotypical it is normally a male handling a gun being the superior one. It then views the girl getting unchanged, which gives her off to be a sexy female, one in which has a lot of male attention. The image then changes to her out with friends ignoring her calls from her partner like she isn’t bothered, the surroundings is food a table and a group of people therefore she is being sociable without her partner in the picture. The video then switches back to her fighting criminals in her police uniform, and the look of males admiring her with a smouldering look. It then views onto her bottom half of her body, focusing on her tight pants which shows off her figure this gives the woman a sex appeal and also shows her fighting other males to give off a superior image. She is handling a number of weapons and has a police vehicle in the distance to show her profession. The video then skips a couple of hours, it shows the woman going out with a sexy short black dress on, with heels which shows she is independent, black can implicate something sexy or something dangerous, she is a dangerous woman, in her appearance, and in her profession. Once the couple have had an argument on her flirtatious and promiscuous ways, it shows them in a car, however the image is blurry as it has been raining heavily, this shows tragedy as water and rain implicates tears and sadness.
6. The image skips to them being at home, the male gives off a sense of sadness, while the woman is sat at her dressing table, a conventional place as it is filled off accessories and make up, in which all stereotypical women possess. The females expression gives off a sense of not caring, however after a slight second the image reverses. The male then becomes the superior partner, the lyrics change to the song and the start of the video repeats however it is in reverse, the male is getting on his police uniform while the woman is dressed smartly waiting for him to approach with breakfast waiting. It shows the male in the police car fighting crime and being flirtatious which is a conventional image of males. Males to be in control and more superior to women. To begin with we feel sympathy for the male because his partner is a cheat, however when the song continues we realise she is pretending to be in the males shoes and repeat his actions and we then sympathise for the female.
7. Camera The angle begins with a mid shot of the female getting ready, it shows her actions and presents what she is getting changed into, which is a uniform something males do over women. It then presents a low angle of her walking down the stairs, this is to capture her from behind to show where she is where she is going and a low angle is a great shot to show somebody walking down the stairs as she would fade into the distance. There is an over shoulder shot which shows what is happening in the clip it shows this in the police car, to show where they are and the location and happeningsin front of them. There is a close up and zoom in on the female and males face which shows there expression which you can see what they feel. A 2 shot is presented also in the video which shows there closeness however this should not happen as the female already has a partner at home, therefore the audience can see this is wrong. A high angle is shown to look up on the female, this shows her strength as she is tackling criminals, this is unconventional as it is normally the males role to tackle and protect others. An establishing shot is presented to show the location of where they are and the surroundings determine what the song will be about as it gives the audience an idea of what type of location it is, in the case it’s a city with criminals in which the woman will tackle independently.
8. There is a mid shot and a long shot showing the female flirting, the long shot shows her appearance, which is dressed sexily then the mid shot shows there closeness and flirtatious ways, it then switches to a close up on her partners expression to show he is hurt by his girlfriend/wife’s actions. It shows a tracking shot of the woman approaching her partner after she has noticed he is watching her. It shows her walk, which is done with pride as though she is not bothered and proud of her appearance. It shows a long shot again to show the number of people in the place as it is quite crowded which gives off the impression it is a party where they are at as everybody is dressed smartly with a drink of some sort, presumably alcoholic, in their hands. It shows a 2 shot again of the couple in the car however both look sad or annoyed so it shows there is distance between them. The shot then jumps to a long shot, with the couple on opposite sides of the room which again shows an argumentative feeling. We now approach the ending of the music video and the exact same shots are the same as the beginning, the mid shot of getting ready and the low angle of walking down the stairs, however the situation is in the reverse, it is now the man whom is the cheat and the lyrics change slightly to implicate the man is the cheat and was just showing the imagination of the woman if the situation was in reverse.
9. Sound The video begins with diegetic sound, it is of the protagonist and antagonist speaking words such as ‘intimacy, honesty, trust’ these are all words in which are essential in a relationship. It then switches to a non diegetic sound, as it is a soundtrack of the song which is not be realistic as you wouldn’t hear a soundtrack walking down the street about your actions. The music matches the lyrics and mise-en-scene in the video. For example the lyrics are ‘If I were a boy, I think I could understand, how it feels to love a girl, I swear I’d be a better man.’ This compliments the video as it shows the woman in the mans shoes doing her partners actions and him in her role. This is an unconventional picture of a male and female in a relationship. The music possesses the beat of her voice to express her feelings. The words and video of her cheating then reverses at the end, and the lyrics change to ‘But your just a boy’, it switches to the man being the cheat and the woman being a house wife, this is a conventional picture of a man and woman in a relationship however the song is about her imagination if it was not tat way and was in reverse, it expresses the mans feelings if he was in her shoes and vice versa.
10. Editing The first and most vital editing in this and all music videos is continuity. The video has to be edited in a way where there is no mistakes to make it realistic and to not show it has been edited, which would present it where the shots follow on from each other naturally. This makes the music video flow. Another type of editing used in this video is a jump shot, this happens numerous times, it switches from the male to the female, you can hear both of the voices but only see one face, which shows there both speaking the same words. It also uses jump shots to switch from the protagonist location and actions to the antagonist, this lets the audience view who is in the write and who is in the wrong and show their input in the relationship. There is editing which dissolves into another shot to make the video presentable. For example the rain is shown in representation of a tragedy or sadness, its then shows on the window which makes the short blurry as it is water and then the shot dissolves from the blurry image of the rain to a shot inside a house of the couple. This editing makes the video look more successful so it’s audience would enjoy watching it as it looks cleverly done.
11. Special Effects The most obvious special effect in this video is the fact that it is not in colour, it is in black and white. This emphasizes the sadness of the song because there is no colour in it, its just plain black and white which I think makes the video more successful . Black and white is mainly presented when there is a flashback of an image, this defines what is in real life time and what was the past. This is not the situation in this video however the actions of the woman being a cheater is not real life, its more of a thought or imagination as it is the boy who is a cheat in real life she was just putting herself in his shoes. Therefore, I think it is presented in black and white as its not a flashback however it is not real life, the image is in her head is it is her thoughts and feelings.
