media music video deconstruction

1. In the first scene we scene the star of music video
looking at pictures of herself on what appears to be a
dating website. She conforms to typical
representations of women in music videos. She is
wearing make up and looks very promiscuous. This
conforms to Mulveys’ feminine mystique theory as she
is being portrayed for the pleasure of men. The fact
the laptop colour is red also highlights the lustfulness
of women and how they are always searching for love.
The opening pan shot is of the city. The tells the
audience right away that it is going to be some kind of
urban music video. The fact that it is showing it at night
means that it was going to associated with the night
life. Night life is a common theme in R&B music video. It
also tells us that is going to be some kind of conceptual
music video.

3. In the scene the male characters convert from our typical
representations of men. We can see that he gets quite
intimidated by ‘cassie’ and her friends because of how
confident they are. Although he still looks lustful we can see
that he has backed into a corner. Similarly ‘Cassie’ is subverting
as she appears more powerful because she is taller than the
man. At the same time she is conforming because of her
clothes. She is wearing a crop top and tight jeans which is
accentuating her body for the pleasure of men.
The close up shot of her stomach shows that it is a
defining characteristic. Similarly to Mulveys
feminine mystique theory her body is being
portrayed and subjected for the pleasure of men. In
the scene she was dancing very provocatively which
is common occurrence in R&B videos. She conforms
to a typical female characters in that genre because
you can see that her belly button pierced and that
she has jewellery on. Like Goodwins theory suggests
money and having jewellery is a common theme.

4. In this scene the men conform to typical
representations of men in the media who live in urban
areas. They are often shown to be of some sort of
ethnic minority and in very casual streetwear. You can
see that that one of them has a snapback on and the
others have ‘bling’ jewellery around their neck.
They're very confident in the scene and not
intimidated by the women and display stereotypical
alpha male personality.
The two shot of them represents the sexuality that
often present in R&B videos. There Is a dance
choreography which Is also very conventional. Both
individuals conform to typical gender stereotypes as
he appears to very masculine as you can see from his
body language. The fact that it is set in a club is also
very conventional.

5. The close up shot shows how emotional she is. Women
are often presented as weak and emotional so this
shot conforms to stereotypical representations. Her
hair is exaggerated and dramatic. The warm colours
have been used to convey her emotions and the fact
she is wearing a red dress highlights lustfulness of
women and how they always presented as
promiscuous. Although her make up is minimal you can
see that her lips have been emphasised for the benefit
of male pleasure.
The final shots is of her silhouette fading into
the city background. They did this to suggest
that she is going to perhaps going find
someone even though her night was
unsuccessful. This again enforces the fact that
women are promiscuous and move on very
quickly. Similarly to dyers ‘paradox of a star’
we feel as though she is both ordinary and
extraordinary.