Music Video Analysis 2: (Break Up Songs)

Kelly Clarkson 'Since U Been Gone'

Length of video: 3:12

The second textual analysis I will do is Kelly Clarkson ‘Since U Been Gone’ I will look at this video as It will help my to look at the genre of break up songs and how I can construct my music video as its is the same genre, I will be able to take inspiration fro the video to develop my own ideas. When looking at the genre of break up songs/videos there are two different ways in which a artist can be perceived, these are the traditional break up video which features the artist grieving for there loss, then there is the video in which the artist is getting their love back by means of revenge. This video falls in to the category of the revenge. The main narrative of the video is that the artist is destroying what is presumed to be the former home of her and her ex and leaving a heart shaped necklace behind for him that she has returned. I will look at how the four stylistics; Mise-en-scene, Cinematography, Editing and Sound help to create the over all video and capture the genre conventions in the video.

Firstly I will look at the mise-en-scene in the video, there are two main distinct elements to the mise-en-scene, first we have the apartment in which the artist cause the damage to the rooms, on the other hand we also have the nightclub type area in which the artist performs the song, this shows the contrast in the ways the artist is expressing her feelings in the video through the use of mise-en-scene, for example when she is smashing the glass table in the apartment, we see the side of her person which wants to get even with the ex, where as when she is on stage singing we get the persona that she is getting over what has happened to her and having a good time. As shown the use of the mise-en-scene can embed different character persona in music videos. Again looking at the use of character persona’s within the music video is we look at the mise-en-scene element of costume we can see that one version of Kelly (the one in the apartment) wears quiet plan clothes become a representation of the average woman, appealing to the mainstream audience (16-25 year olds) that her music genre (Pop) is aimed at, however when we move to the night club we see a more powerful version of her with the use of the colour black shown in her costume and well as the darker tone to her make up and appearance. Futhermore we see the power been shown in quite a feminine way in the nightclub scenes, with the use of bright feminine coloured strobe lighting along side the use of a red draped curtain behind her we get the impression of a powerful female presence. Within the elements we also have the use of the silver heart chain in which we see her hold through out the video. At the start of the video we see her holding the chain in a manner which suggests shes thinking of letting got, through out the video she continues to carry the chain (as she makes more destruction) she then leaves it hanging on a table as she walks away, this gives the representation that her relationship with the man is finished.

The use of cinematography is to create a representation through the use of camera work. One of the main elements of cinematography within a music video is the use of close ups for artist recognition, to allow the audience to identify the artist in the video, on the other hand the use of close ups also allow artist empathy depending on the nature of the narrative. For example in the is video we have close ups of the artist to show who it is however we also have close ups to allow the emotion of the character/artist to be shown to the audience allowing them to make a connection with personal experiences and the video. In the video we also have the elements of medium and medium close ups, mainly see this alongside the use of jump cuts. The use of medium shots allows use to identify the artist is a section of the diegsis, such as the bathroom of the apartment we see Kelly in the mirror from waist up. Further more the use of medium close ups combines the elements of a medium shot alongside that of a close up to give detail yet still show detail of the location where the character is. We also have the presences of dolly/tracking shots as Kelly makes her way around the apartment causing destruction. We see this in the scene where she walks in to the wardrobe and tears up the clothes the track follows her in and pans around to she what she is doing. Furthermore we see the use of a dolly shot when she if leaving the apartment and the camera is put on a moving angle while she is walking. Usually there is a long shot (establishing shot) to open a sequence, however here we have the presence of a low angle into the apartment revealing the artist this gives a voyeuristic effect as the artist doesn’t directly look at the camera, show it seems to the audience as though were watching something with out the artist knowing, however as the song begins to pick up pace the camera angle move higher revealing her face showing her performing to the camera. The final main element of cinematography in the video, is the use of a crane shot above the auidecne as Kelly performs in the night club, the camera moves over the audience giving the literal interpretation of her fan based and that in the video she has a audience to give support through her transition into a new version of herself.

The final two stylistics in the video are editing and sound. The stylistic of sound plays the biggest role in the video as it is the soundtrack to the video. The main and only element of sound in the video is the use of sound track as there is no other format of sound in the video. The use of editing in music videos is to create a syncronization with the pace of the track. We can see evidence of this in the video as we have a sense of montage editing with the contrast and change of the apartment scenes and the night club scenes, we have a change in time and location, therefore we see the video as a reflective form as it shows what has happened and was is happening. We also have the use of cuts from one shot to another shot, whilst along side this we have the use of jump cuts to emphasis the change in shot, we can see this in the sequence were we have a, medium shot of Kelly, then a jump cut of a medium close up and finally a close up of her. This is to help create the pace of the video the same as the track. On the other hand a another way of looking at the chosen forms of editing is the use of pace of cuts changes when the location changes, for example the amount of cuts in the night club greatly increases to show more energy in contrast to the apartment. Finally we have the use of slow motion which acts as a way to extended the amount of damage Kelly causes to the apartment, further more we can con notate is as a description of the relationship of the characters it began to slow down and destruction was caused, much like in the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxRS_GyBbM