http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZP1XQbqpI
For this research I decided to choose the music video Telephone by Lady Gaga and Beyonce because I believe it very cleverly structured and though unrealistically I would never be able to create something like this for my own music video product it contains many interesting elements.
• The video begins with the setting of a prison, this I believe physically symbolizes the entrapment of characters at the hand of the patriarchal societies they live in where in terms of Levi Strauss’ binary opposites, from the very beginning of the video it is evident there is a power struggle between men and women- the men being symbolised in the beginning by the transsexual female prison guards. Additionally as she is escorted to her cell Lady gaga where’s the stereotypical black and white prisoner outfit, to demonstrate her captivity but the fact her outfit is ‘subverted’ is purposeful in representing her quirky nature as an artist. She then uses the video to address some controversial rumours circulating about here currently in the media. All other inmates in the prison are heavily sexualised and this I believe demonstrates the power men uphold over women in terms of the negative stereotypes they cast upon them, heavy feminist themes apparent the whole way through the music video. The setting then jump cuts to the prison grounds where Lady Gaga receives a call, this supports Andrew Goodwin’s theory where he proposes there is a clear relationship between the lyrics of the song and the visuals of a music video. Both extreme close ups and close ups are used in this part of the video which allows us to see both Lady Gaga’s costume and makeup, which present her as a stereotypical rebel. The setting then once again changes to the prison cells again where Lady Gaga and some backup dancers perform a routine, this once again supports one of Andrew Goodwin’s key theories on music videos where videos demonstrate genre characteristics, in this case a dance routine for a pop song while the use of swift jump cuts to the prison CCTV cameras enforces the setting.
• Lady Gaga is then bailed out by Beyonce, the use of low key lighting represents the negativity of the prison setting and this completely contrasts with the bright yellow and pink of the ‘Pussy wagon’. In terms of intertextual references the wagon is from the film Kill Bill. As the video progresses Lady Gaga begins to take pictures of Beyonce, in terms of her costume she wears all black and this establishes her dominance as a character within the video as well as foreshadowing both Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s later actions, black have connotations of mourning. The pictures are discarded as the artists travel to the next setting of the bar, I believe this symbolically represents the idea of female idealistic beauty also being cast off.
• When both women arrive at the bar the rivalry between men and women as binary opposites increases where a chauvinistic rude man acts as a representation for all males on the whole and perhaps acts as justification for Beyonce’s later act: to spike his drink and food with poison. Fast dissolve cuts are used as Lady Gaga makes the poison to kill all the characters, the theme of telephones still evident the whole way through the video as both characters hold them, whilst Lady Gaga has one in styled into her hair. In terms of narrative after the former equilibrium in the prison setting, the video reaches the disruption stage as all the people in the bar die and later as the characters run away together, uncaught this acts as the new equilibrium as part of Todorov’s narrative structure theory where as part of the background sound we hear police sirens and a mock news reporter discussing the homicide. The structure of the video is not particularly complex and follows a linear narrative pattern where the story is told in order of the events that happen, it also follows conventions of an omniscient narrative where as an audience we are aware that Gaga and Beyonce are plotting to poison the people before they do so.
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