analysis of music video (1)

media representations

Beyonce (the artist) is being represented in a positive glamorous way. We see this in the first shot where she is just stood filing her nails and wearing lip gloss in her big mansion with candles to her side. Throughout the music video we see how rich she is by her patterned glass stained windows and her huge dark wooden stairs. She is also represented as a strong person because as we can see from the narrative and lyrics that she is chucking her partner out of the house,she bounces back by getting ready to have some fun with her girls and then at the end already has a new man. Her record label is Columbia records owned by Sony Music Entertainment and i think this will effect how she is represented because if she is represented in a bad way the record label will go down in reputation because they are very popular. I think the artist is being represent this way to show girls how to be strong and powerful and that they don't need a man. Most of Beyonce's song are about females willpower with love. I think the representation is accurate for her as a women because even after the breakup of Destiny's Child Beyonce has yet again bounced back and had a unbelievable amount of successful tours and tracks due to the help of her record label. There are not as many self-representations for the artist because she is playing a character.

media language and forms

Small things like the cardboard box have levels of meaning in the music video what connotate hes leaving The artists house. The big house and the fancy car's connotate that the artist has a lot of money. The significance of the music videos connotations are Independence from the artist having the power to be the strong one and get rid of the male.  The non verbal structures of meaning in the music video are things what are effective like Beyonces facial expression when she shakes her head whilst watching the male you can immediately tell that she is not happy with him. Her positional communications like when she waves at him sarcastically shows she is been sarcastic with her wave and she can not wait to see the back of him. The props like the flash car's she has in her drive shows meaning of being rich and successful. The significance of things like editing,cinematography,clothing and lighting is to represent the genre. The editing will make sure that continuity is happening with the music and the camera shots. Cinematography shots like the close up's of her face shows that it is her who is singing and she is the artist. The significance of clothing connotates the genre of jewelry,comfy clothing it shows what sort of a person the artist is. We can tell that she takes care of her image a lot when we see her filing her nails and with rollers in her hair. The setting is significant because it gives a American feel about it which is important because Beyonce is an American Singer and actress. It shows she is a wealthy person. The significance of the music video been shot in the day is it is clear for the audience to see all the generic features,and towards the end it gives more of a happy feeling about the situation. The soundtrack is a big need in the music video because without it their would be no music video. The dominant images in this music video are the interpretation of the lyrics interweaving with the footage for example when she says 'to the left to the left' her hand movements point to the left as well. Girl power is always a main theme in Beyonces songs and the image at the end where she is having a good time with all her girls is relevance to the theme power because its female dominated. Visual techniques like editing and camera shots have meaning to the music video to make continuity which will then create the narrative.

narrative

The narrative is organised in a house and structured to include a story line and a piece of performance included at the end. The storyline is about a female who has been betrayed by her partner so chucks him out and bounces straight back by glamming herself up and having a laugh with her girls before meeting another male. The audience are positioned by watching the story and feel sorry for the female artist. Because we immediately think that she is the victim because of stereotypes from films giving us the impression that females are the more vulnerable people when it comes to break ups. The characters are delineated as a couple at first but we are shown them separating. Their is no heroes or villain narrative in this music video although her ex could be seen as the bad guy for hurting her. The music video uses techniques of identification and alienation to draw in the audience because of all the drama involved in the space of 4 minutes. There is a lot going on between 2 minutes and 50 seconds up till the last second,lots of instruments been played and a good atmosphere. The fact that there is a narrative included this draws the audience in because it has a beginning middle and end.

The role of such features like the sound in the narrative is because in a music video the sound is a needed convention it goes over the top of the footage and makes the music video work. The music does just the same by fitting into to the music video and going over the artists lip syncing. The iconography features in the narrative are things such as the instruments what the girls are playing at the end it conveys that the sounds are not just added over the top the females have the talent to play them to. This also plays against the stereotype of males been the instrument players too. The mise en scene is portraying the ideas of the music videos genre by using lighting,editing costume and cinematography. The editing just puts across the story line easier by using continuity.

The major themes of the narrative are love and power but these themes are not usually shown together because love is portrayed in a dark and sad way but in this music video the power theme over takes it because the artist is all happy because she has the power.

genre

The genre of the music video is R&B The major generic conventions within the text are the African Caribbean artist and her African Caribbean boyfriend. It is stereotypical for r&b singers to come from this sort of culture to be successful. Other generic conventions are things like the flash car and big house which r&b singers like to show off.  The major iconographic feature of the music video are the flash car and the big house and the bling around the males neck. Things like this are assosisated with R&B because R&B artists flash their cash more than any other genre. They like people to know what they have done successfully in life.

The major generic themes in this music video is money. Like i said before R&B Singers are well know for showing off their money through lyrics as well as images in their music videos.

The characters are generically determined because of the stereotype of R&B Singers their attitude and look.

I think the audiences generic expectations of the music video are full filled because the girl got the better end of the relationship end and she was the one with the power over the male because she had the attitude and the money. This then concludes in the music video conforming to the characteristics of the genre but treating them ironically because usually in African Caribbean relationships the man is the one with the power and who looks after all the money but you could tell that the female had full control. Beyonce is a well known R&B Singer because she has had practise at it in her old girl band Destiny's Child from a young age.

media institutions

The institutional source of the text is Beyonces record label Columbia records. I think the music video has been shaped by the institution who producded it because

Sony music entertainment owns this insinuation and this matters because they are the ones with the more money who can make the music video be more well thought about then small record labels. This well then conclude in big promotional ideas.

The text has been distributed through technology promotion for example through social networking sites like Beyonces twitter facebook or website. Or it could be distributed through Columia or sony music entertainments websites because they have enough power to do that. And just like any other music videos it will be distributed on music channels like MTV.

media auidences

The text is addressed at music fans,fans of R&B and fans of Beyonce herself. I think the target audience are obviously Beyonces fans who will be from age 14-30's primary audience of females because the artist is female and so was her previous band. On the other hand the secondary audience could be males because of the attraction to Beyonce. I think that the SEG of this audience will be B-E because Beyonce is a very classy person but people above the SEG B might take her songs and look the wrong way. The audience are made to watch the dramatic scenario and know that it is a R&B song because of the conventions.
Females will be likely to receive the text in a positive way because it is a female biased music video with  a female sticking up for herself. Males might take the text in a sexiest way because their are more females in the music video and she is chucking a male out of her house. I can assume that the size and constituency of the audience is world wide and very big because the artists does tours all around the world,stars on music award nights. She also use to be in a girl band from her younger ages so people will still be dedicated fans from her younger ages. I think the audience readings of the music video will be positive because the video is appropriate for all ages. As a audience member myself i think the music video is good because it has a mixture of performance and narrative form.  My evaluation of this music video is based on just my age and gender because i was born when Beyonce was in Destinys child and i am a female so i am stereotypically the main audience.

After analysing this music video i have decided that my artist is going to have attitude and be represented to be a strong person.