Influential Text:
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift's video for 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' is influential for me because it has such an iconic video with a lot of key elements that would be effective for us to include.
This video was directed by Declan Whitebloom, who has been behind many successful pop videos like One Direction's 'One Thing', Lawson's 'When She Was Mine', and even another Taylor Swift song from her early career, 'Mean'.
This video has many of the typical features of a pop video; Overflowing personality/character, boy/girl relationship narrative, steady beat for dancing, costumes... Everything that makes it over dramatic and cheesy.
Throughout the video, Taylor Swift clearly illustrates the lyrics of the song in the narrative. For instance when she sings "You called me up again tonight," and is shown standing by a wall-mounted phone and on the other side of the wall stands the antagonist/ex boyfriend.
The video is mostly very illustrative so there aren't very many examples of amplification or contradiction, but there are sections of the video where her different tones and pitches of voice are amplified by the visuals. Like when she sings 'WE' as part of the chorus, her pitch rises and people jump up in the air to mimic the change in her voice.
Another iconic thing about this video is that it is (supposedly) all done in one take, so there is no cutting or edits. It is, however, still possible to tell when the music and the visuals are linked, like when the camera pans to a different area when a new verse or chorus starts.
The instruments included in the video are played by musicians in animal costumes, and although the outfits are eye-catching, the camera never focuses on one instrument to illustrate its sound among the music, I think this is because the narrative is so engaging and the video stays centred on Taylor Swift.
The camera generally moves steadily from one area to another and never changes its pace, and I think that is to do with the song and its even and steady beat. There are no parts of the song that speed up or slow down but there are parts where the music is stripped down to just one guitar playing or piled with lots of instruments. This is shown visually through the number of things going on in the frame. Essentially, when only one or two instruments can be heard, the narrative parts of the video with only one or two people can be seen. When there are lots of instruments playing, there are lots of people in the frame, dancing, wearing colourful outfits, and everything is slightly chaotic.
There are many shots where Taylor Swift in in centre frame, they use a close up of her face or she is the only one looking directly at the camera. This is an effective use of star image because when she is the focus the audience (and also her fans) can feel a connection to her, like she is singing to them. Also the antagonist in the video (her ex-boyfriend) never looks at the camera, which I think reinforces the 'relatable' vibe of the song. The guy is a nameless character, he is only the to represent the character of the annoying ex, so that other people can watch the video and easily identify and apply it to themselves.
In this video we are given a strong, confident perspective on Taylor Swift, where she presents herself a an independent woman who is demonstrating her exasperation at having to deal with situations like this. This was very much a big part of her image after the release of her album 'Red' which was mostly about anger and hurt that she had experienced in relationships. She (and her record label 'Big Machine Records') received a lot of success from this video because it has a relatable topic, easy, catchy lyrics and an interesting and unique continuous video style used.
This video has motifs like her fashion sense, which is really girly, her signature red lipstick and bangs, something that her fans would be familiar with.
Taylor Swift's image has never been about showing off her body, and although there are times when she wears shorts that show off her legs etc, this video isn't for a male audience, its more of a female anthem so there isn't really any reference to voyeurism or the notion of looking.
I would say overall that the video was very narrative based, but at the same time, Taylor Swift slips in and out of the story by interacting with the people around her but then breaking out and singing to the camera. She is in the story but she's also telling it which I think is a very rare feature to see.
Throughout the video, Taylor Swift clearly illustrates the lyrics of the song in the narrative. For instance when she sings "You called me up again tonight," and is shown standing by a wall-mounted phone and on the other side of the wall stands the antagonist/ex boyfriend.
The video is mostly very illustrative so there aren't very many examples of amplification or contradiction, but there are sections of the video where her different tones and pitches of voice are amplified by the visuals. Like when she sings 'WE' as part of the chorus, her pitch rises and people jump up in the air to mimic the change in her voice.
Another iconic thing about this video is that it is (supposedly) all done in one take, so there is no cutting or edits. It is, however, still possible to tell when the music and the visuals are linked, like when the camera pans to a different area when a new verse or chorus starts.
The instruments included in the video are played by musicians in animal costumes, and although the outfits are eye-catching, the camera never focuses on one instrument to illustrate its sound among the music, I think this is because the narrative is so engaging and the video stays centred on Taylor Swift.
The camera generally moves steadily from one area to another and never changes its pace, and I think that is to do with the song and its even and steady beat. There are no parts of the song that speed up or slow down but there are parts where the music is stripped down to just one guitar playing or piled with lots of instruments. This is shown visually through the number of things going on in the frame. Essentially, when only one or two instruments can be heard, the narrative parts of the video with only one or two people can be seen. When there are lots of instruments playing, there are lots of people in the frame, dancing, wearing colourful outfits, and everything is slightly chaotic.
There are many shots where Taylor Swift in in centre frame, they use a close up of her face or she is the only one looking directly at the camera. This is an effective use of star image because when she is the focus the audience (and also her fans) can feel a connection to her, like she is singing to them. Also the antagonist in the video (her ex-boyfriend) never looks at the camera, which I think reinforces the 'relatable' vibe of the song. The guy is a nameless character, he is only the to represent the character of the annoying ex, so that other people can watch the video and easily identify and apply it to themselves.
In this video we are given a strong, confident perspective on Taylor Swift, where she presents herself a an independent woman who is demonstrating her exasperation at having to deal with situations like this. This was very much a big part of her image after the release of her album 'Red' which was mostly about anger and hurt that she had experienced in relationships. She (and her record label 'Big Machine Records') received a lot of success from this video because it has a relatable topic, easy, catchy lyrics and an interesting and unique continuous video style used.
This video has motifs like her fashion sense, which is really girly, her signature red lipstick and bangs, something that her fans would be familiar with.
Taylor Swift's image has never been about showing off her body, and although there are times when she wears shorts that show off her legs etc, this video isn't for a male audience, its more of a female anthem so there isn't really any reference to voyeurism or the notion of looking.
I would say overall that the video was very narrative based, but at the same time, Taylor Swift slips in and out of the story by interacting with the people around her but then breaking out and singing to the camera. She is in the story but she's also telling it which I think is a very rare feature to see.
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