Analysing Music Video's - Beautiful Dirty Rich by Lady Gaga

Beautiful Dirty Rich is Lady Gaga's new single. I really love Lady Gaga as she is so individual and unique and her videos always catch my eye. This is why i have decided to analyse this music video to see the intentions behind it.
Here are the lyrics for the song:

Beautiful, dirty dirty rich rich dirty dirty
Beautiful dirty rich
Dirty dirty rich dirty dirty rich beautiful
Beautiful and dirty dirty rich rich dirty

We got a redlight
Pornographic dance fight
Systematic, honey
But we go no money

Our hair is perfect
While were all getting shit wrecked
It's automatic, honey
But we got no money

Daddy I'm so sorry, I'm so s-s-sorry yeah
We just like to party, like to p-p-party yeah

Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich

We live a cute life
Soundfematic, pants tigh-ter than plastic, honey
But we got no money

We do the dance right
We got it made like
Ice cream topped with honey
But we got no money

Daddy I'm so sorry, I'm so s-s-sorry yeah
We just like to party, like to p-p-party yeah

Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich

A bang bang bang, bang bang bang, beautiful, dirty rich
A bang bang bang, bang bang bang, beautiful, dirty rich

Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich

X5
Bang bang

When looking at the music video it is very typical pop-dance music which she creates in many of her videos. She is wearing leotards in very outragious shapes and styles with dramatic makeup and hair. There is a dance routine involved which is very typically found in both pop and dance videos, showing she is in a mixture of both genres. I think the video is mainly performance based as she is always singing to the camera, however there is the constant concept of being rich and living the high life running throughout it.
When watching the video closely, her dress sense and look is replicable of Madonna in the 80's, with the bleach blonde hair, dramatic makeup and unusual clothes which shows she may be trying to mirror the image found in 80's pop videos.
There are lots of beauty shots of Lady Gaga herself which is very typical of this genre of music as it is very much about the artist, as about the song. The camera continuously cuts back to shots of her, reminding the audience why they are watching and promoting her as the singer.
I think the images in this music video, although at first glance may seem to illustrate the lyrics, i think when looking at it more closely the actually amplify the lyrics. She is lying in a pile of money, smoking the money and throwing it around which illustrates the point of being dirty rich as they have so much money it doesn't mean anything to them anymore, they can treat it like an invaluable object. The setting in the house also illustrates the lyrics 'Dirty rich' as the house is very grand and big and would only be able to be afforded by a wealthy person. However the lyrics 'We are beautiful' is almost contradicting the images on screen. The people we see are very quirky and outrageous, not people we would nessicerily call beautiful immediately. Also the lyrics 'But we have no money' are juxopposed to the images of her lying in the piles of money and holding it etc. It is as if she is making fun of all the people out there who do not make there own money but instead use their parents as a way of getting money or doing illegal things to make money. Therefore they may look as if they are wealthy on the surface but really they are not. This also backs up the phrase 'dirty rich' as their money is not clean money, it is tainted.
The images are edited to the music, with the cuts being on the beat. The music is quite upbeat and fun, however it has an unusual style in parts of it and does not flow like a usual upbeat song. The images do not nessicerily fit with the lyrics all the time. For example when she says 'But we got no money', she is lying on money holding a wad of dollars which clearly does not show this. Therefore, again i think the music amplifies the images themselves. Also there are lots of images of people kissing and posing in sexual positions. This may also amplify the lyrics 'dirty rich' as they are being dirty in order to get their money. This is also backed up by the lyrics 'We got a redlight' as this is normally known for prostetutes who use their body as a way of getting money and are considered dirty.
As Lady Gaga has become a world renowned artist and is known for her long, blonde locks and outrageous dress sense they play on this quite a lot in this video. She has been often compared to the likes of Gwen Stefani, so it may not be a coinsidence that the opening shot is a ECU of her lips singing wearing Gwen Stefani's signiture red lipstick, throughout the video there are lots of shots of her lips with this red lipstick. This could be to emphasise this similarity or to highlight a sexy part of her body. At one stage there is a shot of her rubbing off the lipstick which could be a reference to erasing the stereotype of her being known as the next Gwen Stefani. As she is strutting down the corridor she is wearing dark sunglasses which she has become known for wearing in her videos, an iconic Lady Gaga image. In many of the shots of her she is wearing clothes which you would never expect to see people wearing in public such as a red jacket with huge shoulders, a lace leotard and a red leotard. Her blonde hair is long and perfectly styled, very typical of Lady Gaga as she is known for having perfect hair. Lady Gaga's legs are on show throughout this video. She is constantly being photographed in the press as always wearing outfits that show off her legs and was the first person to begin the trend of wearing knickers as clothes out in public. As she is now iconically known for her legs being on show and it gets a large amount of publicity, in this video her outfits are all created around showing off her legs.
In one shot, her dance moves seem to have a similar style to that found in Michael Jackson's video 'Thriller'. This video was supposedly one of the best videos ever made partly because of its seemless dance routine. Lady Gaga could be refering to this video as a way of telling the audience that her dance routines and music videos are just as good as Michael Jackson himself.
There are elements of voyerism by the way the camera moves and the way she teases the camera. It is as if it is a man watching her and she is trying to tempt him into bed with her.
After analysing this video and the lyrics I think the underlying meaning of this video is that she is a prostetute and has made her money by having sex with various men. That is why she is 'dirty rich' and not just rich and also 'beautiful' as she is using her womanly beauty to make her money. The lyrics ' Daddy im so sorry' are as if she is apologising to her father as he would not approve of her job. The fact that she says 'But i got no money' shows that when she has no money she reverts back to sex as a way of making her money and the lyrics 'Bang bang' enforce this more as this is often a term used to describe two people having sex. The constant images of the women wearing skimpy leaotards and posing provocatively on the men is hinting the the audience what they do and showing that they make their money in the sex trade. Also the fact that Lady Gaga is dressed in red over a pile of money signigys that she has made her living out of lust and passion, as red is the colour of lust and also the colour of a prostetute.

New In Town - Little Boots - Track Idea 3

Analysis of Eminem - Stan

Eminem's videos have always been one of my favorites so when asked to do an analysis of either his video 'Stan' or George Michael's - 'Outside', i opted for doing Eminem.

The Stan video has always caught my attention from when it first came out as it explicity tells the story described by the lyrics which very few other videos do. There has been a lot of controversy around both the song and the video due to its violent and threatening nature. Despite this, however, it went on to be nominated at the MTV Music Awards 2001 for various categories including best video.

When the video begins you know that it is not going to be happy video due to the setting and colour scheme used. Its very dark and all you can hear is rain and thunder and creepy background music. You can occasionally see flashed of lightening and the camera zooms in to an open window with the net curtains blowing. The audience instantly get an eery feel from this opening which sets up the rest of the song and video. There is then a long introduction before the music begins, introducing the basic story of the video. There is a high angle shot of a pregnant girl in a dingy house lying in an empty bed. We then cut to a shot of a man wearing a white vest and has lots of tattoos bleaching his hair blonde over the sink. We then cut back to a low angle shot of the woman running along a dark, run down corridor. It cuts back to an OTS shot of the man staring longingly into the mirror with a evil grin as his hair turns from brunette to blonde. We then see the girl begin to bang on the door, shouting 'Stanley'. The audience come to the conclusion from this that the man inside the bathroom is called Stanley and that the pair of them are having a child together. There is a high angle shot showing the two areas of the house with the wall dividing them. It is as if signifying the divide in personalities and interests between the couple, that later becomes apparent in the video. We then see a long, low angle shot of the man opening the door to the woman and getting abusive towards her. She says 'I really think you have taken this too far.' after a comment about his hair change which makes the audience think that his erratic, crazy behavior has been going on for a while. As the man, Stanley, slams the door shut the music begins. It sounds like a radio track being played, as if they have turned the radio on in their house and are listening to it, as if blending in with the scene more. This opening scene shows us just how much the couple do not get along but it never tells us the reasons why or what has been going on before. It sets the story up to be quite dark and depressing and so we are expecting an almost tragic or horrific ending. When watching this introduction the lighting and background music reminded me of an opening to a horror movie. It is warning the audience that something bad is going to happen.

The first shot we see of Eminem himself is after this opening introduction. We see a long shot of him sitting on a tour bus or coach with a man handing him mail which we assume to be fan mail. He is not rapping or singing along to the song, which although his setting does not seem to fit in with the rest of the music video so far, still makes him seem like part of the storyline rather than just the singer of the song.

Throughout the video we are constantly being shown a divide between the Stanley and his girlfriend, through the use of setting. At the beginning it was the door, further in its the use of the floor and then later on its the use of walls. It is showing the divide between the couple and the separation between them. Also the camera work also very cleverly does this with their positions in the frame. They will always be on opposite sides of the frames with an object in the middle seperating them. The editing also highlights this detachment too. In one shot we see her sitting alone with her back against a wall, and in the next shot we see him writing a letter facing the opposite side of the wall. It is almost as if the camera is emphasising just how far apart the couple are from each other in emotional terms as well as physical.

The colour scheme throughout the video is very dark and bleak. It is representing a very depressing and sad situation and therefore the use of colour reflects this. Also the scenery is very dismal which signifies just how bad and grotty Stan's life is. It is almost saying that without a life with Eminem, Stanley's life lacks any sense of happiness or colour and is therefore meaningless.

A lot of the cuts during the video are not straight but fades to and up from black. It is a way of showing clipets from their life backing up the lyrics. Some of them are memories from the past, others are showing the time passing between each letter write of Stan's. However they are all used in the same way, to tell the story and to allow the audience to get a deep an understanding as possible in a short space of time.

The video is very different from average music videos because instead of going back to CU's or MCU's as the focal or stable point of the video, instead the focal point seems to be Stan himself. We are constantly cutting back to shots of him in between the other shots telling the story. As the song is supposed to be a narrative from Stan, this is the reason why. Eminem is not the main focal point as he is not the one writing the letters, Stan is. Therefore with Stan as the focal point it makes the story seem a lot more realistic and believable, as if its a true story rather than someone telling the story.

The lyrics of the song mirror the visuals exactly. The lyrics are written as if it is an obsessive fan writing letters to Eminem and the video shows this fan writing the letters and living his life. During the verses where he is supposedly writing the letters, the camera keeps cutting back to shots of him writing in his dark basement to enforce the fact. We occasionally see shots of other things but these shots are placed in due to the lyrics being relevant to them. For example, when he talks about seeing Eminem's concert, we see a shot of him in the front row. It is as if we are seeing his memories as he is writing. We are observers in the video, watching the unravelling of two parts of a story and we hold more knowledge of what is going on than the people actually in the video, for example the dropping of the letters and the suicide.

The weather in the video emphasises the emotions that Stan is feeling when writing the letters. When he gets more angry the thunder and flashes of lightening become more prominent and the sound of the rain is more noticeable. By the third verse where he is about to commit suicide the rain is very heavy and almost masks the sound of the rapping. The lighting flashes are also more regular and the thunder seems to be a lot louder. It is showing how his emotions are becoming stronger and how he is getting more frustrated and angrier by the situation.

Summer Holiday

We have just returned to school after our long summer holiday. Year 13 is seeming quite exciting but yet quite scary. We found out our production groups and i am pleased to know that i will be working in a group with Nisha, Shaun and Jack. I think the fact that our group is mixed will hopefully put an interesting spin on our music video and we can get a mixture of opinions and ideas. However there may be some gender divides which we will have to work around but this only adds to the excitement and challanges of making a music video :). I am really looking forward to working in this group as i get on with them all very well and feel that we all work well together.

Rock that Body- Black Eyed Peas - Track Idea 2

After listening to the Black Eyed Peas album The E.N.D i heard this song and completely fell in love with it. I thought it would be a great track to do a music video to because of the heavy beat and fast pace. It is very upbeat and i think you could have a lot of fun with this song. I came up with a brief treatment and here it is:

It would just be lots of montages of people dancing around in various places to the song. At first they would be listening to it casually but by the end they will be dancing around the whole room they are in.

There would also be cuts to MCU's of a man singing the song into the camera. It would be a direct address and he would be dressed casually. This shot would be in black and white.

There would also be cuts to shots of a girl dancing quite provocatively and she is dressed very crazily with dramatic makeup and hair. The shots will either be MS or MLS.

Questions From Carol Vernallis Summary

After reading the summary by Carol Vernallis i answered a few of the questions provided in order to get a better understanding of her theories:

3.8)Carol Vernallis says the camera in music video seems to mimic the way we view sonic space... do you agree? Do you think we are conditioned by music video to read sonic space in particular ways?

I do agree. I think that when we listen to things they need to be interesting and not boring. A sound needs to catch our attention for us to pick up on it amongst that other sounds and that is like a music video. There is so much scope and choice that it needs to be able to grab a viewers attention in a single second so that they will continue to hear it. Also sound is not one distinct thing. We normally hear many different things all mixed together at the same time, this is like a music video with many different types of shots all put together.

3.10)She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we listen. However, this is predefined for us by the Director - we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director's choice than we do in film - do you agree?

Yes i do agree. We do jump from one sound to another when we listen to things and the sound that seems most interesting is what we focus on. I think that due to the short, snappy style of the music video it allows less time for the audience to focus on something else other than the music video. It holds our attention for the whole period of time with the quick cuts and unconventional shots. This is what the director has done purposely, therefore only allowing us to view what the director wants us to see. However in film, the shots are far longer and therefore gives the audience time to think and maybe lose interest.

3.23)She says music video is more like listening than viewing - do you agree?

Not entirely. I think the track makes up the bulk of the music video but the images create a story which keeps the viewer interested and makes them want to watch and therefore listen on.

3.33)"We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame" - Agreed?

Yes. We fill in the blanks with our imagination of what we would expect or like to see in context with the music video.

3.37)

3.39)The audience are kept separate from the music video world making it seem more fantasy like and unrealistic. It therefore allows the music video to be a lot more far fetched and wild.

3.41)

4.1)

4.6)The constant motion in a music video and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The music video "brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us" - do you agree?

I think the CU is a stable point in the music video and it does revolve a lot around this. Usually the CU's are of the main singer of the band and as the music video is used to promote the band and track, the main singer is usually the focal point to advertise the band and remind the audience who they are watching.

4.12)Is the viewer "sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing"?

Yes. The order in which the shots of the music video are edited together allows for them to be interpreted in a certain way by the audience. The way shots are edited together can create totally different meanings to the audience from the same set of shots so really it is the editing that makes us create a story.

4.14) Music video is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective - agreed?
Not entirely. It allows a lot more imagination from the director due to its lack of rigid structure and story-line but in order for the audience to achieve this freer interpretation then they may need to watch it more than once.

5.6)Carol Vernallis believes the image alone cannot tell the story - do you agree?
Not entirely. Sometimes the images do create a story of their own but other times the lyrics and momentum of the music also need to be involved in order to give the story a meaning and sometimes even for it to make sense.

BLK feedback

Excellent research posts so far Loren, a really great start to your background work for this project. I love the genre and music video analysis work you have done, very impressive. We need to get you using/applying advanced theory more explicitly when you analyse music videos from now on, think Vernallis for now, although you will also need to get to grips with Goodwin in the new term.

Just a couple of things outstanding from last term that I would like you to resolve as soon as possible.

So your short term targets are:
1. Post the work you have done for Miss T on Vernallis (see her post on the main music video blog for specific details)
2. Post your track research/ideas – we need to see what tracks you have in mind for your own video
3. Put some inspirational/useful weblinks up

All instructions are on the main blog if you are not sure what you should have done. There will be a lot happening when term starts so the sooner this outstanding work is completed, the better.

A really great blog so far, keep up the good work and see you soon!