Taylor Swift - 22
The cinematography in the music video 22 by Taylor swift consists of a range of shots from long shots to close ups, the cinematography mainly focuses on the artist throughout all the clips making her center frame. This shows that she is the main star of the video as she is the center of attention. Richard Dyer's theory would show her as the star of the video. She is a commodity created by the institution to represent and embody certain ideologies. Taylor Swift shows that everyone goes times in their life where all they want to do is have fun and enjoy themselves. She wants to be an inspiration for the younger generation and show that grades and school isn't everything. Having fun along the way is important as well. There are over shoulder shots where she is looking back at the camera and singing to the camera this suggest that she’s hiding something due to her not facing it straight on. She is only showing the side of her that she wants to portray to the audience as we don't fully know her as a person. She doesn't act like she is doing all the time in the videos, behind the scenes she is hard working and dedicated to her work as the video only shows her partying and having fun. Throughout the video there is a lot of hand held camera this could be to disorientate the viewer or to put them in the position of actually being there. This helps get the viewer involved the moment and what is going on during the clip, it makes them feel like part of the group. This is a common camera shot used in pop music videos as it runs throughout the genre. There are a range of shots mostly including long shots and close ups they are commonly used throughout the video as it brings you up close to the artist and show them as a whole.
The mise en scene plays an important part in showing what is happening in the music video. The lyrics commonly link up to the visual on screen. For example when she sings “22" she uses her fingers to count out twenty two. She is linking the lyrics to what she is doing on screen. The locations in the videos consist of being at the beach, at a party, besides a poolside and being at a house full of friends having fun. I think that they have used these locations because they can be linked to the youth culture and having fun. The beach can be quite calming and relaxing as it is a common place for someone to go on holiday, this suggests that she is acting like she is on holiday having fun while she is young and has the time, parties are very common within younger years as it is when they can start drinking. In America the legal drinking age overall is 21, the title of the song is 22, this is a year after they are legal to drink, this shows that this is the age that they are finally legal to start partying and having fun acting like adults whilst still connecting to their youth. When at the house they are bouncing on a trampoline, this suggests that they are still children as heart. Throughout the video they are messing around, dressing up and partying. They use a lot of props throughout the video including a megaphone, pompoms, balloons, fairy lights and confetti etc. this links into American youth culture as they have cheerleading as a main sport where they use pompoms and megaphones. The clothing in the video is very young and trendy. It is very colourful and lots of sparkle. When they go out the clothing is very revealing, this is common for people to wear when they go out to a party or a club, this theme runs across most of the pop genre.The costume of the artist changes throughout the video as the locations change, when she is at the party she is wearing quite casual dress compared to when she is at the evening party where she is more dressed up, this shows what society expects from a female to get all dressed up and fancy just because she going out to a party where there are a lot of males, Laura Mulvey would suggest that she is doing this for the male attention in order to seem sexual to the male population. As the music video progresses it includes a range of different times of day. It starts off in the day time and finishes off at night time. This shows the development of time throughout the video showing what she likes to do during the day which consists of having fun with friends and dressing up to what she likes to engage in on the night time where she likes to go out like an adult, drinking and having fun in a more grown up way. However the use of alcohol and acting reckless provides the audience with a very negative look upon the artist as she is meant to be a role mode for young girls this shows someone being very irresponsible with alcohol, her jumping into the pool backwards whilst drunk and fully clothed could be a negative influence on younger teenagers by making it seem as if they have to be like this when they get older in order to have a good time.
Throughout the video the only editing that is used is cutting, it cuts between different shots throughout the entire video therefore showing that time is progressing. There is very little editing of the video throughout as in the pop genre it is not common to have a mixture of editing. The editing picks up pace as the soundtrack picks up the pace this reflects what is happening on the screen. The only sound within the video is the music track sung by Taylor Swift which has being overlaid on top of the clips. The lyrics talk about having fun and enjoying life to the fullest. The narrative/ story behind the lyrics, its about the summer that she had with her friends that she had that year and how she realised that she's in her 20's she's not old enough to settle down yet and she is enjoying herself and hanging out with friends as they are very important to her as an artist.
The mise en scene plays an important part in showing what is happening in the music video. The lyrics commonly link up to the visual on screen. For example when she sings “22" she uses her fingers to count out twenty two. She is linking the lyrics to what she is doing on screen. The locations in the videos consist of being at the beach, at a party, besides a poolside and being at a house full of friends having fun. I think that they have used these locations because they can be linked to the youth culture and having fun. The beach can be quite calming and relaxing as it is a common place for someone to go on holiday, this suggests that she is acting like she is on holiday having fun while she is young and has the time, parties are very common within younger years as it is when they can start drinking. In America the legal drinking age overall is 21, the title of the song is 22, this is a year after they are legal to drink, this shows that this is the age that they are finally legal to start partying and having fun acting like adults whilst still connecting to their youth. When at the house they are bouncing on a trampoline, this suggests that they are still children as heart. Throughout the video they are messing around, dressing up and partying. They use a lot of props throughout the video including a megaphone, pompoms, balloons, fairy lights and confetti etc. this links into American youth culture as they have cheerleading as a main sport where they use pompoms and megaphones. The clothing in the video is very young and trendy. It is very colourful and lots of sparkle. When they go out the clothing is very revealing, this is common for people to wear when they go out to a party or a club, this theme runs across most of the pop genre.The costume of the artist changes throughout the video as the locations change, when she is at the party she is wearing quite casual dress compared to when she is at the evening party where she is more dressed up, this shows what society expects from a female to get all dressed up and fancy just because she going out to a party where there are a lot of males, Laura Mulvey would suggest that she is doing this for the male attention in order to seem sexual to the male population. As the music video progresses it includes a range of different times of day. It starts off in the day time and finishes off at night time. This shows the development of time throughout the video showing what she likes to do during the day which consists of having fun with friends and dressing up to what she likes to engage in on the night time where she likes to go out like an adult, drinking and having fun in a more grown up way. However the use of alcohol and acting reckless provides the audience with a very negative look upon the artist as she is meant to be a role mode for young girls this shows someone being very irresponsible with alcohol, her jumping into the pool backwards whilst drunk and fully clothed could be a negative influence on younger teenagers by making it seem as if they have to be like this when they get older in order to have a good time.
Throughout the video the only editing that is used is cutting, it cuts between different shots throughout the entire video therefore showing that time is progressing. There is very little editing of the video throughout as in the pop genre it is not common to have a mixture of editing. The editing picks up pace as the soundtrack picks up the pace this reflects what is happening on the screen. The only sound within the video is the music track sung by Taylor Swift which has being overlaid on top of the clips. The lyrics talk about having fun and enjoying life to the fullest. The narrative/ story behind the lyrics, its about the summer that she had with her friends that she had that year and how she realised that she's in her 20's she's not old enough to settle down yet and she is enjoying herself and hanging out with friends as they are very important to her as an artist.
