Video Analysis.

This blog post is going to contain the analysis of two music videos that have been made by Lady Gaga, that go with her songs, when they are played on music channels, such as MTV. The Lady Gaga music videos that I am going to compare/analyse are: her first song and music video that were released, Just Dance and I am also going analyse, what could be described as her most we known video, Telephone which features Beyonce.

The first video that I am going to analyse is 'Just Dance'. The first thing that you notice straight away, as soon as the video starts playing is the boom box/beat box which is being placed on a table. Also in the beginning segment we can see a white limo pulling up and we can also see a group of people walking, carrying the boom box, with Lady Gaga, who is wearing a bright pink top. The main reason that I have mentioned these specific things is because these acts in this music video can make Lady Gaga comparable to Madonna, as they can remind some people of Madonna music videos. For example the boom box being in the video, and one of the first things you see is similar to one of her videos. Also the white limo pulling up in the beginning can make people think back and can be related to Madonna's 'Music' video, where one of the first things that we see is a limo and we can see it, throughout Madonna's video pulling in and on screen and then pulling out and going off screen, which also happens in the 'Just Dance' video.

The next thing is the group of people walking past with the boom box, and Lady Gaga in her pink top. This can be related to the 'Hung Up' music video by Madonna. This is because in the video we see Madonna walking along with a group of people who are also carrying a boom box, therefore making those two parts of the music videos quite similar. However, also in this video, as said before, Lady Gaga is wearing a bright pink and in Madonna's 'Hung Up' music video she is wearing the quite iconic pink leotard/body suit piece, and because these things are quite similar and some people may relate them, it can spark up the whole Madonna vs Lady Gaga argument/topic that I talked about in my last blog post.

This music video also follows the lyrics to song. For example in the actual song there is a line where Lady Gaga says "Where are my keys, I lost my phone, phone." To which the video responds with two girls on a bed tipping out the contents of their bag and looking for something. When the line is over, we can see them looking at/reading something off of a phone, therefore indicating to the viewer that they have found this phone. There are quite a lot of other moments during the video that correspond to the lyrics. This is quite a popular technique among artists, and there are many that do this, across many different genres, as we know that from my blog post about exploring music videos, that Eminem's music video 'Stan' also uses this technique as the video that we see is kind of narrated by the lyrics of the song.

Another thing that I noticed during this video is that there is a guest appearance by the artist Akon. We know that she is also signed to his label, and that they are apart of interscope records. Anyway, the appearance from Akon, could mean that when people first saw this video and didn't really know who she was might have seen him, and if they were a fan of him and his music, they might have listened to the song or her music and they might have even followed her and her music, to see if they enjoyed it more as they know that she was kind of working with Akon, and they might like his work. This could possibly have increased her viewing numbers and even possibly her fan base or numbers, just because if her association with Akon.

There was also another common music element that I noticed whilst watching and analysing the music video was a little bit of possible product endorsement. During the video, on the floor, wear a pair of headphone however they we positioned so that we could see the label and recognise them, they were in fact Beats By Dre, which are a brand of high quality headphones that are created by Dr. Dre. This could also have increased Lady Gaga's popularity as this could have inspired fans of Dr.Dre to possibly listen to her music, or check her out. This could have also increased her popularity with different brands as they might have seen the headphones in the video and thought that if she was willing to have them in her video they might she be alright with them promoting their products within her future music videos.

This music video has a theme of a classic party scene running through it. It is as though she arrived at party, during the beginning of her music video and that they have just stayed and parted throughout the song and the night. It could be said that this then kind of communicated with the viewers or the audience, that when they here this song they should be at a party, or make sure that they have this song playing when they are at or having a party. It could also be interpreted in a different way and to some other people it could give off the meaning that whenever they hear this song that should do what the song says by 'just dancing'. But I think that whichever way you look at it, that this song can give out different meanings to do with the subject matter within her video, whether it is just dancing or having a party etc.

One of the main things that goes on in the music video is that there is a dance routine going on. This is kinda of a popular trait within music videos and it could be said specifically with pop artists. This dance routine consists of three dancers, including Lady Gaga who is in the centre. Also, towards the end of the song, when the beat kind of breaks down there are certain dance moves and little actions that Lady Gaga does, which again kind of narrate the video, however this time with the beat. These kind of dance routines could also be a way of communicating with the audience, I think because if there are fans of her then they may even take the time to learn the dance moves and include or perform then whenever they hear this song, in a way allowing them and the artist to kind of communicate.

This can then lead to the topic of the genre of the music video. There are many components, I believe, within the music that can all lead towards this video going under a certain genre. This genre, I think would mainly pop, but possibly more specifically disco pop. There are many things, that have been mentioned above that can lead to this kind of conclusion. For example, the dance routines, the kind of party scene, as well as the comparisons with Madonna ( the said Queen of Pop). Other things can include the beat box saying the word 'disco' on it as well as another kind of comment element of music videos, writing on the mirror with something like lipstick, and in this case it says dance. Therefore I think that these could lead to possibly communicating with the audience as well as also pointing towards what kind of genre this music video would be placed under.

The link for this music video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Abk1jAONjw&ob=av2e

The second music video, of Lady Gaga's, that I looked at was: 'Telephone'

The first thing that you notice about this music video is that it is already quite different to her first one. This video starts off a lot like a film, they have kind of credits coming onto the screen that include the title of the song/video; telephone. They also say who is starring in the music video as well as who actually helped with the making of the music video itself.

Throughout the video, when it changes either to a different scene or location, the telephone dial, that was used in the titles/credits, kind of sweeps across the screen to make this transition smoother. I think that it could be a good idea and think that we all think we might use the same idea if having the music video kind of set out like a bit of a movie as Lady Gaga has done this in quite a few of her newer videos, so this video may be a good reference when it comes to deciding things like that.

Another little effect that we see at the beginning of the video, that also adds to the film feel of the video, is that during the time that Lady Gaga, or her character, is walking in to the jail/down the corridor, we see this through the viewpoint of a cctv camera, and we also have the effects of a cctv camera, making it feel again a lot like a film. These kinda of effect may also be a good thing that we could possibly use when it comes to actually making our music video.

There is one thing that does appear in this video, that was present in the previous 'Just Dance' music video, and that is the boom box/beat box. However this time it comes into play in the exercise yard of the jail. This can kind of be one of those iconic pieces that we may see in many of her music video, and which could possibly end up becoming one of the things that in a way represents her. I think that this could also give us the idea to use in our music video, that we should possibly carry one or a couple of over items over from one shot or scene to another to kind of have this relationship with her actual music videos.

Another thing that happens in this music video, that also happened in the previously analysed video, was even more product endorsement.This time though, there was more than item within the video. Again we had the Beats By Dre, however this time they were actually the Lady Gaga, versions of these headphones, which I believe they may have worked on together, these are called HeartBeats. Another form of product endorsement was with the Virgin LG mobile phone, that was placed with a character to which Lady Gaga then reached and took off of her, just when over the speaker it was said that there was a call for Lady Gaga, which could then have made some viewers think that it may have had something to do or may involve that phone. This product endorsement could possibly lead to the purchase of these different product which then eventually increase the popularity, even more so, of Lady Gaga, and because of this, it could also be said that this is another way in which she communicates with her audience or fans.

In the previous video we had like a fashion comparison between the pink that Lady Gaga was wearing and the pink that Madonna was wearing. However in this music video there is another little kind of comparison we make, but this time not to Madonna. In this video when she is in the jail she is wearing these coke cans in her hair, this may have been new to some people however it has been researched and spotted that this has been done before on a couple of occasions; this fashion statement has been worn by the likes of Tyra Banks and also Ashley Olsen, when they have been modelling. This could then mean that Lady Gaga possibly likes to use things that have been done in the past ad that may be things that she liked about those times, I think that this may possibly be a good thing to research and find things that maybe she hasn't done yet and that maybe we could use during our music video.

Also during this music video there are many telephones popping up throughout. There are many times when Lady Gaga is actually on/using a telephone. Other times she actually has one in and made out of hair, she also wears a blue hat that has a telephone on it which she actually uses to narrate some of the lyrics into, there is also another time nearing the end of the video where Beyonce is, just like Lady Gaga, narrating the lyrics into and actual telephone. This can kind of therefore be putting more emphasis on the song and this could also therefore with radio play etc make the song get known and become remembered and possibly make it one of those very iconic songs with that again iconic music video. Also when they are using these telephones and narrating the chorus throughout the music video, when the song kind of has a stutter effect, they have used some effects that makes the actual image on the screen stutter with the song, kind of increasing the narrative technique that is used throughout this music video.

There is also a break in this video when Lady Gaga has just come out of jail where she meets up with Beyonce in the vehicle. This again makes the music video make you feel as though you are watching a film, as the song basically cuts out and then you just have them talking. This happens again later on in the music video when they are at the restaurant and also the cooking sequence, making it feel slightly a little more dramatic as without hearing the song in the video at those moments it becomes a little more serious. I believe that this can then increase the audience of the music video as it does become like a little/short movie, and it can therefore attract many different types of people, with different psychographics, demographics and socio-economic classifications, because of the brilliance of this video and how it has been put together and is entertaining as well as many different people being told about it through word of mouth, and also these social networking sites that we talked about in the previous blog post.

It then turns back in to a music video, obviously when the song comes back into it, but we are also presented with a dance routine. However this time, unlike the previous routines, we are greeted with a whole group of people, including the two artists. This can then turn this back into a pop video. Although this dance routine is slightly different than others as we can see that Lady Gaga and Beyonce are dressed in very patriotic clothing that also resemble superheroes. This makes this part of the music video very unique and also memorable, as a lot of people will remember the dance routine and the outfits that they wore during this part of the music video. As said before this then bring the music video out of the film type feel that we got before and almost dives straight back in to telling us that this is a pop music video.

Then comes the ending of this music video which leads from another segment where we have no song and just the talking making it feel like a film again. This then has the two artists leaving the story and the music video driving off down the road in their van, which is like a typical kind of cheesy movie ending. We are then actually greeted with a screen that says 'To Be Continued' which in a way grabs the viewers interest as you can't but wonder when this video will be continued and we are eager to see it. Again carrying on with the film like theme the music video finally ends with even more credits rolling up the screen, still going on the theme of making this music video feel a lot like a little short movie. It could possibly say that even though this is a pop video it could have in a way possibly created its own genre due to the fact that there were some many film like techniques and things in it that it shouldn't really be classed as a music video.

The link to this music video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBsypHzF3U

And those were the two Lady Gaga music video that I analysed.