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Tuesday 4 October 2011

Types of music video : Narrative



Cinematography : Throughout the video a lot of Close ups are used on the characters as this allows us to denote their feelings at the time, the first close up is during the shot reverse shot when our characters meet, it forshadows happiness as everyone is smiling however this idea is shown to be wrong later in the video through a number of flashbacks and song lyrics. During the video depending whos in the shot Gwen Stefani or the male actor are always between the power points of the screen and when both in the same shot they often share the centre of the screen together this connotes their importance while it always connotes the males partner is inferrior to Stepfani and her relationship towards the man. This is shown numerous times throughout for exmple at 0:45.0:56,2:2. In this video there is a variety of shots mostly consiting of close ups and long shots, overall the shot types used are basic but effective.

Editing : At the begining it cuts between Gwen Stefani and a couple walking when Stefani opens the door a shot reverse shot is used to show the emotion between the trio. This technique(shot revser shot) has been used throughout the video a number of times each time denoting the feelings of the characters used in them it is often a shot reverse shot between Stefani and the male actor playing her Ex in the video, through these shots we connote that she still has feelings for him which contradicts the chorus of the song as she sings 'I know we're cool'. Another technique used throughout is flashbacks between the pair (Stepfani and the Man) this links to the lyrics as shes singing about history of what they ust to have and how they are now however through the flashbacks used it just conforms more to the contradiction of her Chorus to what were seeing as it shows them always having a good time together.

Mise en scene : props,costumes
There are a number of different settings used in this video for example at the starts two characters are walking on a large estate which then changes to the inside of a building and from there through numerous flashbacks takes us all the place for example at 0:57 they are infront of a river and at 1:02 they are in some feilds. The number of settings for this video is a real strength of it as it shows the pair (stefani and the male actor) have history which links in to the songs lyrics. As far as props go besides the interier of her house there isn't many which is a disapointment however because of the narrtive in the video being based around her and the man props aren't crucial unlike other videos. A number of costumes are used during the video as it shows time has moved on from each flashback and that its a different day.

Relationship between lyrics and video :
While the lyrics and video conform to Gwen Stefani's predominant genre of pop, which can be denoted through the visual images and colours used as they are all bold and bright connoting happiness and joy a basic stereotype of the pop genre. The actually lyrics when compared to the video however tend to subvert each other and cause a contrast effect reflecting real life slightly as sometimes we have to pretend were happy for other people's happiness. I think this point allows people to relate to the song and video which is a key selling point for any artist.

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