Music Video Analysis

1)
Lady GaGa - Telephone ft. Beyonce

"Lady GaGa - Telephone" Video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund. This Music video is a little different to an average three minute video with it being over nine minutes long. The main point/style of this video is telling a story set in a Jail although i find the lyrics don’t tell the story in which were told.The Editing plays a big of this video. As well as normal shots in the Prison scenes there are shots of CCTV which are shows us the scene in a different perspective, perhaps as a Guard at the Prison. During the Prison scene of GaGa in her Cell they also use stills edited so the show her in different places within seconds this is a great effect and editing technique to this style of video.

Andrew Goodwin identified that "There is likely to be reference to Voyeurism, particularly in women, but also in terms of systems of looking". All of this can be seen just within the Prison scene with GaGa dancing in her underwear, dressed in only a Police "Crime Scene Do Not Cross" tape. She is also seen completely naked during the Opening Scene. GaGas quirky dress sense and style is something which got her known and makes her Music Videos so popular.

The story in the Music Video shows a real life situation from Prison to leaving to becoming a criminal again. But there are transitions between shots which make the real life situation almost fake and cartoon like with the use of Animation such as a skull, stars and subtitles as well as split screens within the shots.

One of the stand-out effects used within the video are Stop Motion Key Frames which use a forward and backward motion within the beat of the song to create an effect which make a still image look like its moving.

Although the majority of the video is a story, the video is brought back to something which we see Lady GaGa as, a performer. After the Diner scene the video moves on to a performance by GaGa and Beyonce performing a choreographed dancing.

Telephone Video

2)
Katy Perry - California Gurls

“Katy Perry – California Gurls" This video was directed by Mathew Cullen. The video is very fictional, the video is mostly animated using Green Screen. The opening scene sets out the story of the Music video which is seen to be some sort of board game “Candyfornia”, Snoop Dog is the game master throughout the video controlling what happens to Katy Perry in “Candyfornia”.

Animation is key to this video. Although the whole video is completely computerised the use CGI to add depth to the video, for example in the images below. Gummy bears are seen walking and being obscene and evil. We also see a Gingerbread Man who moves. There are other pieces CGI used for movement like bubblegum bubbles and Jelly. These just add to the video to make it fictional and uplifting much like the song.

There are two scenes in the video which change the juxtapostion from the child-like imagery and add an adult context. In the first scene, Katy is seen competly naked kicking her legs in pink clouds above the "Candyland". Although this could interpreted as a sexual scene she is infact playing with the fact that she is naked and its not used in a serious manner, more playful. This again can be seen in another seen where Katy is squirting cream from her chest which completly plays with Andrew Goodwins reference "There is likeley to be reference to Voyeurism" again this seen could be completly perceived as highly sexual but the way the scene is set and the face Katy Perry pulls you can tell she is having a joke with the whole perception of women wearing next-to-nothing. The style of these scenes are something which we see in Katy Perrys persona when on TV.

The editing on this video is very basic due to the high intensity of what’s going on in the video with the CGI that’s its not needed. the whole video is story based and doesn’t link to the Lyrics about the girls of California instead its about Candy but its witty just like the song so it somewhat fits with the vibe of Katy Perry.

California Gurlz Video

3)
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

“Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling" Video was Directed by Mike Mee. It is based around a House party. The opening and closing scenes in this video show the transition on hoe the night started from shots of people getting ready and walking through the streets to the party. The closing shots show them leaving after their “Good Night” which links between the Lyrics and Visuals as Andrew Goodwin said “there is a relationship between the Lyrics and the Visuals”.

The editing in this video its simple with no effect added just a plain transition from one cut to the next, these cut between clips are quick cut to the beat of the song. There are two effects seen a couple times in the video. Slow Motion can be seen several times during the party which allow us to see the motion and the enjoyment the people in the party are having. The other effect which is used is a stop motion key frame with a backwards and forwards motion. This effect is becoming popular with the dance style of music video and in this video it is used within beats of the song.

The video uses a lot of effects which aren’t computer enhanced. One of the biggest sets it the “Rave” scene where people of the party are painted with UV Paint. The extras all have green hands whilst the Band all have individual face designs with the paint to allow them to stand out during the Rave scenes. The room would have had to of used UV Lighting to allow the camera to pick this up and with the Lighting strobe light is also used and you can see a snippet of the Rave scene in normal light unpainted then goes back to painted.

I Gotta Feeling Video