Section 3: Close analysis of 2 professional music videos

Paolo Nutini-New Shoes

Genre:
The genre of 'New Shoes' by Paolo is acoustic. The artist performs in his own video but he doesn't play his instrument in it which is unusual for an acoustic artist. The video has a slight narrative in which he wakes up, puts on his new shoes, goes and parties and goes outside because he feels confident now he is wearing his new shoes. This links to the lyrics.

Narrative:
The song is about a man (Paolo) who wakes up and feels something is missing so he puts on his new shoes and everything is fine, and he has a good time. The video also shows the artist's grown confidence now that he has his new shoes on because he walks down the middle of the road singing and dancing. The video has a linear narrative, and is a performance video aswell.

Binary oppositions:
New/Old
Cartoon/Reality
Boy/Girl
Morning/Night

Mise-en-scene:
The start of the video begins with an animation of the camera rolling down the road which links to Paolo walking down the middle of the street throughout the video. A set of titles introduce the video and the artist which give it more of a short film feel rather than a typical music video. All the people in the video wear casual clothing to give a relaxed and down to earth look. Also Paolo's leather jacket signifies that he is cool and his new shoes make him look attractive, shown by the interest he is getting from the girls in the video. In the video there is a tramp (shown through his tatty clothes) which Paolo associates himself with, by patting him on the back, this signifies that he doesn't care about poverty (lyrics-'short of money'). The way that the artist walks down the street, now that he has his new shoes on, shows that he has become bold and brave. In the bedroom there is a guitar on the bed to relate to the genre of music- accoustic.

Editing:
The titles roll in from the side. There is also a match-on-action shot from Paolo closing the fridge door and opening his wardobe door. Little lights are used as an animation to float around Paolo to make his new shoes look that bit more special. This effect would have been put on after.

Audience:
Girls or teenagers would be the main audience of this video because they may find the artist attractive. The video also has a fun and party theme, which could influence that side of the audience into liking the video.

Camera/Cinematography:
There is a point of view shot of Paolo looking into the kitchen at the partying people to make it feel like we are there and involved. A hand held shot in the party also does this, and could also signify the drunken stumbling from the party members. At the start of the video there is an aerial shot to show the messy room and Paolo as the centre of attention. A pull focus is used to show a point of view of him focusing on the time, matching the lyrics in the song.

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift:

Genre:
American pop/country music

Narrative:
The video foregrounds Tayor's performance of the song. Performance combines with narrative, often merging the two together in the same scene.

The narrative of the story is that of a young teenage girl who is in love with an attractive teenaged boy and in the end she gets the boy. It has all the typical American-esque stereotypes that are associated with high school, the girl is part of the 'marching band' making her a geek of the school and the boy is on the football team making him a 'popular' kid. The boy's girlfriend (who is actually played by Taylor again, but wearing a wig) is head cheerleader which therefore makes her part of the popular kids too.

Beginning:
The two are talking across houses via placards about life in general.

Middle:
The main girl sees the nice boy going out with his 'slaggy' girlfriend.

End:
The main girl ends up going to prom, after telling him she has too much homework and can't make it, she eventually plucks up the courage to show the boy the placard baring the words 'I love you' on them to find out that the boy in fact has the same placard with the same words written on them but in his own hand writing, and she ends up with the boy of her dreams and the 'slaggy' girl ends up with nothing!

The narrative is generally linear, however it does contain lots of ellipsis and jump cuts to show the passing of time.

Binary Opposites:
Geeks vs Slags
Bandies vs Cheerleaders
Scruffy vs Fashionable
Blonde vs Brunette
Innocence vs Experience
Love vs Lust

Meanings:
Don't judge a book by its cover.
Be confident.
Take risks and life is usually rewarding.
Be yourself.

Media Language:
Mise En Scene.
Locations:
Houses, personal bedrooms, school, football field, prom hall, and in a nice red car.
The sets and locations are all stereotypical 'high school girl' locations, like for example the prom hall is all decorated, and her room is very girlie with posters and pictures and light pinks everywhere. Whereas the boy's room is very guy-like with American footballs lying around and American football jerseys. In the prom scene the 'slaggy' girl wears a bright red dress which automatically has pejorative connotations to it, and the dress is very low cut, whereas Taylor Swift's character comes in with her angel-like, white dress with long wavy blonde hair and she looks stunning.

Editing:
The editing throughout is generally linear, except for the scene in her bedroom where we are presented with a lot of jump cuts to show the passing of time and also the different outfits that Taylor Swift's character has in her wardrobe, also a very stereotypical way to perceive a young teenaged girl, obsessed with clothes, shoes, hats and make-up.

Audience:
The audience is generally girls, teenaged girls who have a very fairy-tale view on love and friendship. Its shows the right girl ending up with the boy of her dreams and she 'lives happily ever after.' It's every girls dream come true ending.