Music Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY
Music Video Analysis: Single Ladies – Beyoncé
Artist: Beyoncé
Song Title: Single Ladies
Director: Jake Nava
Release Date: 12th October 2008
Genre: Dance-Pop
Label: Columbia Records
The music video was released on YouTube on the 2nd
October 2009 almost a year after the track was released. It would’ve also been
available on the record labels website and the artist Facebook page.
Almost all of the mainstream music channels would’ve played
this music video as it was seen worldwide. The larger recognisable distributors
of this music video being MTV Base/Hits/Dance, Kiss, and Big Top 40 show etc.
The video is a performance based video essentially. It is
about women and their independence so arguably begins to fall in the debate of
post-feminist and feminist music video. The main idea is that women should
celebrate their independence because they can do fine by themselves. As it is
performance based it does not tell a story or convey an idea but gives visual
aid to the audience watching and listening to the music video.
The camera and editing techniques present are in the few
however it is because of this they are so effectively used. The camera tends to
generally stick to a long shot so you can see all of the dancers and the artist
herself, however the use of the camera panning, movement and some angle change keeps the
audience engaged as they feel as though nothing is hidden from them possibly
making it more interpersonal as well as pleasing. The whole video is in black
and white. While this may be visually unappealing it means that the audience
then focuses on the actual performance by both artist and back up dancers
instead of just the main artist. It is important to note that because he artist
is female this would closely link into the theory of the male gaze. By making
it black and white all the women in the music video are equal as you cannot
tell any immediate differences between them.
The mise en scene of the artist is pretty simple. She wears
a black one piece outfit almost similar to the one the back-up dancers wear. This
subverts from the idea in the video of women and their independence however
stereotypically adheres to that of a pop video. They are made to look highly
sexualised. The last item is a metal gauntlet the main artist wears with a “Ring
on It”. This is placed not only to give the artist individuality but ties in
with the theme of the music video and title.
The target audience for the music video would be fans of the
artist, which is a large mainstream fan base. Also as a result of the choreography
there would be an even larger target audience. As usual fans of both the pop
and dance genre would be part of the target audience. As the
song was at the top of the charts this suggests that the song is more
mainstream therefore the target audience for this video is a lot wider. Audiences would watch this video mainly
because they like the track and artist in addition the simplicity of the music
video works well with the audio making it a successful music video. The Uses
and Gratification Theory offers some reasons for why audiences would watch
these videos such as; to relax, escaping from problems, filling time, finding a
basis for conversation and social interaction, satisfying curiosity and general
interest, getting intrinsic, cultural or aesthetic enjoyment, to connect with
society and emotional release. The main reason mostly social interaction as
this video was widely popular and aesthetic enjoyment which again links to the theory
of the male gaze.
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