representations of characters in music videos

Representations In Music Videos

Leave Before The Lights Come On – Arctic Monkeys

What is representation?

• Representation is a way in which a group of people are shown in the piece of media. These can be shown through stereotypes or even create stereotypes. Some examples of this are in music videos. In rap videos, the women (“Gangsta hoes”) are often shown in minimal clothing while doing provocative dancing or stood in a provocative way.

Characters In The Music Video

Click on one the text boxes

Mise en scene Camera angles/shots

Editing


Editing

Mise en scene

• The clothing this character is wearing is very casual but not too casual, this could suggest he is walking back from work (1). For the whole of the video he is seen as an innocent man who is helping out a woman who is in distress (2), he does soon become annoyed after the woman in the video keeps pestering him (3) however, besides that he comes across as being calm.

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Camera Angles/Shots• Most if not all the camera angles that involve the male character

are either mid shots or close ups, this is mainly done to see his facial reaction as the stuff the woman does are very forward and unexpected (1). When the woman starts trying to fight the man and he pushes her into a fence the shot is a high angle shot (2), this is done to show who is the more dominant in this scene and who is more important; this is shown through the high angle shot as the perception of height is seen as being more dominant. When the man is walking away from the woman he is fore grounded while she is being blurred out, this is to give all the attention to the male character as he is walking away from the woman (3). This is followed by a close up to see his reaction to everything that has happened.

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Editing

• The main type of editing that occurs in this music video are jump cuts and it only misses out a few seconds. This is done to make the video shorter then it would end up to be. Another type of editing that occurs with the male character is parallel shot (1). This is to show what happens in another persons view but at the same time of the original shot. The shot occurs when the man has talked the woman down from jumping off the building and they are hugging. The camera shows the facial expression of the woman but then jumps to the mans face to show what he was like. This is done to show multiple shots of the same time.

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Mise en scene

• The clothing that the woman is wearing is very casual clothing which could suggest that she is unemployed. Her skin tone is very pale which could say that she is not well or that she is upset over something. This is all done to make her come across as being quite a weak character and that she needs to be with someone which is shown throughout the rest of the video as after she is turned down by the man who originally saved her, she went back to the building to drop her shoe off in front of another man (1).

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Camera Angles/Shots

• The camera shots that include the woman are mainly close ups and mid shots, like it was for the man, however, most of the shots that include both characters are looking down and the woman which means that she is of less importance then the male character (1). A lot of the camera shots in this music video are over the shoulder of the woman character, this suggests that she is the protagonist in the video but the way she is treated would suggest otherwise (2).

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Editing

• The editing with the woman is very similar to what happens to the male character (Click here) as they are in most scenes together, however, in the scenes where it is just the woman, for example, when she is stood on top of the building (1), the footage has been sped up to give it the feel that a lot is going through her mind on what she is implying on doing. This could suggest that she is not well or that she is lonely and would like to be with somebody which is a small representation of women that exists but not to all.

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Characters In The Music Video

*Click on one the boxes


Editing


Editing

Mise en scene

• The clothing this character is wearing is very casual but not too casual, this could suggest he is walking back from work (1). For the whole of the video he is seen as an innocent man who is helping out a woman who is in distress (2), he does soon become annoyed after the woman in the video keeps pestering him (3) however, besides that he comes across as being calm.

Home

Camera Angles/Shots• Most if not all the camera angles that involve the male character

are either mid shots or close ups, this is mainly done to see his facial reaction as the stuff the woman does are very forward and unexpected (1). When the woman starts trying to fight the man and he pushes her into a fence the shot is a high angle shot (2), this is done to show who is the more dominant in this scene and who is more important; this is shown through the high angle shot as the perception of height is seen as being more dominant. When the man is walking away from the woman he is fore grounded while she is being blurred out, this is to give all the attention to the male character as he is walking away from the woman (3). This is followed by a close up to see his reaction to everything that has happened.

Home

Editing

• The main type of editing that occurs in this music video are jump cuts and it only misses out a few seconds. This is done to make the video shorter then it would end up to be. Another type of editing that occurs with the male character is parallel shot (1). This is to show what happens in another persons view but at the same time of the original shot. The shot occurs when the man has talked the woman down from jumping off the building and they are hugging. The camera shows the facial expression of the woman but then jumps to the mans face to show what he was like. This is done to show multiple shots of the same time.

Home

Mise en scene

• The clothing that the woman is wearing is very casual clothing which could suggest that she is unemployed. Her skin tone is very pale which could say that she is not well or that she is upset over something. This is all done to make her come across as being quite a weak character and that she needs to be with someone which is shown throughout the rest of the video as after she is turned down by the man who originally saved her, she went back to the building to drop her shoe off in front of another man (1).

Home

Camera Angles/Shots

• The camera shots that include the woman are mainly close ups and mid shots, like it was for the man, however, most of the shots that include both characters are looking down and the woman which means that she is of less importance then the male character (1). A lot of the camera shots in this music video are over the shoulder of the woman character, this suggests that she is the protagonist in the video but the way she is treated would suggest otherwise (2).

Home

Editing

• The editing with the woman is very similar to what happens to the male character (Click here) as they are in most scenes together, however, in the scenes where it is just the woman, for example, when she is stood on top of the building (1), the footage has been sped up to give it the feel that a lot is going through her mind on what she is implying on doing. This could suggest that she is not well or that she is lonely and would like to be with somebody which is a small representation of women that exists but not to all.

Home

Mise en scene page

Mise en scene (1)

Mise en scene page

Mise en scene (2)

Mise en scene page

Mise en scene (3)

Camera Angles/Shots page

Camera Angles/Shots (1)

Editing (1)

Editing

Mise en scene (1)

Mise en scene page

Editing (1)

Editing page