Music Video Analysis - Bad Blood, Taylor Swift

5 key elements of a music video:

1. Media language - effect of camerawork, editing, lighting, sound and mise-en-scene 
2. Genre - how does the video link to the music genre?
3. Audience
4. Narrative
5. Representation - how is the artist represented? 

Media Language in Taylor Swift's Bad Blood Video

Mise-en-scene

• Lighting is constantly dark but light enough to see Taylor and her friend's faces
• Location is in various places in various places in London which references typical science-fiction locations in media texts (an urban city)

• The costumes and make up are all dark colours so it's as if they're trying to blend in with their environment; it matches the revengeful elements of the song
• As well as this, (with the exception of one character), all of the character's costumes look similar which indicates that they're all on the same team

• Despite their dark costumes, they all have feminine qualities, e.g. Taylor applying her lipstick at the beginning

• There's lots of emphasis on the sound of their heels clicking on the ground as they're training
• They all have a weapon of some sort which doesn't reflect the pop genre of the song but matches the narrative of the video

• At the beginning, one of the female characters has a cigar which is a prop commonly used by men in power. This makes Lena Dunham's character seem powerful and enforces the women empowerment message of the video.

Editing

• Lots of CGI added to complete the music video and give it the effect of a Hollywood blockbuster film, e.g. explosions in the background 

• The use of slow motion has been thoroughly used throughout and mainly on Taylor's screen time to prolong the amount of time she's shown for. It also succeeds in creating an action-adventure effect on the audience.
• Taylor is always in the shot, even when the focus is on someone else, e.g. when she's kicked out the window, the audience is able to see her face in the reflection of the glass. This puts emphasis on Taylor and her image.

• The triumph of editing makes the characters seem as if they know what they're doing throughout, even though their screen time is relatively short. 

Camerawork

• Establishing shot of a city to introduce the genre of the film as well as the location.

• Constant close ups of Taylor and the other character's faces to introduce both their image and their character
• Taylor is almost always in the shot as this promotes her artistry to her fans. It also puts emphasis on the fact that she's the star of this video.
  

• Tracking shots at the beginning of her body which objectifies her body under the 'male gaze'. This proves Godwin's theory of music videos as it comes under voyeurism .

Genre

• Like action-adventure films, it's quite a glossy video with a big budget and is reliant upon high quality editing.
• It's atypical for a music video since it closely resembles a film instead of a 'normal' music video.
• However there are performance elements which brings it back to it's pop genre.

• As well as this, there's a discreet emphasis on her costume and make up which is common for pop genre videos.
• Like with most pop genre videos, the artist gets the maximum amount of screen time which is apparent throughout the video with roughly 2 minutes and 50 seconds screen time, while her characters have up to 15 seconds each.

Audience effect

• The audience (especially teenage girls and young adults) will feel somewhat empowered after watching the girls be the superheroes for once.

• Also feel part of the team since the audience is introduced to everyone in the video. This enhances the communication between Taylor and her fans.
• Moments of tension for the fans to see Taylor's new edgier image that involved violence - something she's never been associated with.

• The audience enjoy it as a mini-movie, not just a music video.

Narrative

• The audience can see Taylor and her friends' faces so they know to trust them, whereas you don't see the faces of the other side so they know that they're bad.

• The audience are able to see what's happening through signs and symbols, e.g. the weapons they're holding represents a fight. Since they're on the same side, the audience can decipher that they're in training and not fighting each other.

• Can see intertextuality; there are links to the Hunger Games, Divergent, Tron and multiple more.

The bike from Tron (pictured above) and the bikes from Bad Blood.

• She's representing other women and female empowerment which reflects the current zeitgeist.

Representation

• The representation of the girls being shown as physically strong and violent is atypical.
• Despite the strong image, there's still typically feminine elements to their characters, e.g. Taylor applying her lipstick and the dramatic sound of their heels on the hard ground.
• There's lots of eye contact with the camera which is Taylor confidently addressing the audience directly.

• The girls are seen as strong as men as Taylor and Selena are seen fighting them in the beginning. As well as this, 
• Taylor shares a split screen with Kendrick Lamar at the beginning and later on, is in front of him in the shot they share together. This represents her power.