Throughout the video, beginning with the first shot in which the artist introduces herself, she appears mysterious and enigmatic. She appears this way due to the small lens, and extreme close up of her face in the darkness which reveals only a few of her features, predominantly focusing on her mouth to present herself as the artist singing to the audience. Although the audience can see very little, she appears beautiful and feminine through her dark red lips and large eyes enhanced through her make-up. The glamorization of women in music videos is a typical feature expected across all genres, and typically women are portrayed as more promiscuous and are treated more voyeuristically, which is a key narrative convention common within music videos according to Goodwins narrative theory. However, within this music video, there is no notion of the male gaze present, as the artist is hardly exposed at all throughout the entire music video, and the camera tends to focus on her facial features or a long shot of her entire body, instead of focusing in on her feminine appeal.
Rather than remaining passive, the artist is actively engaging with the audience by looking directly into the camera, in some shots almost intimidatingly, such as in this example screenshot. Her eyes merge into the rest of the sky, as if she is Godlike and omnipresent, presenting her as powerful and judging, and above all men.This idea is emphasised within the opening shot, of a statue above what we can assume to be a tomb, due to the grave yard setting from which she appears, which appears similar to iconic religious symbols such as the 'Angel of Mercy' who is a religious symbol of caring, hope and selfless love. This statue stands alone overlooking her surroundings, showing how she as an artist is strong and powerful, without threats from others, perhaps symbolically reflecting her confidence within her music and an individual artist. However, a more likely interpretation of this is how she feels she is alone and abandoned, isolated from the rest of society which is a more stero-typical characteristic of a female that is often presented within music videos.
The latter idea is re-enforced in the following shot, whereby it shows a statue of a women, crying besides a grave stone, surrounded by darkness and mist, connoting the idea that this woman's past and story is unknown and unclear, but that her circumstances have left her alone and the darkness is approaching her, perhaps being a symbol again for the artists own isolation and feeling of loneliness and sorrow. |
| The artists face is faintly visible within the right hand corner |
Women are often presented in music videos as nurturing and gentle as it is stereo-typically seen as part of a woman's nature, and how the ideal women should therefore behave, and by conforming to such roles, they therefore appeal to a wider audience, by appealing to not only men who therefore see the artist as the 'ideal woman' but to other females who aspire for role models, meaning women are still heavily stero-typed in this way within music videos.
It is for only a brief moment in the music video that we see the artist herself as a person, in which she is the center of a shot, surrounded by birds eye close up shots of her playing the instrument. Close up's of the artists playing are another feature commonly used within music video's as identified by Goodwin, as it shows the artists true capabilities, so that the audience are reminded that she as an artist is successful and a talented musician and this is what she wants to present herself to the audience as. By portraying her as human for a brief moment, it makes her appear much more fragile and brings a sense of realism to the far fetched and imaginative video, as if to bring home the idea that the video is a meaningful symbol to the artist, and is relevant to her personally so that the audience can relate and sympathize with her. By allowing the audience to sympathize with her it breaks down the power relationships between artist and audience, and allows the audience to feel as if they have an established personal relationship with the artist, which is often achieved through frequent close ups of the artists looking into the lens of the camera, as if straight into the audience.
However, after we see her as a person, the shot fades into one whereby she is presented as a skeleton, symbolizing how although she appears normal at a glance, she is internally dead. This again portrays her as vulnerable and weak compared to the strong angelic figure we see at the beginning, so that the audience feel that as the video progresses the true feelings of the artist are revealed as the song and lyrics progress. The editing itself is also feminine, with no hard fast cuts, but instead, cross fades are used throughout to give the video a soft and gentle flow, helping to construct her as delicate and cautious, as women are stereo-typed to behave. The concept of the video therefore conforms to many stereo-types of women, as any portrayal of her being strong and powerful are undermined by later images of her being isolated and weak.
However, one still from the video can completely change how the audience views how the artist is represented. In this still, the artist appears to be slightly demonic, with multiple legs out stretched and at the center of the shot as if the audience cannot escape her. With brief shots of ghostly men that appear and then vanish, it could be interpreted that she is alone because she has lured men to her, which is visually portrayed in the still as herself as a spider, as if luring her into her web. However, as she is alone in the video, is suggests that she lures men, and then disposes of them, making her appear powerful and threatening and completely alters the original interpretation of the character, so that the audience are left unsure about the artists true intentions making her appear slightly enigmatic.
This concept is also reflected within our own music video, in the way that Holly our main protagonist sets herself up at the beginning of the music video to be strong, confident, and set out to begin her day. For example, she puts her shoes on, and cycles, knowing the exact direction and location she is headed both on the bicycle and in her life.
When she then bumps into Joe (played by Felix) , she uses renowned stereo-typical feminine body language to spark Joe's attention and lure him in, as shown by the screen shot of Holly tucking her hair behind her ear in a flirtatious manner. Joe is as a result flustered and left love struck by Holly, and the two's relationship begins to blossom.
This idea is strongly re-enforced when the shot from our video reveals Holly and Joe in bed in Holly's room, and Holly caresses him with her feet, and it is apparent that she has managed to reel Joe in. This is implied by Joe's feet being shown in the bed, however they look insignificant and marginalised, within the long shot of the feminine room that is used, and the bars at the end of the bed symbolising Joe's entrapment. Holly is also seen to 'dispose' of Joe, when he begins to bore her, by ignoring his calls and arguing with him to try to spark a reaction as if to entertain herself and bring some excitement and sinister enjoyment out of the relationship. This again changes how the audience view the character, initially portraying her as a mildly eccentric and idealistic woman, however the audience now view her as slightly viscous and sadistic in the way in which she treats men, again rebelling against the stereo-typical voyeuristic representation of women to fit in with our indie genre style of music.
