Wednesday, 15 August 2018

Research: Music video (Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do) and Codes and Conventions

Look What You Made Me Do
https://youtu.be/3tmd-ClpJxA
In the opening 10 seconds, a pan of a bird's eye view shot is used to show the audience an overview of a dark horror-like graveyard. Within the pan lightning flashes which adds to the typical stereotype of the horror genre alongside a flock of crows. At the 10 second mark, there is then an assembly of graveyard stones which create the initials 'TS' which stand for Taylor Swift, this brands the music video as her own and reminds the audience who is the star of the production. This only appears for 2 seconds and is a clever use of setting and mise-en-scene to promote the artist. The dark horror genre also may throw off many of the audience as most of Taylor swifts work is more light and romantic which suggests that the artist has changed her brand identity.
The music video then goes on to show Taylor Swift rising from her grave singing into the camera as the lyrics start. Her makeup creates a zombie version of her and fans will be able to tell that the dress she is wearing is the same one from her music video for 'Into the woods'. This suggests that 'the old Taylor' is now 'dead' and her new start image is taking over. She continues to sing into the camera in this long shot of Taylor with tilted graveyard stones as she sings 'Don't like your titled stage' as she resets all the gravestones straight to create her prefered version of the stage. This visual link to the lyrics creates great continuity as well as more emphasis on how she doesn't like how unfair it is that other artists have been praised more compared to her. It may also be a line directed towards the record label for controlling her star image.

 The music video then continues with Taylor Swift singing into the camera with her 'Zombie' version burying the old 'sweet' version of herself in her grave. They then use a flash of lightning to cut from her old self to her new star image surrounded by a bath of diamonds on the beat. This is a very effective cut and connects the different locations seamlessly. The diamond bathtub imagery also suggests that she is wealthy and possesses a lot of power in the industry almost like she is not to be messed with. Later on, as she sings 'you said the gun was mine' she points her fingers in a gun shape to visually match the lyrics. This also is a comment on her media rival Kim Kardashian West for her robbery in Paris and Kanye West for when he said bad things about her in one of his songs.
The bathtub scene then transitions to this 'evil queen' version of Taylor with lots of medium long and close up shots of Snakes climbing up the stairs and wrapping around her throne. This imagery is definitely a comment on the internet and how people call her a 'snake' which is a term created for someone who backstabs others. The snakes then poor and hand her a cup of tea which is also a comment on the internet and refers to the term 'spilling tea' which means when someone gossips mostly about negative topics. The way she takes the cup suggests that she has her side of the gossip to tell and that she is owning up to being a 'snake' and turning the negative stereotype into something she should be confident about. The throne also implies that she is still on top of the music industry even though others like her 'rivals' think otherwise. There is also a further link with the snake imagery as she wears a snake detailed ring on her right hand which can also be seen on her hand in the previous bathtub scene.
The scene then cuts to Taylor Swift crashing a gold car in leopard print clothing posing for the paparazzi clearly searching for attention alongside a pet leopard. This is a direct call out to another mainstream artist called 'Katy Perry' as their relationship across the media was never great. The Grammy award is also a link to her commenting possibly how she doesn't deserve it and that all she wants is attention. This suggests that Taylor is trying to defend her name while she is comparing how 'great' she is compared to artists such as Katy Perry. 


She is then seen swinging in a birdcage with lots of men in suits, most likely keeping her in the cage, surrounding her. She again continues singing into the camera which creates a coherent music video as well as again matching the lyrics to the imagery with 'you ask me for a place to sleep, locked me out and threw a feast'. The imagery shows Taylor in the locked 'kingdom' eating a feast representing the person who 'locked her out' metaphorically. The bodyguards now make sense as they are protecting the 'kingdom' from outsiders such as Taylor but she is now making a statement that she now has her own 'kingdom'. 

After a few character changes Taylor is then in an outfit reminiscing a previous music video she did with all her famous 'friends'. The video was called out on for being fake and how they aren't friends at all, so Taylor is recreating the public opinion with the 'robot' females acting like her friends. 
This scene is wonderfully done representing Taylor as a 'matured new' artist and person standing on top of all the previous 'Taylors' from her career. Many fans will be able to see different Taylors from music videos she has done in the past and the way they are crawling to get to the top is very symbolic of how the 'old' Taylor Swift couldn't be who she wanted to be no matter how hard she tried but now she has made it. 

The song finally ends with the crowd cheering as all the most memorable Taylors are bowing as the stars. This is very clever as it ends her 'old star image' so that her new one can be taken seriously without others saying 'why did she change'. There are many easter eggs in the video for the fans to pick apart and interpret which is also a clever way of engaging with the fans making the views on the video rocket to 953,610,475, therefore, promoting Taylor Swift massively.

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