Lady Gaga - Telephone
The video is set in a prison scenario with Lady Gaga being the star who is appearing as a 'prisoner'. These have connotations of her message of being caught up in the media and almost being a 'prisoner' to the media, without being able to do anything or go anywhere without being judged and talked about in magazines and on air. The typography is quite cartoon like, to add a twist to the video. Lady Gaga is known for breaking boundaries and attempting to mix different genres and conventions so the cartoon-like typography could be an example of this.
An example of the cartoon-like typography.
Lady Gaga, as herself, appears as the star of the music video and due to this she can be seen in a variety of close ups. The use of a close up makes the stars face the centre of the shot and connotes her importance in the video compared to anything else.
A screenshot of a close up of Lady GaGa.
Due to Beyonce featuring in the song, there are a lot of shots of her on her own and with Lady Gaga. The most frequent shot is a two-shot to show them together side by side. This again connotes importance of them in the video and because they are trying to portray a message. This creates an effect of unity to increase the conveyance of the songs moral.
An example of a two-shot of both stars.
The editing is very fast paced due to the fast song and accompanying fast music video. During the end of the music video there is a lot of fast cuts used, more than one a second at some points. This conveys the hectic nature of the 'getaway' which is being shown in the video and goes with the narrative of the music video. Some of the transitions are very cartoon-esque also. The scene with the poison transitions with a skull shape to bring both scenes together.
A screenshot of the skull transition.
As is Lady Gaga, the music video genre is primarily Pop. She has been labelled as the "biggest thing in Pop since Madonna" and has even been described by Michael Jackson (The King of Pop) as "The one to watch". Telephone is a Pop music video with some sinister highlights within it to help promote the message and keep with the quirky vibe that is associated with Lady Gaga. The poison, prison and murder/ getaway are all subverted from the lyrics of the song and can only be applied to the lyrics when the deeper meaning is thought about. Most of the things that can be seen in the video are unexpected and this makes for a slightly confusing narrative. At first glance, the narrative is that Lady Gaga has been bailed out of prison by Beyonce and then has accompanied her on a trip to poison some customers at a local diner. This could be because they had unfinished business and that that Lady Gaga got caught during the first murder attempt. Todorov's theory could be applied to this video because it starts and ends with an equilibrium. This being Lady Gaga being released from prison and ending by completing what they set out to do. The video is full of shock value and crazy aesthetics but the deeper meaning of 'Monarch Programming' specifically used in the entertainment industry.
There are no clear representations of people but some social and socio-economic issues which are hinted at in the song. Mind control, as in the prequel video "Paparazzi", is a big part of the video in the music industry and the lust for fame is sung about as in most of Lady Gaga's songs. This is the most common interpretation of the lyrics and the video but there are other interpretations due to the ambiguous nature of Gaga's music. According to Dyer, Lady Gaga, as the star, has been constructed in a very invincible manor. She appears to be able to do what she wants and not be held down even by being in prison. I think the representation here is that opinions, reports and critics can't hold her down and stop her from pursuing music. The target audience for the video would be Pop lovers and "Little Monsters" - Lady Gaga's fan base. As a contemporary Pop artist, and the most followed person on Twitter, the whole world is an audience of hers meaning there is no specific target. Demographically, the video is aimed at Middle and Lower classes however it is quite possible Higher classes would enjoy her music. As an LGBT activist, I don't think Lady Gaga herself speaks to a certain category of people but is open to everyone and everything. As a sequel to the Paparazzi music video, a large amount of audience members would have been waiting for Telephone, making it quite a spectacle when it was released. With millions of hits on YouTube and Vivo, Telephone is one of Lady Gaga's most popular music videos as it was one of her first ones which feature more footage than just the song. It is just over 9 minutes long and fans of hers have recreated the video on YouTube as homage to Gaga. The quirky attitude towards Pop music which Telephone provides with the funky and fun music video increases the chances of the two-step flow. It is very likely people would have been talking about the video due to it's insanely intense, boundary-breaking content.
Lady GaGa is a pop music icon since her debut and she has created some of the most groundbreaking music videos to date. Studying her videos and the conventions she both incorporates and avoids gives a good example of how to create something artistic and interesting. I think that her videos hold the perfect balance of performance shots and narrative shots so I found analysing her music video for Telephone to be a great help and will act as a guide when it comes to creating my own.
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