Love Story- Taylor Swift

Introduction

o Director: Trey Fanjoyo Video Producer: Trent Hardvilleo Genre: Country crossovero Characteristics of Genre:

o Setting – in the countryside, eg. Fields / Forest

Relationship between Lyrics & Visualso The majority of the lyrics are illustrated throughout the videoo Examples:o ‘balcony of summer air’ – the shot shows Taylor Swift standing on a balconyo ‘see you make your way through the crowd’ – the male in the video is shown

walking through the ball towards Tayloro ‘sneak out to the garden to see you’ – shows Taylor wandering outside

looking for the male lead

o An amplified message throughout the video is the idea of a ‘Love Story’ and this is shown in the narrative of the lyrics shown in the visuals throughout the video in a chronological order, like a story.

Relationship Between Music & Visuals

o The beat of the song is regular throughout the first half of the song and the editing of the video represents this. Shots are long and slow.

o When the beat changes to a higher tone near the end of the song, the cuts of video become quicker and shorter. Wirth more shots as the pace alters.

Close up / Star Image Motifs

o There are some close ups of Taylor Swift which show her emotions within the song

o These close up’s are not used voyeuristically like they are used in other music videos

o This video relates to other videos by Taylor Swift in the idea that it follows a narrative but the image of the film, set in a period of time and the use of flashbacks does not relate to other videos by Taylor.

Notion of Looking

o Neither the main artist or extras in the video are on sexual display. This suits the period of time in which the video is set

o There are no references to the idea of ‘looking’ within the video

Intertextual Referenceso The video links to ideas of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ through:o - Mise-en-scene -- clothing – of the periodo -- setting - In a ball/at a derelict castleo Storyline that links to a traditional love story such as Shakespeare’s Romeo

and Juliet

o - The Video also links to a book through the lyrics ‘The Scarlett Letter’. This is a book written in 1850 that also links to traditional love storylines.

o There is also a link to Pride and Prejudice (2005) and the video also features the actress who played Lydia in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in the background.

Performance/narrative/Concept Based?

o The video is mainly Narrative-Based – portraying the story written in the lyrics

o There are no performances of the artist within the videoo The video is also concept based; Based around the idea of a story like

‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’

Conclusion

o Overall, the video for ‘Love Story’ is closely linked to popular love films to add intertextual references to make it more appealing to the audience.

o The genre of music is portrayed in the setting of the video

o There is a close link between the visuals and music/lyrics