Katherine Simmons

Video Analysis

Through our narrative we aimed to create a parody a conventional love story, with a fragmented rather than linear storyline, in order to create a post-modern video that would appeal to our alternative “indie” target audience. We did not want the sub-plot involving the doll to become immediately obvious to the audience, instead including subtle hints such as the doll positioned in the background of many of the shots. This meant that after an initial viewing the audience would be interested to re-watch the video in order to notice them, creating a feeling of exclusivity for those who had seen the ending.

The video opens with several close-up shots of short duration of a girl in her bedroom getting ready to leave the house. We used the post-modern concept of fragmentation in order to create an element of distortion. Showing the audience her fragmented form rather than her body as a whole suggests a level of disorder to her personality.

This is a familiar routine and to our audience, and a common establishing scene in music videos. For example, below is a screen grab from the “Black Eyed Peas” hit video for ‘Gotta Feeling’, which shows a woman putting her make-up on at a bedroom dressing table before going out.

Such scenes are often used to establish a character, as the bedroom is an intimate and personal setting. They often involve medium-close-ups of the person’s face in order to create a relationship with the audience. However, our video instead uses close-ups of her feet and hands and her face is not revealed until she leaves the house. This creates a sense of mystery around her

character.

Although the use close-ups of the girl’s body support Laura Mulvey’s theory (1975)-which claims that the female body is displayed for the male gaze in order to provide erotic pleasure for the male- she is not objectified, as the shots are not focussed on her feminine assets. The fact that we are introduced to her character before the boy initially orientates the audience to her point of view, which also challenges Mulvey’s theory that the camera follows a masculine perspective.

The opening sequence is also where we are first introduced to the key motifs of the doll and the colour red. Whilst red is traditionally symbolic of danger, as a toy it suggests innocence to the audience and makes the teenage girl appear childish,

Katherine Simmons

providing the first hint to the audience that the girl is not as conventional as her fashionable hair and clothing would suggest. The doll is subtly placed into many of the shots throughout the video, so that its presence is not immediately obvious to the viewer but becomes more apparent as the video progresses.

We also included the colour red throughout the video, as this colour suggests imminent danger.

We used an over-the-shoulder shot of the girl reading a book with pictures of dolls in order to suggest her childish nature.

This long-shot of the boy standing above the girl as he approaches her puts her at an inferior level and implies that she is in a weaker position than the boy, which is a typical representation of a female character.

This high-angle shot of the girl looking up also reaffirms her vulnerability and innocence, putting the audience into a false sense of security a subversion of her true character and manipulative nature.

Through the development of their relationship, we used stereotypical scenarios such as the boy giving the girl a flower, a picnic in the park and a candlelit dinner; in order to present their relationship perfect, almost cliché.

Katherine Simmons

However, the cuts between the linear storyline and the more sinister reality of the girl cutting out pictures of her and the doll and sticking them on her wall create a fragmented, post-modern effect which tells the audience that this is not a normal relationship. We also used the contrast between the light outdoors of the park and the low-key lighting of the girl’s room.

As the narrative progresses, it becomes more fragmented in order to suggest the girl’s chaotic state-of-mind and the increasing distant between the reality and the disturbing plot of the girl’s obsession. The audience are able to observe the subtle changes to the boy’s appearance, as the girl manipulates him

into like the doll, demonstrated through a mid-shot of her spiking up his hair and another mid-shot of her giving him a red tee-shirt as a present. Although his transformation may not be immediately obvious to the audience, the flashbacks during the boy’s realisation demonstrate this transition.

We used a series of short match-cuts to show the boy ascending the stairs into darkness, a common technique used in horror films, which created a disorderly atmosphere in order to warn the audience about the impending danger. When the boy enters the girl’s bedroom and discovers the doll, we used low-key incandescent lighting in order to create a red effect, which highlighted the colour of the boy’s tee-shirt and created an atmosphere of danger.

We also used hand-held camera in order to create a shaky effect which would reflect the boy’s confusion and lack of control over his situation as the realisation dawns upon him and build tension, as this technique is often used in horror films such as the Blair Witch project (1999.) This contrasts with previous scenes involving the boy where we used a tripod, so this change demonstrates the coming together of the two storylines, as the boy is plunged into the sinister reality of the situation,

We used corresponding over-the-shoulder shot from the doll’s and boy’s perspective, in order to show the similarity between them. The shot from the doll’s perspective also has a voyeuristic quality and

emphasises the boy’s vulnerability, as he is unaware that he is being observed.

As the boy comes to terms with the girl’s obsession with the doll we incorporated flashbacks and used a fast paced cutting rhythm in order to demonstrate the significance of the doll to the audience.

We used a close-up of the boy’s face as he stares into the wardrobe to show his fear and helplessness. We used dramatic irony, placing the audience in a position of power, as they are able to see the threat of the girl hovering just behind his shoulder.

Katherine Simmons

This shot showing three boys also wearing red tee-shirts standing in darkness insider her wardrobe is both a comedic and disturbing image. This shot combined with the sequence of her leaving the house and walking along the same road again suggest that the story is a continuous cycle.

In the final shot the audience become involved in the narrative, as the girl looks up into the camera, smiling sweetly and mouthing “hi” to the viewer, suggesting that they are the next victim.