Research - Christina Perri- 'Jar of hearts' music video analysis 3

I decided to analyse this video because I am a fan of the artist and feel this song will be very useful to analyse to gather information and ideas for my music video. This song shows a lot of passion and I will observe this and note down the ways the song relates to the video through representations.

The song starts off with a close up shot of Christina looking directly into camera creating direct address with the audience as this shows true feeling and her passion. It also supports the theory of Winship 'The Gaze' as she is gazing into camera showing off her good looks and dark make up. As you can see she has a blonde highlight in her hair, this could represent the darkness of the video because her hair is black like she has a darkness inside her, but the blonde highlight could be to represent that there is good inside her and that she is different. I like this idea as the gaze is used in many different music videos to attract an audience of the opposite gender and maybe sometimes the same gender. This also follows the theory of Mulvey 'The Male Gaze" as she look very appealing towards males and will catch the eyes of the opposite sex.

 The camera then slowly pans down her body to show her hands and arms. As you can see she has black tattoos to create synergy with the house style of the video and to again represent the dark theme to the video. In her hand you can see that she is holding what looks like black petals, which could be a representation of how she used to be a bright flower and now she has been destroyed and is falling apart. I like the idea of the dark synergy that has been created to work in cohesion with her tattoos, hair and make up.

This a very strong representation as you can see that her chest is opening up to show an empty jar where her heart should be, which could suggest that her heart has been stolen and she is dark on the inside. Around the jar there is a black smokey heart shape which could represent her heart as being black which is symbolic of evil and negative feelings. This close up shot creates synergy with the title of the song 'Jar of Hearts' as she has an empty jar instead of a heart and when she says "Collecting your jar of hearts"suggests that it is about someone who goes around girls and emotionally stealing their hearts. This is one of my favorite shots of the whole video as it shows strong representations and is very symbolic.

After the jar shot it fades to her walking in black boots, which is a modern representation of girls and is very different as she is wearing a white dress but not wearing stereotypical footwear to go with the dress. However you could argue that it supports the theory of Perkins 'stereotypes are not simple' as she is not dressed like a stereotypical pretty female even though she is
wearing make up and a dress.

This is an extreme close up of the couple getting quite intimate. If you look closely you can see that a pink gas is coming out of the girls mouth, I feel that this is a representation of the girls heart being sucked out of her, which is also quite ironic and stereotypical as the colour is a representation of women and innocence. I can tell that the gas is a representation of the females heart as you can see from the image below that the gas is coming from the jar in her chest, which as I said earlier represents her heart as the gas could represent the love that the female has to give. However as this image at to the right is a bright image which suggests there is a mood change in the video and she is regaining the love she has lost back from the male, which gives a sense of female dominance as she is taking back control from the male.

 I really like this group shot to the left as I feel that this shot will be very influential for my music video as it shows very dramatic dance movements which also shows a lot of emotion. The women behind Christina are quite dark like they have had the good taken out of them. I feel that the fog and tatty dresses make the shot seem quite apocalyptic and evil.

 This shot shows true emotion from Christina as she is creating direct address with the audience by giving a very passionate look into the camera. This close up shot of her face shows how much she has been hurt and how much pain she is feeling. Her singing suggests that there is a lot of anger in her words as she says "You broke all your promises" as she says this she gets louder like it is aggravating her and she has been betrayed.
This longshot of the couples dancing shows the sexual and emotional feelings the couple have for each other. As you can see the women is in white to show her purity and innocence. where as the male is dressed in all black which could represent him as a darker and more evil character. This relates to the theory of Dyer 'a star is an image' as we can see from the video                                                                                           that the male is the bad guy and the women are                                                                                       the good.

This two shot image could represent female dominance as you can see the woman appears to be confronting the male and seems to be overpowering him. This is a modern representation of women as the woman is not powerless to the male. This longshot shoes the woman arching her back as if she is leaning into the male, which suggests that she is in control of the conversation.

In this medium close up you can again see the emotion in her face. The feature that I found interesting about this shot is that the clear white background which works in cohesion with the house style of the music video. I feel that it is also white as it wants to make Christina stand out and represent her as a bright character and that there is good in her.

The reason I like this shot is because the couple are being framed in the car window. They are also in the dark which could represent mystery and that there are sexual intentions involved. This is also quite stereotypical as the male is in the drivers seat and men are stereotyped to be better drivers than women. Also as you can see the wheel is on the left side of the car, which tells us that it is an American video so there will be American views and beliefs involved in the video.

How this music video has influenced my planning and creativity

• I like the use of signs and signifiers  
• The use of contemporary dancing
• The lighting used to represent bad and good characters
• The close ups to show emotion

Research - Cheryl Cole- 'Parachute' music video analysis 2

This video by Cheryl Cole is called 'Parachute' which was released in February 2nd 2010. It starts with a medium close up of a dark female figure that has a red light beaming on her, which suggests that she is a dangerous figure, however it could also represent love and power which suggests that the song will be female dominant and will be about love and passion, she is also wearing negative colours as she is wearing a black dress and black make up which follows Barthes semiotics theory because the colours could suggest that there is an evil side to her. It then cuts to a longshot of a male stood in the light dressed in a  white shirt, black trousers and and a black waistcoat, which is stereotypical strong male clothing.

The video then goes into a close up of the male and female to show their passion and affection. This represents romance and could suggest that there is sexual tension between the two. Also the expression on the faces of the dancers shows that there is strong emotion between the two. This is also a two shot that represents the emotion that can be shown from a couple dancing. However even though the couple are in dark colours, they have ambient lighting on their faces to suggest that they are the main focus of the video or at least this part of the video. Further on in the video the couple are surrounded by red light while they are in the light, a longshot is used to show this. The shot suggests that the couple are surrounded by love and the emotion from the dancers could work in cohesion with the read light to create power in the dancing.

The lyrics from the song "I don't need a parachute baby if I got you" which suggests that there is a different meaning behind the words and that she means that the man will be there for her always so she will not need any support from anyone else. This gives the idea of romance between the couple, it also seems to be quite stereotypical as the male is strong and independent and is watching over the woman, he is also leading her in the dancing at the start, however later in the song the female becomes more dominant when more males enter the video. This could represent a modern representation of women as this grouped longshot shows the men surrounding the woman and all want her. As in the modern day men are stereotyped to always be wanting women and sex.

This medium two shot is very intimate as it shows the male holding onto the woman and resting his head on her. The shot also shows the couple with a red light shone over them which again represents love and passion, because the red is covering them suggests that love is overpowering them and is taking over the couple. As you can see in this image the female is now wearing white clothing and jewellery which is stereotypical of a woman and the white clothing and pearls suggests that in this part of the song she is being represented as a brighter and more vibrant character.

This shot is one of my favourite shots of the whole video as it supports the theory of Winship 'the gaze' as she is looking directly at the camera to show off her good looks and to create direct address with the audience, also the fact that she is in the centre of the image supports the idea of direct address andd suggests that she is the star of the video. Another feature of this shot that I like is that she is dressed all in black while the people behind her have white clothing on to counteract with the black clothing that she is wearing. This could represent her as a strong dominant woman that is in control of the men because of her good looks and attraction.

This is a match cut of the watch that she is wearing which is all in black which matches her clothing and make up which dominates the music video, which could represent the music video as being quite dark and could have a darker meaning behind the lyrics instead of it being more romantic. This is an extreme close up of the watch, so close that you can see the time.

A reason that this could have been used as a close up is because it is classed as jewellery which again is very stereotypical of women to wear, also because you can see that she has diamonds/crystals in her glove because stereotypically women are known to be obsessed with them.

This is a modern representation of a female as she is wearinng fancy clothes and is wearing lots of make up. Her clothes suggests that she is of a higher class and the make up suggests she is a powerful independant woman, also because she is wearing strong red lipstick which is an indexical sign of love and danger. Here again she follows the theory of Winship as she is looking directly into camera but from a side, which you could argue makes her look more attractivly appealing. She also has a purple streak in her hair which is a modern representation of peple today as many people now days have highlights in their hair, so she could have done this to attract a teenage/modern TA.

This is another one of my favourite shots of the video. It is an extreme longshot of her as she is being framed by the shade of light blue material in the background behind her.The material nearere the front in my opinion looks like waves so it looks like she is abandoned. I like the light behind her acting as if it was the moon shining on her giving her a dark figure dancing in the moonlight. As the image is quite dark suggests that she has a lot of power and she is showing this in her confident movements.


This shot shows the relationship between the lyrics and the video, as you can see that is falling but he is there to support her catch her. This relates to the lyrics as she says "You're catch me if I fall" This gives the idea of the woman having to rely on the male to keep her up.

Overall I feel that there are 5 costume changes during the video, I feel that this is very stereotypical of women as they are known to get changed a lot, also many of her costumes are very dark to represent her power in the video.

Overall I feel that this video is very powerful and strongly represents female dominance and emotion. It has aided my creativity as now I understand that I will need to make it clear too the viewer who the main character in the songs video is, maybe by having them wear strong make make up or stand out clothes. This video has given me ideas for my music video such as having a male and female dancing together, but as they do so showing deep and pure emotion towards each other. Also I will use the idea of the artist wearing different coloured clothing to represent their emotion.

How this music video has influnced my creativity and planning

• The gaze
• Using the light/clothes to create representation
• Couple dancing
• Shots of artist in the dark
• Strong make up





Email contact: Copyright. Group post

When first starting to find email addresses to contact the artists for copyright permission for their music, I found a website that lists email addresses, phone numbers and mailing addresses for the managers and publicists of the artists. I am currently unsure as to whether I should contact the manager or the publicists about the use of the artists music, but I will initially contact the manager. If this is not the correct person to email, I will then contact the publicist.

Planning - Music (who i'm working with)

Who are you going to work with? How well do you think you will work together? Skills that your team will bring to the table? 

I am working with Amy Johnson and Amy Jacklin as a group of 3 for my task. I think this will be better as we are all good friends and have a similar target level so we can see each other more and do more work together, making the task easier and getting more done in a shorter period of time. Also I feel that this will give me the inspiration to work harder and give me confidence in my work.

I feel that we will work very well together as we are together a lot at college and spend a lot of time together, so we can come up more frequently together to work on our task and can meet up outside of school to work on filming for the task and finding amazing locations.

Amy Johnson achieved a high grade in her AS coursework, so she is very skilled in media and the coursework because of her dedication and good work ethic. Also she is a very deterimned person so if she sets her mind to something she will do it, as well as her being a perfectionist so she will not stop until the work is perfect. Amy Jacklin has a very creative mind so she will put a lot of ideas on the table and contribute to other ideas when it comes to creating a plan for the task, she can work with a camera extremly well so she will be helpful when it comes to taking shots for the music video. She is also very good at drawing so she will be very helpful when it comes to drawing out ideas and plans. I feel that I am very committed and dedicated, so I will work very hard on the blogger and the research for the task. Also, like Amy Jacklin, I feel that I can bring a lot of good ideas forward for the task that we can use.