Textual Analysis of Rose Coloured Glasses

The Music Video I am analysing is Rose Coloured Glasses by Kelly Rowland (2010) and it is was written by Ester Dean and Lukasz Gottwald. The genre of the music video is electropop and R&B; this is reflected through the music at the start (the electro style music) and the changing background colours. The beat of the music also suggests that the music video belongs to an electropop genre.

There is a small link between the lyrics and the visuals but not much, for example, the line ‘everybody is saying that we should get back together’ then we visually see the couple arguing, also the lyrics of the song are emotive so the viewers see the emotions in the artist. Most of the lyrics amplify the visuals and this is shown through the performance of the artist and as for the narration, it is limited. At the part ‘rose coloured glasses’ we as viewers see some aspect of nature, for example, at first we see the artist holding a white bird then we see butterflies surrounding her which also have the connotations of peace. The video ends with a tear running down the artist’s cheek which also goes with the emotive side of the song. The music video shows some parts of the narrations (only when the couple are arguing) but mostly there is performance just by the artist and her facial expressions are strongly shown through the lyrics. Therefore, there are some aspects where the lyrics match the visuals but mainly the visuals are there to sell the artist by showing her emotive side.

There is a huge link between the music and the visuals which is shown at the start, there is slow music which also flows with the performance of the artist, and we see the artist in a neutral mode. Also at the start where the couple are arguing, lyric line: ‘meant to be together’, the music is on the beat to the lyric and the cuts are done just on the beat. This looks extremely effective and also it is another way of shortening the argument between the couple. At the start there is a solo instrument being played (the bass drums) which is on the beat to the lyrics. As the music gets upbeat the performance of the artist starts and it gradually tones down with the flow of the music. For example, half way through the video the music is upbeat so there is performance and as the music changes, the performance is narrowed down to a limit.

As part of the Goodwin theory, it is said ‘music videos mainly contain close-ups to sell and objectify the artist’. Rose coloured glasses is one of those music videos that goes against the theory to attract viewers, this music video has contradicted some of the Goodwin theories to differ from the rest of the videos. In this video, there are mostly mid-shots of the artist (as shown in the example) in Kelly Rowland’s previous music videos, there are few close-ups for example, ‘Commander ft. David Guette’. In this music video, the artist is being sold by her facial expressions, the number of costume changes and mainly by the track itself. Also, to this music video there is a narrative which is not shown in the video itself but the narrative is illustrated through the lyrics- this is a strong point in which this track could be sold by. Kelly Rowland is being shown as a break broken young girl who introduces this song that expresses her feelings, this song brings out the emotive side of Kelly Rowland. This is a different aspect of the artist because most of her other music videos are upbeat and show some sense of sexual display of the artist. Whereas this music video, it is extremely different to ‘Commander ft. David Guette’, ‘Motivation ft. Lil Wayne’. This music video just represents a change to the artist’s image.

This music video is different to the previous ones because this video does not show sexual display of the artist or any other person who is presented. The camera just focuses on the artist and there are no dance routines which suggest that the artist is on display. However, some of the costumes used do display some aspects of sexual gaze. Another aspect which suggests sexual display is when the artist is in the rain (as shown in the image). This music video is narrative-based as well as performance-based; the narrative is there at all times but the performance is extremely different to the narrative.

Duresh x

How star image is represented in media?

As a group, we did a presentation on how a star's image is presented in the media and how it changes over time due to situation. We chose to do Rihanna as our star image and this is our presentation on her.

Duresh x

Red Riding Hood- 1st storyboard

As part of our practice of storyboarding for music videos, in a group we did a little task which involved us making a storyborad for the story 'Little Red Riding Hood'. This is our main storyboard before we excluded some half of the images to make a shorted one. This task will enable us to understand that Narrative is not important in a music video. Music videos are extreme and unusual which attract the viewers. 

Our narrative to the story so far is: - little red riding hood get invited to her granny's fansy dress house party
- the wolf is looking at her in the car (with bunnies who are in his band and he is the main singer)
- we see some performance from the wolf
- red riding hood is on her way to granny's house
- the wolf gets there before her
- the granny is dressed up as a wolf, let's the wolf in thinking he is one of the guests
- the wolf locks the granny up
- red riding hood comes up, doesn't know the wolf is there instead of granny
- the wolf doesn't want to eat her but sings to her
- red riding hood rejects him and goes off with someone else...

Duresh x

Appling Goodwin's and Mulvey's theory to voyeurism in music videos.

Voyeurism has been used in music videos feom the past to sale an artist to wider audience; this is also another way of creating an artist's new image-theough sexually temptations from the opposite sex. Due to voyeurism of artists theories have been created by Andrew Goodwin Laura Mulvey, their theories explain voyeurism and how it may affect an artist and how it helps them to grow as an artist.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory outlines many key features in relation with a music video but voyeurism play a major part for females in music videos. Goodwin argues that female performers are often being objectified in music videos, the camerawork and editing is done to fragment the body shots and to emphasise a sexualised treatment of the star. For example, Beyonce ‘Crazy right now in love’, Kelis ‘Milkshake’ etc... Goodwin also outlines that in male performances, male bodies are also objectified however, females are only used as dancers as adornments flattering the male star ego. An example of this is by 50 cent ‘Candy shop’. Nicki Minaj ‘Super bass’ and Trey songs ‘Neighbours know my name’ is one of those songs that objectify both female and male performers. There are extreme close-ups used to sale the artist such as, (Super bass) close-ups of the mans lips and the low angled tilt shots to the show the figure of the artist are all there to sale Nicki Minaj and the song. As for Trey songs, this particular music video contains many extreme close-ups of the artist with a female performer “making out scenes”. 

Laura Mulvey’s theories outline the male gaze; this belief is when music videos are created for male viewers and for their sexual temptations. Mulvey argues that it is a male controlling gaze that always objectifies female performers and that women learn to be looked at. There are many examples that illustrate this theory such as, trey songs. However there is also a second view to this theory which is that the male body can also be a female gaze objectification. For example Lady Gaga and Madonna who are equally and powerful independents who have added to the complexity of the gaze of being at once sexually apparently in control.

Overall, music videos contain some aspects on voyeurism which objectify either a male performer or a female performer but the visual is so strong, so emotive and in flow with the song that it attracts the viewers. Voyeurism has been applied efficiently to most music video to objectify and sale the artist to a wider audience. Voyeurism is just another way of marketing the song and the artist’s image and Voyeurism will be used in further music video as an extreme level to get an exclusive new image for a new artist.

Duresh x

What you have learnt from this preliminary task?

In this preliminary task we made a lot of problems but hopefully we could overcome them in our real thing. As a group, I feel we could have been more creative coming up with ideas for this specific song. We didn't think outside of the box, we had chosen to do the classical 'naration' with the music video. I do feel we could have used more jump cuts in this video, however, I also think the choice of the song was not suitable for us. If we had chosen a better song then perhaps we could have included more variety of shots and transitions. The jump curs at the end of the video didn't work well with the overall production. We were trying to make the cuts on the words but that didn't work. Also the lipsinking was not perfect near the end of music video. I also think we could've done a better job if we had a better actor to work with (I was the actor).

On the other hand, there were some parts rhat worked well such as tje starting of the music video. The close-up of the make-up on the table sets the whole location and the mood of the music video. Another idea i felt worked well was the cut outs of models and celebs used- this showed she was trying to find herself (also matched with the lyrics). Also the transition from one location to another worked really well. The transition from the bedroom to the shof in the roses and then back again. The slow motion running shot also went with the song. Another thing I was really pleased with was that we had enoughrecorded for music video. Our camera woman (Mahida)shoted extra footage just in case we needed to used it, the camera wasn't turned off at any point. Mahida had also recorded the points where I messedup and laughed just in case they worked but than the real ones.

For the real one, we want to make surr that we choose the right song and think about all the options we could use. I also want to make sure that we have extra footage just in case we don't have time to re-record. We also want to make sure that ww don't make the same mistake again.


Duresh x