Saturday 31 August 2013

7. Imogen Heap: A-Ha! Analysis


This video follows the actions of a girl participating in a number of strange events. The video opens with a long shot of the young girl crouching down in what appears to be the middle of a forest. As the music begins to play her head flicks up as if she is an animal. We automatically notice that the colour is all in black and white, although the black is dominant which gives us connotations of fear and death. We subconsciously worry about the young girl being alone in the forest because stereotypical representations indicate that females are the 'weaker' gender. Furthermore, the editing is VERY fast paced and no shot is on screen for longer than a second during the entire video, this make us feel nervous and on edge.


This wind up jewellery box appears in different stages throughout the video and connotates young innocence. The fact that the box has been wound up but is now alone on the floor seems creepy and makes us wonder what is going on and why it has been left there. The fact that this is a close up is also mysterious because we cannot see any surroundings. Again, we do not have much time to wonder because of the fast paced editing which means it has soon been cut on to something else. The idea of 'fairy tales' in music videos are quite rare but very effective because there is a very thin line between childhood innocence and danger.


The first glimpse of colour we get in the video is this shot which is of a females pair of hands tied together. The way the hands are clenched together suggest the woman is in pain and her red fingernails connotate danger. The lighting is consistently low key throughout the video which conveys a sinister tone to the audience. Throughout the video, only small amounts of colour are shown which teases the audience because they do not have enough knowledge to fully figure out what is happening as it is hard to see through the black and white mise en scene of the video.


The cinematography in this video is very varied, however, the main shot type that is used throughout is the extreme close up. Again, a small amount of colour has been used in this shot but the deep red alongside the pale skin allows us to associate with evil. However, it could also connotate love or lust. The fact that we cannot see the woman's face is ambiguous and continues to hide the narrative from the audience.


When we finally get to see the performer in the video her face is disfigured and she does not look directly at the camera (which is conventional of music videos). The way that she gestures and performs however, is stereotypical of a female within a music video. The way in which she performs changes throughout the video from her dancing, singing (or lip syncing) and playing the piano. Furthermore, we do not expect any good to come of the narrative because everything seems too dark and dangerous. The main themes in this video are fear, disaster and destruction. 

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