Lady Gaga 'Poker Face' MV Analysis

LADY GAGA POKER FACE.MUSIC VIDEO ANAYLSIS

WHY HAVE I CHOSEN THE VIDEO?

I have chosen Lady Gaga’s song poker face to analyse as I think she is a good representation to the genre I am focusing on. We have chosen a dance pop song for our music video and poker face is a good representation of it. I think there will be many opportunities’ to take from using this video.  Lady gaga is an iconic artist of our generation as her videos are so outrageous.

My perception on the music video that I have taken it is that you can’t tell what she is feeling and she hides herself. She is hidden by her ‘poker face’.

POKER FACE MUSIC VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo

CAMERA ANGLES

The video is quite seductive and sexual and this is depicted through the camera angles. When she sings the line ‘I’ll get him hot, show him what I got’ the camera zooms in and out of her quickly and unsteady. This shot has been taken to get you to focus on her body and the movements she is showing which are ‘sexual’ as she is going up and down on the chair.

When she is walking through the blinds it is a tracking shot. As she walks the camera watches her go through and try’s to follow her in.  This establishes the scene but blocks the audience off, this depicts that you cannot come in and she is hiding something. This highlights the idea of her having a ‘poker face’ as you don’t know what is going on.

EDITING

The idea of the music video is for it to match the song. In the establishing shots lady gaga is getting out of the pool. These shots have quick edits and go along with the fast beat of the song. The edits are also in time with the song as she says ‘ma ma ma ma’ and they shot changes each time.

The quick edits highlight her weirdness and quirkiness; this is a great reflection of her, as she is well known for it. The robotic sounds match the movements of her body and how it’s been edited.  

Shortly after when she is getting out of the pool everything slows down. This juxtaposes the song and the previous quick edits that matched. The slow movements depict the build up of the song as you are itching for her to carry on and see what she does. She is a mystery as she has a ‘poker face’.

MISE-EN-SCENE

At the beginning of the music video there are Great Dane dogs on either side of her. The dogs are well known for being powerful, strong and the biggest breed of dog. This could represent her being powerful as she is walking in front of them and she is bigger, indicating that she is better than others. The dogs could also represent the men in the video. When the man leans back onto her he is darker than her and lower down. This could highlight that she is better than him and should be dominated by her like a dog.

The beaded curtains cut off the audience from entering to poker game. As you see the back of her and you watch her go in it depicts that she wants privacy. This reflects intimacy of her and whatever is going on within the game.  Blocking off the audience and cutting them off connotes the intimacy of the players. This is a good representation within the video as it’s quite sexual and intimacy is a part of that. Also the curtain gives the audience and her distance – you can’t see through her ‘poker face’

Lady Gaga’s movements are provocative within the music video. Her actions can be seen as sexual as she is kissing a man and dancing with a range of people up close. This represents the sexual themes within the song.

DOMINANT IDEOLOGIES

Lady gaga is the dominant figure in the music video as she’s lying on the sofa and on the neck of a mannequin. The position she is laying in looks as if she is confident in who she is. Also the man is sitting in front of her but looks weaker than her. He is in the dark and she is in the light. She is singing behind his back, which depicts that she is higher than him and he cannot see through her poker face.

When the man leans back into her she is the hierarchy. This depicts that she is more important than him as he has cowered into her. As she is higher than him it highlights that she can get him to do whatever she wants as she will not be fooled, she will do it to him first. He cannot see through her but she can see through him.

In this part of the music video Lady Gaga’s mise-en-scene is encouraging the audience to not look at the male being intimate with her, but only looking at her sing. She sings ‘no he can’t read my poker face’ this depicts that she is the dominant character as he doesn’t understand what is going on as she is a good hider and you can’t see through her. He isn’t important within in the music video as it’s all about her as he is being intimate with her and she covers his face and doesn’t react to his movements.

GENRE

The genre of this song is dance pop and this is represented through the fast beats and dances. One of the outfits she wears is blue and silver – this is for the electronic, glamorous side of the song. The red and black in her outfits represent the sexy dangerous side to her. This also connotes that she has different personas that you cannot see through. The genre of the song is represented through costume.

Some of the main genre conventions of the video are the dancing, dancers and unique clothing to show the quirkiness within her. Also the video focuses on the main star – Lady Gaga in every scene with many close ups. These conventions are associated with the dance pop genre.

INTERTEXUALITY

Bwin is a world leading gambling website. This company is highlighted within the music video as it’s related to poker. It could also be seen as her only wanting the best, as she is higher than everyone else. As Bwin is advertised in the video they would have sponsored her, this depicts that good companies want to be associated with her – she is good enough for them.

Beats by Dre headphones are also shown in the music video. There is a close up of her taking the headphones of someone while looking into the camera. This long pause of her looking attracts you to the headphones as she is so focused on them. Beats are expensive and are known for being good quality, this highlights that she only associates with the best.

The intertexuatity she has used within the music video represents them well as they are associated with poker and music.

AUDIENCE RECEPTION

How might the audience react to the video?

Stuart hall has a theory of preferred reading. Stuart looked at the role of the audience positioning when interoperating media texts of social groups. He believes there are three ways that people perceive media texts.

The first is dominant reading where the audience will accept the obvious message that has been given out in the video. The audience watching the video will respond to the text well and how the creator wanted them too.

The second type is negotiated reading where the audience will believe partly what the code is depicting. This also means that the audience will sometimes modify it to reflect their own life.

Third, there is oppositional reading where the audience will reject the reading of the message. The social position of the audience will contrast with the relation to the code.

MY OPINION:

I think the audience reaction in relation to Stuart Halls theory would be in association with dominant reading. The message in the video is quite clear throughout as she is using poker metaphorically as you cant see through her, as she has a ‘poker face’. Meaning - people cannot read her. The audience will react to this video well, especially girls as they think they can relate to her.

WHY MIGHT AN AUDIENCE WATCH/ENJOY THIS VIDEO?

The audience of lady gaga will enjoy this video as she displays many aspects throughout the video. With the outfits Lady Gaga wears you can see she is glamorous and powerful. She walks around confident in what she is wearing and has men obeying her. The audience will enjoy this aspect of the video, as it is what other women wish to be. They will idolize her for her actions.

As the video is quite fun and up-tempo the dancing gives a good vibe to the audience. The dancing depicts that she is having a good time and others will see this as an escape of there own life. Lady Gaga is having fun throughout the video as you can see in the party scenes; the audience will feast on this and use it as inspiration. This video will encourage the audience to have a good time, which is why they will enjoy the content.

ANDREW GOODWIN:Andrew Goodwin has 6 features of a music video:

1. The video will follow genre characteristics. (eg: Pop videos will have dance routines and general aspects of having fun)

2. There is a connection between the lyrics and the visual content. They will relate to each other.

3. There is a connection between the music and visual content. The atmosphere of the music will relate to the visuals.

4. There will be many close-ups of the artist (demanded by the record label). As the artist evolves they will create a style they will follow throughout there videos.

5. There will be many obvious references to looking and ‘voyeuristic’ treatment to female bodies to satisfy others.

6. There is intertexuality used to advertise.

Lady Gaga does follow some aspects of Andrew Goodwin’s theory. In the poker face video they follow genre characteristics. The genre of the video has a dance pop vibe to it; this is depicted through dance routines. There are many dance scenes through the video and this reflects the up-tempo song and genre.

There is also a connection between the lyrics and visuals. The song is about not being able to read Lady Gagas mind, you don’t know what is coming from her next. This is shown metaphorically through poker. When she sings ‘cant read my poker face’ she is sitting behind him and he is in darkness whereas she is light. This highlights that he is in the dark about something that she is hiding – he cannot read her. This scene connects with the lyrics as she is creating a visual for the words.

Lady Gaga depicts a connection to the music and the visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the video goes along music. As there is a lot of dance beats and seductive notions in the music they are reflected within the video. This is highlighted in the video by the clothing she is wearing - minimal amounts. She is also wearing mirrored glasses that stand out in the scene; this suits the pop dance culture she reflects in her music.

As you can see throughout the video there is many close ups of the artist. There are many scenes where she is the main focus of the video where she sings close up to the camera to get to get the audience attention. Almost every scene is focused on her even when others are in the room. When the male character is kissing her on the neck she has a close up of her carrying on and singing. This depicts she is the only one who is important in the video – no one else.

There are frequent references to looking in the poker face video. Lady Gaga wears extravagant mirrored glasses in one scene of the video. She also uses her hand to make a circle that she looked through to the audience.

Lady Gaga uses her body voyeuristically through the video. She makes many sexual/seductive movements with her body to satisfy the audience. These movements are seen when she is thrusting up and down on the outdoor lounge chair. She also makes sexual references in her dance moves when she is sitting with a group of people. This is used in the video to attract a range of different of audience

There are different types of intertexuality within her video. She advertises BWIN the famous poker company, this relates to her as her song titles ‘poker face’ that she uses as a metaphor throughout. Gaga also has close up of her taking off Beats by Dre headphones. This advertises the company to encourage people to buy them as they can see she uses them. They are music related so they have relevance to her.

LAURA MULVEY:

Laura Mulvey looks at women and how they are represented in films and literature. She believes that women are portrayed as being dominated by men.

Laura has argued that classical Hollywood cinema has generally been put into a masculine subject position where as women are used as a figure of desire instead of the main role. Men are given the active roles within films where women are passive. Laura believes that the men take over the women’s gaze and remove them as the subject focus.

Lady gaga could contradict Laura Mulvey’s theory, as she is the main focus of the video. She has many close ups and is the main character of the video. She is in every scene and is the dominant character. As you can see in the video she sits higher than the male figure that depicts she is in charge of him. The roles have switched around as she is the active role and he is the passive that listens to her.

Although Gaga is the main focus of the video Mulveys theory could also be true as she can be seen as a figure of desire. There are scenes where the camera skims over her body. This attracts the men, as she wants them to want her by flaunting her body. There are also scenes where she makes sexual/ seductive movements towards the camera. This can be seen to attract men and benefit their desire for her. This is for the men’s benefit that could mean they are in fact in control of her as she wants to please them.