Safe and sound analysis

Shot: Mid shotLyrics: ‘darling everything’s…’

Mise-en-scene elements are prominent in this shot, allowing the audience to make clear interpretations about the type of character that Taylor is portraying in this music video. Her hair and makeup are fairly simple and her appearance seems to be quite

pale. This image is enhanced by her facial expressions, as she looks frightened and intimidated by her surroundings. Her body language implies that she is vulnerable because she looks quite enclosed and reluctant to enter the forest that can be seen in the

background of this shot. Stereotypically, forests are seemingly intimidating and scary places. This shot challenges the typical conventions of a pop music video, because it is far from light-hearted and upbeat which pop videos, and a majority of Taylor Swift’s videos are usually perceived to be like. In this shot, and throughout the majority of this entire video, performance and

narrative elements are combined, as through most of the duration of this video, Taylor is performing whilst the camera follows her movements, contributing to the narrative of the video, which follows Taylor through the forest. The video also challenges

stereotypical conventions of music videos of the pop genre because usually pop videos have explicit meanings that do not involve the audience having to think too much about the narrative. However, the narrative in this video is quite implicit because it allows the audience to interpret what she is doing and where she is going, which is never really revealed in the video. Lip-syncing is used effectively in this video whilst Taylor is performing, enhancing both the performance and narrative elements of the video because

her movements can be linked to the meaning of the lyrics, and because Taylor is lip-syncing whilst acting the movements, as an audience member, it makes the emotions that are portrayed in this video more evident because you pay attention to the meaning of the lyrics and with Taylor lip-syncing, it is almost believable that she is singing the lyrics because of the situation that she is in in

the music video.

Shot: Wide shotLyrics: ‘… on fire’

The dull colours and the daunting background in this shot contrast the white colour of Taylor’s costume. I think that she has purposely been dressed in white because a connotation of the colour is that it is pure and innocent, which contrasts the somewhat harsh background. This is supported by how small Taylor looks in comparison to

the setting, implying that she is over-powered by the background and possibly is weaker than the mysterious forest that takes up most of the screen. An implicit meaning for the reason why there is smoke and fire in the

background of this shot could be to imply that there is danger in the forest, and the innocent girl that is walking through it could possibly be at risk. The lyrics that can be heard over this shot is, 'on fire.' It is a convention of

pop videos that visuals link to the lyrics, showing that even though this video isn't what you'd expect a pop video to be like, certain pop video conventions can still be found in this video. This shot shows Taylor on the

dominant side of the screen, however, the way that her body is positioned suggests that she is making her way to the less dominant side, implying that she may become even more vulnerable the further she travels into the forest. I think that lighting has been used effectively in this shot because it is gloomy and misty which creates mystery, which again allows the audience to think implicitly about what is happening in the narrative of this

video.

The lighting used in this shot is very low-key and the musician, who is a part of Civil Wars, a band that features on this track with Taylor, is mostly wearing black, suggesting that he is quite a dark character in the narrative of this performance, even though he is performing, he could be perceived to be somebody in the video that Taylor is running to or away from. Like most of the video, he appears to be mysterious, which again allows the audience to think about the implicit meanings of the video. However, because

Taylor Swift’s target audience is generally younger girls, they may be quite confused by this video and not understand the implicit meanings. Therefore, a possible improvement could be to possibly include Taylor in a shot with him, because if the two interact then the audience may have a better idea of the narrative and understand the concept of the music video more because they know who he is in relation to Taylor. That way, the video may appeal more to Taylor’s younger audience if the understand it, rather than just appealing to people in her demographic that can interpret the meaning of the video through the use of

implicit meanings that are used throughout the entire music video

Shot: Medium close-upLyrics: ‘hold on to this’

Shot: Medium long shotLyrics: ‘even when the music’s…’

In this shot, Taylor looks defeated and almost fairly peaceful. Her eyes appear to be quite glazed over, implying that she could be looking towards the place where she is ‘safe and sound,’ which

again allows the audience to interrupt the implicit meaning to this shot in whatever way they like. However, the immediate meaning that comes to me, as an audience member, relates to maybe

death, and her being a peace. Other implicit meanings that come to mind when looking at this shot is also that she is tired because of her journey and she is giving up. Whichever way that I interpret this shot, the meanings that I think of are dark, which contrasts Taylor’s usual happy, preppy image

and in this shot she appears to be lifeless, and image that she usually does not portray and challenges typical conventions of pop videos. A reason for this could be because this music video is for a song that is off the soundtrack to The Hunger Games movie; therefore, she is not portraying

the image that she is known for because she is maybe representing maybe a character or a scene in the movie.

Shot: Wide shotLyrics: ‘You’ll be alright ’

This shot shows Taylor sitting on what appears to be a gravestone and her body language appears to be quite hunched over, almost portraying the image of a small child who is sitting scared and

defenceless. The image of her sitting curled up and her body being as small as possible implies that she is scared and maybe even hiding from whatever is in the forest. Branches appear to be broken and the gravestones look broken in the background of the shot, suggesting that she is not in a safe place. Taylor expression is quite interesting in this shot, because her mouth looks quite shocked,

however her eyes seem to be hopeful, like she believes in the lyrics of the song that she will be ‘safe and sound’ and is not giving up, wherever she may be going. This attitude that I have interpreted from his shot could make this part of the video relate to Taylor’s target audience of young girls,

because the idea of not giving up hope or carrying on when times are tough could be something that they can relate to. I think that the lip syncing in this shot helping enhance the narrative because

the lyrics in this part of the song, which is ‘you’ll be alright’ can be linked to the narrative on the screen, and Taylor’s reassurance that everything will ‘be alright.’

Shot: Close-upLyrics: ‘no one can hurt you now’

This shot could have the implicit meaning of being invincible, because the idea of Taylor walking barefoot over a bed of nails with no inhibition suggests that she has no fears. This contrasts the rest of the video, which portrays Taylor to be susceptible and weak, therefore, it is possible that in this point in the video, Taylor has found her ‘safe place’ and is maybe on her journey to get there. This shot gives the impression that she is becoming more at ease in the forest and that what she was at the beginning of the video, although she is still walking carefully over them, which could possibly

imply that she is still wary, even though she appears to have gained some confidence. The visuals at this point in the video are supported by the lyrics that are heard, which is ‘no one can hurt you now,’ therefore at this point in the video, the meaning of the narrative, alongside the lyrics could be seen as quite explicit, which is a convention of pop videos. Therefore, although a majority of this video

challenges typical conventions of pop videos, the use of a rather explicit shot shows that in this video, Taylor has used typical conventions at times to maybe support the pop genre of the song and

to show that although this isn’t what you’d expect to find in a typical pop video, she is still a pop artist.

Shot: Medium long shotLyrics: ‘you and I’ll be safe and…’

I think that the lighting has been manipulated in this shot to show that Taylor is going from the light into the shadows, possibly suggesting that she is heading in the direction of a darker place. Her body language suggests that she is possibly reluctant to enter. As the lyrics say 'you and I'll be safe,' which could also imply that she is reaching the place

where she feels the most safe.

Shot: Insert shotLyrics: ‘oooooh oooooh’

This convergent link between the film and music video. This could be so this music video can reach a wider audience. For example, audience members who

may not be a Taylor Swift fan, but are a fan of the Hunger Games may still watch the video, and possibly download the song because it is the soundtrack for the

movie.

Shot: Medium close-upLyrics: ‘aaaah aaaaah’

In this shot, Taylor's hand is on her head and her body language symbolises her being stressed. Her eyes are shut which implies that she is scared and possibly trying to hide from what is going on around her. Although you cannot see her entire body, you can almost imagine that she is possibly rocking back and forth.