Analysing a Pop Video

In the pop video of ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift, we ‘read’ the image of the artist through the techniques they use to represent themselves. Taylor Swift conforms to the common star image of youthfulness, originality, creativity and talent. She puts forward an image of being wholesome pure and innocent by singing out safe love and romance rather than sex and danger. Swift gives off the image of a teenager who is falling in love, she is not interested in drugs or sex or rebellion, instead she sings about happiness and innocence through her own love story. She conforms to general views and authorities through her use of images created, starting with her in a school; shown through many people her own age and then the fact that they are all carrying books etc. Most people her age would still be in education and therefore this offers a ‘safe’ image to the video. The style of dress in the video would suggest an old romantic view of love; this is shown as the video goes back in time to the ‘romantics’ era of classic love stories like ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’. In one shot we can see her Romeo running towards her across the field dressed in what many viewers would associate with the classic Mr Darcy look. We see him dressed in old fashioned clothes including a baggy white shirt. This highlights the ‘safe’ boyfriend element to the video and also the romantics’ era they were trying to convey. Taylor Swift is also seen as original as she writes and then performs her own songs; she also made country music more popular amongst the younger audience as she tied it in with pop music.

This music video would fall into the genre of pop or country. With all genres of music there are specific codes and conventions that are normally met. This music video conforms to the general view of country music in the fact that it tells a story throughout the narrative. The video shows Taylor Swift starting in a modern day school and passing a boy; she then has flashbacks to the olden days of the romantics’ era where she sees the same boy and herself dancing at a ball. From this we can see the narration of the story unfold. She also sings about a classic love story of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare. By doing this she can use the devices and basic storyline created in the play and then attach them to her personal love story told in the narrative of the video.  As she is a solo female artist she conforms to the general idea of singing about love, she is also shown in a victim / sympathetic state which are common conventions of female artists. The music video of ‘Love Story’ is easy to watch and understand as it is a conventional music video. We see the performance of the artist through her singing directly to the camera thus addressing the audience; we also see her dancing with backing dancers in an old fashioned ball dance which conforms to the idea of the setting of the video. There is no sign of a band as it would break away from the old fashioned concept of the video. We also see Swift singing from a balcony which emphasizes the narrative of the song being about Romeo and Juliet. By using two main characters in the video we can follow them and their story easily which makes the narrative clearer.

A love story is depicted from the video as we see her follow a story about herself and a boy falling in love. We see them first meet and almost instantly fall in love. This is shown through the use of flash backs in the video giving off the idea that they knew each other and fell in love before in a previous life. We then see them pursuing their safe relationship by dancing together in a ball and then going out in the garden, holding hands and talking. They are not kissing or being overly sexual. These events would suggest that the video is aimed at a younger ‘tween’ audience who are aware of sexuality but are not actively involved in it. This is also shown as the song talks about feelings and love rather then sex and dangerous relationships. The image of the pop video is significant in identifying the target audience and age range. From the aspects we can see in this video, we are aware that the target audience is young teenage girls. The fact that there are no real ‘issues’ raised in the video would also suggest that the video is aimed at a young audience who’s main worry in life is their feelings. We see the video go from the old fashioned, romantic era back to the modern day where we see the couple walking off happily together. This narrative, image and style of the pop video suggests that it is aimed at a tween audience.