2. CINEMATOGRAPHY
This wide shot is introducing Marina to the
audience of the music video. It is setup to
look like an old 20’s cinema screen,
immediately presenting the theme of the
music video.
This close-up of Marina with full make-up
and her hair in rollers, implies the
glamorous lifestyle she craves.
In this long shot the chandelier is taking up
2/3 of the screen, whereas Marina is very
small compared to the chandelier and takes up
1/3 of the screen. The size of the chandelier
represents Marina's wealth and that it is so big
that it almost overtakes her.
3. CINEMATOGRAPHY
The slight high angle of the shot of
the broken TV, suggests that the age
of media is over, that you cannot
make money through media, you have
to go out and get it.
The long shot conveys Marina on a step
ladder picking fruit, this is a very vintage
classic shot which portrays the class
Marina has and how she wants her life to
be classic.
The extreme close-up shots of Marina’s lips
evokes her red, seductive lipstick, which
could imply that she achieved her wealth
and fortune through lying and from the
lyrics we could assume that she achieved it
from lying to men.
This use of cinematography is right
after a straight cut edit. They have
used this cinematography to make the
music video similar to a vintage VCR.
4. The editing matches the musical phrases and beat
The video in general cuts to the beat of the music or in time with the lines in
the song to run fluently alongside the music. Every moment, action or cut in
the visuals fits with the rhythm of the soundtrack. For example, in the space of
the ten seconds in the video (0:40 – 0:50) there were ten cuts averaging at
approximately one per second, in time with the beat.
The video breaks many of the rules of continuity editing, it uses features in the
visuals such as jump cuts or complicated transitions to make the editing more
of an obvious aspect to the music video than continuity normally would. For
example, during cuts, alternating between these two colour filters, drawing
attention to the cuts.
It is a clear convention of music video editing
EDITING
5. The edits may be really obvious, to draw attention to themselves as opposed to
invisible, continuity editing
The cuts in the video tend to be quite jumpy compared to other editing
techniques in the indie pop genre. This could be to draw attention to the
editing or provide the impression that the video is imperfect – too quirky to fit
with the theme of the song and visuals
Shot types within the same frame of the artist
Use of interesting, fancy edits and cuts such as
this transition of the broken video look and then coming back in focus with
another scene
A style of editing that runs through the video and is distinctive to that video.
This video uses jump cuts and some unusual transitions with an overall
montage look to the video which combined is distinctive to the music video,
however the features are common in editing in other indie pop videos
EDITING
6. The video is a visual response to the music
There is not necessarily always a balance between narrative and performance
The narrative is not always complete – partial, fragmented narrative
The structure of the video appears disjointed. This is typical to the pop genre
as it relies heavily on the artist’s performance rather than a storyline. The
different scenes are incomplete/disjointed and don’t really tell a story,
conforming to the ‘quirky’ indie pop genre.
The video is mostly driven by the performance (pop convention) and the story
within the lyrics (indie pop convention) maintaining the viewer’s interest
throughout the video.
There’s not a clear closure/resolution at the end
The video poses questions that cannot be answered
The narrative and theme through the video is in a montage style
There is no narrative, however the visuals corresponds with the messages in
the lyrics about the type of woman the character is and what she is trying to
put across about her love interest
CONVENTIONS
7. The music video conveys Marina in glamorous outfits and settings. In this shot
she is wearing a pink sparkly dress with a white fur coat which we usually see
Hollywood stars wearing. Also, a huge chandelier is cooperated which holds
connotations of upper class.
CONNOTATIONS
8. The ideology of the song is that Marina wants a lavish, glamorous lifestyle of
the rich and famous. This is shown in the medium close -up of Marina reading
the Jennifer Haymore book Secrets of An Accidental Duchess, about a beautiful
woman that has been treated specially seen childhood, however she has a
bold, independent spirit and passion that proper young ladies must never
confess, implying that this is what Marina is like.
The pink silky dress that Marina is seen to be wearing has connotations of
seductiveness, again supporting the narrative.
Marina’s make-up within the video has different connotations, the bright red
lipstick again has connotations of seductiveness, however the love heart on her
cheek has connotations of childishness and immaturity.
Marina being shown on the exercise bike implies that to be in this lifestyle you
have to look good and the fact that she is not taking the exercise seriously and
doing it in her nighty suggests she already looks good enough.
MISE-EN-SCENE
9. The genre of Marina’s music is indie-pop
In the first 30 seconds of the song the music is calm and almost like a lullaby
and then a strong beat comes in and the song becomes pop
This could represent how Marina would be in a relationship, nice at first and
then when she gets the life and money that she wants, a man has to do things
for her ‘Buy a big diamond ring for me?’ ‘Would you get down on your knees for
me?’
At many points of the video it is diegetic as Marina is performing the song.
Implying that she is not afraid to tell people exactly what she wants
SOUND
10. The lyrics from Primadonna suggests that Marina believes she would have the
glamorous lifestyle of the rich and famous and she believes a man should
provide this for her: ‘Buy a big diamond ring for me?’ & ‘Living life like I’m in a
dream’.
The lyrics also suggests that Marina is not faithful to her boyfriend/husband
and only wants him for his money ‘Got you wrapped around my finger, babe,
you can count on me to misbehave’. When she says that she has him wrapped
around her finger it reinforces that she can get anything she wants, without
being faithful or even nice to him.
The lyrics ‘Everyday is a chore, chore, chore’ suggests that she feels she
shouldn’t have to ask for the things that she wants, she should just be given
them.
NARRATIVE - LYRICS
