Analysis of a Music Video for A2 Media

1. Analysis of a Music Video
Shura – What's It Gonna Be

2. Genre
• This product is a narrative for an electropop song. There is a
relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as the song is about an
unrequited love and the narrative follows two characters, Nick
and Shura, in their attempt to win over their respective crushes, Brad
and Sarah.

3. Content - Location
• Bedrooms – this location is used to suggest intimacy as it is the character's
personal space. This is shown when Nick and Shura are in Nick's room
together as they are best friends and when Shura and Sarah are
in Shura's room together.
• Park – this location is a typical "hangout" for teenagers which appeals more
to the audience but it also suggests playfulness and happiness which is
shown when Nick and Shura are both dancing and lying in the grass,
smiling and also matched the upbeat tone of the song. This is also where
Nick and Brad become closer which emphasises the sense of happiness.
• High school – the high school setting fits in with the song as unrequited
crushes are usually seen as childish and something that people go through
as teenagers. This setting is where Brad and Sarah are introduced to us
which highlights the fact that Nick and Shura are pining after them and
haven't had the courage to talk to them which follows the song's lyrics.

4. Content - Costume
• Shura wears an oversized jacket which shows that she is a shy person as she is covering
herself with this jacket, which also aligns with her interest in space as shown by the
props in her bedroom which emphasises her role as a "Dork". However, as the video
progresses, the jacket is replaced with thinner clothing, showing that she is becoming
more confident and more comfortable with people such as Nick and Sarah.
• Nick wears suspenders with high waisted trousers that are too short for him which
emphasise his role as a "Nerd" as suspenders are seen as old-fashioned clothing. But
when he wears more casual clothing, it usually indicates that he feels comfortable
around the person that he is with such as Shura and Brad.
• When we are first introduced to the characters, Brad is wearing a letterman jacket and
Sarah is wearing a cheerleader's outfit which emphasises their roles of the "Jock" and
the "Cheerleader". These outfits make them seem unattainable and almost places them
on a pedestal as they are seen as the "popular kids" and Nick and Shura are unable to
even talk to them. However, once they start to wear more casual clothing, they are able
to interact with Nick and Shura and become closer with them, showing their
personalities and subverting the stereotype that popular kids are shallow.

5. Content - Character movements
• Shura and Nick walk quickly and appear to be easily scared and clumsy which
shown Nick trips in front of Sarah and when Shura jumps when Brad waves at
her which emphasises how nervous they are around their crushes as they are
thrown off-guard by people. This also shows their excitability when they are
devising their plan to win over their crushes. This highlights the hopefulness
shows in the song as they are happy over the idea of winning over Brad and
Sarah.
• Brad and Sarah are more confident as they are "popular kids" and therefore move
slower and more self-assured. Sarah, however, becomes nervous and unsure
when Shura attempts to kiss her, showing that as a popular kid, she too is as
nervous around Shura as Shura is around her.
•

6. Content - Props
• The props in Shura's and Nick's bedrooms are used to show more of the characters' personality.
For instance, Shura's bedroom shows her interest in space as it contains items such a space
helmet, a globe an ET doll and a telescope as well several posters of space. This emphasises her
role as the Dork as she has an obsession with space. Nick's room contains photos of icons such as
Molly Ringwald and David Bowie which subverts from his role as a Nerd as these are popular
people.
• Sarah's poster is used to highlight the characters' interest in her. At first Nick is seen with the
poster, touching it almost worshipfully but when we see Nick start to become closer to Brad, the
poster appears behind Nick's head in the out of focus background, implying that she is in the back
of his mind right now and his interest in her has vanished. However, when Nick shows her poster
to Shura, she becomes interested in her. The poster also reappears when Shura and Sarah are
putting them up in the auditorium together showing how Shura's interest in her has grown. This is
similar to Shura keeping a photo of Brad in her locker so the audience is tricked into thinking she
is interested in him but when she meets Sarah, her interest in him vanishes.
•

7. Content - Lighting
• The lighting throughout the entire video is bright and inviting,
stressing the light-heartedness and hopeful, upbeat tone of the song
and the intimacy between characters, both in relation to Nick
and Shura's friendship and their respective relationships with Brad and
Sarah as it implies their futures together will be bright and happy.
• The only time the lighting is slightly dimmer is when the characters
interact in the bedrooms, which highlight the closeness of their
relationships

8. Content - Sound
• The only dialogue in the video is Nick's and Shura's mother calling to
them from outside their bedroom at the beginning of the video saying
"Shura, breakfast!" and "Nick, you're late!". This emphasises the fact
that they are teenagers as they still have to be taken care of by their
mother, which the target audience can relate to.

9. Content - Cinematography
• Tracking is used to show who are the main characters as, while there's more tracking
for Shura and Nick, all four of the main characters are tracked throughout the
music video. Zooming in is used for either comedic purposes or to build tension up, for instance
when Nick drinks the milkshake and gets some on his upper lip and when Shura and Nick kiss
their respective crushes which highlights the movie-like aspect to the video. The spinning camera
movement used when Shura is at her locker and Brad walks past emphasises how her crush has
almost thrown her off-guard or off kilter.
• Wideshots are used to reveal the location of the characters and give information about them, for
instance the wideshots of the bedrooms shows a lot of props that hint about their personalities
and interests. Close ups are used to draw our attention to things such as the main characters and
certain props of significance like Sarah's poster which is what draws Sarah
and Shura together. Midshots and two shots are used to create the feeling of intimacy between
characters as they begin to get closer, for instance when Nick and Shura are in a two-shot framing
together, this shows that they have a close relationship.
•

10. Content - Editing
• The typography used at the beginning and end credits of the video
makes it movie-like as it shows the title and then the cast and crew.
This pays homage to teen movies centred around high school such as
High School Musical.
• The pacing of the editing contradicts the pacing of the song as while
the song is upbeat and quick, the editing is slower and features
several slow motion shots but is made up for by the speed of the
character movements. This places emphasis on the excitability of the
characters as they seem to moving quicker than the world around
them.

11. Meaning – Conventions and Stereotypes
• As the electropop genre is relatively new, there are little conventions
and therefore the artist can take liberties and can experiment with
the original ideas for their music video. However, the few conventions
of electropop seem to be followed in this music video as it is narrative
based and uses bright colours to match the upbeat tone of the song.

12. Meaning – Iconography
• The video uses stereotypical high school iconography to emulate the
teen high school movies that usually follow an unpopular teenager in
their attempts to win over their popular crush. However, it subverts
the stereotype that the best friends' usually end up together as they
win over their popular crushes who are not shallow or mean. The use
of the high school appeals to the audience as it is something that they
would be familiar with and could relate to.

13. Meaning – Representations
• The representation of sexuality in this video is subverting from
stereotypes, as it is normalising homosexuality and are not
representing the characters as sexualised or predatory.
While Shura and Nick may have a hint of masculinity
and feminity respectively to them, Sarah and Brad have
stereotypically heterosexual features, being the "Cheerleader" and
the "Jock" but are not heterosexual.

14. Meaning – Audience Theories
• In today’s society, the dominant reading would be that the ending of
the music video, in which the characters end up in same sex
relationships, is acceptable.
• However, in the context of which the video is set, the same sex
relationships would not be acceptable as it pays homage to the 80s
high school movie and so is implied to be in that time, and so the
oppositional reading would be that the ending is wrong and would
never happen in one of the movies that the video pays homage to.

15. Purpose
• The product was made to promote the song and album, and to sell
the song as it can be played on TV and on youtube which can be
monetised as people can buy the video and download sales count
towards chart positions and sales of the song. It also draws attention
to the LGBT+ community as it features members of that community
and normalises them. It appeals to the primary target audience of by
using the stereotypical high school setting and also appeals to the
LGBT+ teenagers as they would feel represented.

16. Target Audience
• The primary target audience of this product would be 15-24 year olds and the
secondary target audience would be the 15-24 year olds that are apart of the LGBT+
community as the location of a high school would be familiar to them and the
characters are representing their sexuality. This would mean that their socio-
economic grouping would be E as they are mostly unemployed and therefore would
have to ask their parents to buy the product who would fall into the socio-economic
grouping of C1 and C2 as they would have to have a disposable income. The
audience would either fall into the "Reformer" or the "Individual" of Rubicam's Four
C's as they want to support the product which supporting the LGBT+ community as
there are not as many similar products. From Maslow's Heirachy of Needs, this
product would provide the secondary audience with "Love and Belonging" as well as
"Esteem Needs". This is because it provides the audience with a sense of belonging
and self-confidence and self-acceptance due to its representation of the LGBT+
community.