Media coursework

1. Textual Analysis of Taylor
Swift’s Bad Blood

2. The Lyrics/ Music
• The lyrics for the song creates a sense that Taylor had had an argument with
someone and can’t forgive them as in the song she says ‘I don’t think we
can solve them’ and “band aids don’t fix bullet holes” which hints that she is
holding a grudge against someone and can’t accept their apology.
• The lyrics of Taylor swifts bad blood music video does not correspond with
the visual storyline we see happening in the music video. This goes against
Carol Vernallis’s theory of narrative in a music video of how the video is a
visual response to the music as what we hear in the song ‘now we got bad
love’ does not match the actions in the music video which has a war
concept. However the fact that the music and video do not match each
other demonstrates Steve archer’s theory of disjuncture as in the music
video a new set of meaning is created with the actions while ignoring the
meaning of the lyrics.
• The tempo/beat of the song motivates the speed of the editing in the video
as once the tempo gets faster so does the pace of which one shot is cut to
another.

3. Mise en scene/Genre
• In the music video Taylor is seen wearing dark clothing and heavy eye make-up, this
can be used as a visual for the target audience in order to clearly establish the mood
the song creates which is an angry one. By wearing dark clothing we see Taylor create
a new image for herself as normally we expect love songs from her and the
stereotype for those music videos is her wearing bright clothing and acting happy. As
she is wearing edgy, dark clothing in a new environment from what we expect would
expect she is able to step away from her normal pop genre image.
• Taylor is widely known for creating songs with a pop genre and normally her music
video use the stereotypes expected of a pop music video. However in the Bad blood
video she goes against the typical stereotypes as although she is used featured in the
video her famous friends also take up a lot of the shoots as well, with some of them
being frequently featured throughout. Also the fact that there is no dancing at all in
the video goes against the stereotypes of a pop music video as normally a dance
routine is expected from the artist at some point in the video.

4. Camerawork
• The different camera movements used within Taylor swifts music video can
demonstrate Steve archer’s study of how camera movements are motivated by the
performers actions in the video as in the video we see Taylor swift and her famous
friends walking towards each other so because they are walking left and right it
determines that a pan camera movement will be used.
• The fact that Taylor had lots of famous friends in the music video means that she isn’t
the sole focus of the video. So in order to keep the attention on her lot of close-ups
and extreme close up shots of her face and her lip-syncing reminds the audience of
her importance in the video and that it is all about her. As well as this the fact that
close up shots and extreme close up shot are used so frequently in the video means
that Carol Vernallis’s theory of how close up shots are commonly used within a music
video can be proven to be true.

5. Editing
• The fast pace/rapid editing used in the video matches the typical
stereotype expected in a pop music video of how the editing is
normally fast to mirror the rhythm of the song.
• In the music video for bad blood through the use of a montage and
motivated editing used on Taylor swifts along with the music proves
Carols Vernallis’s concept of editing in a music video and how the
editing will match the musical phrase or the beat. This can be proven as
the camera follows Taylor swift through a series of different settings, a
montage which is sequenced to go with the beat/rhythm of the song.
For example each time when there is a loud part/beat in the song
something happens in the video to emphasize it, whether it is her
breaking through a wall or someone being hit.
• Steve archer’s technical theory of a music video can be proven through
the editing use in the bad blood music video. The speed of the song for
the music video is visualised by the use of camera movement and
cutting in the video. The speed of the music is matched by the way in
which the video is edited, for example at the start when the song has
just started and a long note is heard, the pace of the editing matches
that point of the song by turning the video into slow motion so that
both the sound and visual match each other.

6. Intertextuality
• The character that Taylor plays in her music video can be widely linked to
the character that Britney Spears portrays in her music video for Toxic. The
costumes that both the women wear in their music videos are very similar
as they both wear the same material and both have a consistency of black
and red. However the reason behind their costumes are different as Britney
uses it as a way of branding herself in a sexual way but Taylor wear the
costume in order to go along with the theme/mood that the song creates.
Also both the videos can be linked on the actions performed as they are
both seen riding a motorbike.
• I think Taylor uses parts of Britney’s music video on purpose as Britney is
known for being the princess of pop music so by using similar ideas Britney’s
video in her own video people will compare them and Taylors image will be
made bigger. Also I think that she uses parts of the Toxic video within her
own because she wants to the Bad Blood video to create a new persona for
herself and Toxic is widely known for Britney rebranding herself.

7. Intertextuality

8. Narrative/ Performance
• The narrative for the music video is a fight between Taylor and
her enemy. This is portrayed through the use of all her famous
friends pretending to be in a battle against one another. Also
with the use of close up shots and battle weapons being used
in the music video the narrative/meaning behind the song is
clear.

9. Star image/The Brand
• In the music video we see a number of Taylor swift’s famous friend, most of
which are famous supermodels. As she has used a lots of well-known
people included in her music video it exhibits Steve archers study of music
videos and how ‘the star image’ can help to sell the music to the audience
and overcome the static that only one in ten acts in the industry makes
money as by Taylor being featured in the video a lot as well as other famous
people will make people want to watch the video as the video features
people they want to see.

10. Voyeurism/Looking
• The bad blood music video is an example of Voyeurism as in the video Taylor
and her friends are seen wearing tight clothing and dark lipstick which is
associated with being erotic. Also the fact that they stare straight into the
camera, like they are holding eye contact with you can be appealing to the
male gaze as it is classed as being a sensual movement. As a lots of Taylor’s
friends featured in the video are supermodels, well-known to being
attractive this alone will appeal to the male gaze.