Research - Music Video Analysis 3

Whitney Houston - I will always love you. 

The video beings with a close up of the artists face. This instantly shows the audience who the video is by. This is a typical convention of a music video. She doesn't look at the camera within the first scene and throughout the video. This gives her a closed body language and sets the mood of the video which is sad. It shows a darkness to the video as it could represent that she feels alone and upset. The lighting throughout the video is often dark, in the scenes where she is sat alone thinking about her memories. The lighting in the flash back clips are bright which tells the audience she was happy during them times. We also see in the scenes where the female actor is sat alone in an empty theater. This emphasises how lonely she feels without the male character which is why she is looking back at the memories. By her standing on the stage it suggests that she practicing telling her love story. One scene at the beginning of the video shows various angle shots of plane and suggests that she is leaving which sets the narrative of the video. Through out the video there are many camera angles and movements. This is a typical convention of a pop music. However the camera angles and movements are slow panning and many fading out and in shots. There is also some editing where the flash back scenes over lay. This creates an effect of the artist looking at her memories and we are with her. This also goes along with the lyrics. For example one sentence says ' Bitter sweet memories' and she is looking back at her memories. This fits the tempo of the video which is a typical convention. As the speed and tempo speed up, so does the amount of shots. There are many close up of the artists face, which allows us to see the artists emotions. They are often blanks and again she doesn't look a the camera, showing the mood of the video which is sad. The use of quick shots and over laying of shots suggest that the artist is looking back at flashbacks of her life. These flashbacks are taken from the film the bodyguard in which the artist plays the main female character. This means the video is promoting the film and the film is promoting the artist. This is an example of cross media convergence/synogy. This is a popular means of two media texts promoting each other with less cost involved. It has been done with other artists such as Adele sang the theme song for James Bond film - skyfall and Ellie Goulding for the 50 shades of grey theme song - love me like you do. The use of flashbacks also creates a narrative for the video. It is typical for a pop ballad video to have a narrative. The video is not a typical chronological order video as it there are flashbacks, however these flashbacks are all in order and help the audience see into the artists point of view. The artist has a plain simple make-up which goes against the typical pop music video, compared to her video 'I wanna dance with somebody' where her make up is very bright, this song is a slow pop ballad and therefore requires a simple make-up. She still has a red lipstick, as red represents love and shows that she still misses the male character. There are multiple costume changes which again is another typical convention of a music video, as shows the audience that the events in the video have happened over a long period of time and shows how deep her love for the male character is.