Wednesday 7 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 10: Rehab - Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse 'was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was successful in the UK. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, three of which of the four best  Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year' unfortunatly her success ended this year when she was found dead in her apartment in London. The track was released in October 2006 as a soul track directed by Phil Griffin.

1. Opening shot is a Medium shot of Amy from the waist tracks up to her face of her lying down on a bed in what looks like a dressing gown. When the camera reaches her face the track begins. When she sits up there is a transition and the shot tracks across to her knee so her legs are on show signifying sexuality and nudity.
2. There is then a medium shot of her from the side then there is a straight cut from the side to a frontal shot of the singer.
3. Medium shot of a small man clapping his hands in time to the beat of the song and then a cut to a medium shot of amy sat on the bed again with a person behind her lying down whilst playing the trumpet, she wears her signiture heavy eye make up shown in all of her other music videos such as Back to Black, Love is a losing game & Valerie etc which then zooms out into a long shot showing musicians surrounding her playing the drums, trumpet and saxaphone before zooming in to the drum set into a close up which then tracks up to the man playing it and then slightly zooms out.
4. Long shot of Amy walking into a room, which looks old and has huge wooden french doors as she walks intot he shot there is a straight cut to a close up of her legs (side view) and expressions of the men playing the instrument is also captured as they are sat down, like they are all staring at her (male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey) a idea that is based on a Feminist theory developed to indicate and highlight the power imbalance between men and women showing the way men see women, the way women view themselves and judge other women on clothing codes and physical factors. 
5. There is then a medium shot of her leaning over a sink which then tracks upward to her face before again cutting to a medium/long shot of her in the same position from the side. 
6. There is then a long shot of the guys playing their instruments although they are all sat on strange objects for example one of them is sat in the bath, the other on a radiator and on a chair. We see from the style of the decor in the house its an 80's video, an older audience that the video is aimed at would have picked this up earlier, due to the patterned curtains and quirky picture hung on the wall aswell as the brightly colored orange chair.
7. Medium close up of Amy which quirkly cuts to a medium shot of one of the musicians before tracking down to reveal he is sat on the toilet and his feet are tapping to the beat of the track.
8. Previous shots are repeated before there is a medium shot of her sat down on some steps of what looks like outside the house, the musicians have also moved around her and she is in the middle of the screen as any artist would be in their video unless the idea of it is about vulnerability. There is then another medium/close up of the drums and then a close up of her face before an arial shot looking down on them from above.
9. Close up of someone tapping their feet while wearing what looks like pajamas and slippers, signifying the video is at night and Amy is about to go out which would relate to the song 'they tryna make me go to rehab but i wont go no no' and she is doing the opposite of what she has been told to do which cold be seen to help bring in the younger audience
10. Medium shot of her sat in another outfit (going out outfit) sat in a chair inside tracks out to a long shot showing she is sat at a desk with an 80s telephone give anchorage of the time period. Then there is a close up of her singing before a medium shot of her with her feet up on the desk giving connotations of youth and rebel like behaviour which is what the song is about shes been taking drugs, drinking alcahol and people are telling her to go to rehab but shes says 'no no no'
11. The camera then zooms in on amy from the front of her sat at the desk with her legs on the table, before moving to a medium shot from the side of her that then tracks backwards to show the musicians playing their intruments.
12. The group and Amy then seem to have changed location from the old fashioned house into a tiled white room that looks like a prison cell when each musician gets a close up like they would do in a boy band for example linking to my Blink 182 deconstruction earlier.
 

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