Sunday 11 September 2011

Music Video Deconstruction 15: Lose my Breath - Destinys child

Destinys child were an american R&B group consisting of lead singer Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland (who later went on to have huge solo careers, especially Beyonce) 'LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett' who were later replaced with Michelle Williams leaving them as a three peice band and signed to Columbia Records. The genre of the track, and most of their releases is R&B, the track was released in 2004 directed by Marc Klasfeld who has also directed the likes of artists such as: 'Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Kid Rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Jewel, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne and many others'

1. Opening shot is a high angled long 3 shot of the band all dressed quite 'ghetto' weave in their hair, big earrings and jewellry, with crop tops and skinny jeans and heels aswell as fur coats that has links to 'pimps and hoes' concept.
2. Cut to a medium shot of Kelly and Beyonce wearing crop tops and bras on show with chains signifying the street and carries connotations of them having pimps which then tracks left shwing michelle in the same attire.
3.There is then a long shot of the girls in more work like skirt suits which are very fitted and tight showing off their bodies and are all very low cut showing off their chests this then jumps to a medium slight high angled shot of the three band mates facing another set of girls making it a 6 shot, it looks like there is rivalry between the two groups as they look at eachother nastily which is then anchored by them starting to have a dance off against eachorther hence the lyrics 'cant you keep up?'
4. There is then a high angled shot focusing on the lead (Beyonce) and the girl she is competing against. There is then a medium shot of beyonce (high angle shot) the girls from the band get high angled shots as they are the main focus of the video. There is then a medium high angled shot facing the other girls and we see that the other girls are actually the band mates doubles so any shots showing them both will be overlays it then tracks round to show both of them before cutting to a close up of Kellys double.
5. There are then a variety of close ups of the band members followed by long shot of them in a row dancing which are mainly high angled shots and then the other girls/ clones have the same variety of shots now we have seen they are the same people they have the same amount of close ups as the 'origional' girls 
6. The guys then appear to bring in the idea of the female gaze some wearing no tops and baggy jeans to appear 'ghetto' and gangster aswell as wearing chains and baggy hoodies to appear 'youthlike' 
7. There is then long shot of Kelly grinding on the men which is also a high angled shot showing she is in power and a sexy woman taking advantage of them and she is in control of it making her dominant over the men. The other girls in the band are stood around them watching and dancing along with her, the guys are on one side of the pair and the girls on the other showing a challenge between the two sexes and a battle of who is in control. The girls win when Kelly pushes the guy onto the ground and starts dancing with another guy carrying intertexual links to the Britney videos such as 'Womanizer'
8. There are then shots of the 'origional' girls in the suits dancing mainly long shots but close ups aswell showing mainly the faces of the girls and the attitude shown competing with the other girls, so its like a two shot of the group with the camera giving equal coverage of both bands.
9. There is then an extreme long shot of loads of people outside what looks like some sort of club house which the youth audience can relate to, all the dancers and band mates walk into the shot from behind the camera and there are long shots of the group and arial shots from above to emphasise the amount of people there.
10. Close up of Beyonces double looking at the camera with attitude after medium shots of the men breakdancing and a long shot of people around them looking like they are cheering and there is some sort of rivalry between the two guys. 
11. Three groups of doubles then come in and they are all competing for shots in the video all dancing against eachother but the camera also keeps cutting back to the crowd and guys dancing around them.
12. The final shot is of the same as the opening shot of the girls just strutting in a 3 long shot which is high angled signifying that what happened in the video never happened although this could not be the preffered reading.

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