Task 2: Lady Gaga - Bad Romance: Textual Analysis

The opening of the music video for Lady Gaga's Bad Romance shows the characters that are involved in the music video bathed in a bright white light, ensuring that the video will capture the viewers attention from the outset. In this opening shot, Gaga is shown sitting on a white chair, which could also be described as a throne, in order to make her stand out from the rest of the characters on screen and to show that she is to focus of the story and the most important character. To add to this effect, Gaga is shown in gold coloured clothes and heels, while everyone else is wearing either black or white, more plain clothing. The main thing which stands out in the background characters are the headpieces that some are wearing, using masks to cover their faces. The fact that the background and floor are both coloured white with black stripes also ensures that Gaga will stand out as much as possible, as some of the other characters almost seem to blur with the setting of the shot. As this opening scene continues and cuts from the original pan shot to a close up of Gaga's face, it becomes apparent that the glasses that she is wearing are made of razor blades. This is likely a metaphor for Gaga being dangerous or unsafe and shows that she is capable of acknowledging this fact. This is also shown in the way that she is wearing what looks like some kind of metal mesh over the tips of her fingers, meaning that she has a dangerous touch. This close up of her fingers also shows some product placement, advertising a speaker made by a brand named Parrot.

 
The next scene begins with a shot of a yellow light becoming the centrefold of the shot with a black background heavily contrasting with the light. The light then begins to fill the setting of this scene, with a soft yellow light bathing the contents of the room that we are shown. The viewer now sees a line of what look like pods, each of which says Monster on the front of it. After this, a white light is turned on and lights up the entire scene, at which point the pods open and people start to emerge from inside of them. When put into context, this scene seems like an awakening, as the yellow light from the beginning of the scene seems to wake up the people inside of the pods, like the rising sun waking people up from their beds in the morning. The "Monsters" from inside of the pods are dressed in all white, matching the background of the scene, and begin to dance stiffly once they have all emerged from the pods. One of the following shots to this shows Gaga looking in the mirror, now in a setting with dimmer lighting and dressed all in black, including sunglasses and a large black crown. This could serve to show that she has changed in mood or personality, or that she has a darker side to her than what we have been shown in the previous shots.