Beyonce - Love on Top

Performance



In this music video by Beyonce, we see her putting on a dance performance to her song Love on Top. This music video doesn't actually have a narrative as she focuses on using performance shots from different angles to create it. Throughout the video she is putting a performance on with backing dancers, and she is singing about being in love and someone making her happy. She demonstrates lyrics through dance moves and hand gestures, and this shows us there is a strong link between the music and the visuals. She's on beat with the music and her backing dancers so-operate well to the dance moves.  As I've said the music video style is performance. I think she chose to do this type of video because from some of her previous music video she has done, shes a good dancer as well as a singer. Because of this she has created her own iconography, so we can associate the two together.

With this song being a throwback to the 1980's music, she used inspiration from the late Etta James, and wrote the song herself alongside a producer. The reason why it works so well is because of her RnB background and her amazing vocals that she can express. From the video we can see that the beat and the rhythm of the song all link in to the 1980's genre of music, they are full of beats and you can really bop to the music. Although Beyonce is a one woman artist, all the attention isn't focused on her all the time. The use of different shots incorporate the dancers as well as her, in to the shots and we feel a sense of togetherness, like she doesn't want all the attention to be on her. Although this may be a requirement for some producers, she has strayed away from gaining all the attention.

By using hand gestures, she illustrates some of the lyrics in the song and this si how we know it is linked. For example, she sings the lyrics 'I can see the stars all the way from here', while doing this she raises her hand up, spreads he fingers so they look like a star and brings them back down like she has grabbed something. This is an effective way of telling a story through performance without it actually being a narrative style music video. To break the video up towards the end, she changes her outfits and again influences more girls to like shes wearing and to look up to her in the way that she's more than just an artist. Another element of this video is that one of the outfits she wears is the one that she wore the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. This is iconic because it was such a big event and to incorporate that in to one of her music videos, and done so well, she is not only promoting the dress but herself as well. Wearing a black body suit with black hose, Knowles puts on a display of footwork before breaking into the song. About halfway through, the visuals suddenly switch to night as Knowles lights up the space in various formal looks, including a gold pantsuit, white suit, and finally a tuxedo complete with coattails, top hat, and cane. The choreography from here resembles that of the 1960s male groups. The wardrobe changes in fact correspond with every key change, except the final one. The video ends with Knowles yelling "cut!" and the shot returns to them at rehearsal.

In this video she has used only one setting which is the corner of a penthouse studio that she's in in the video. I think that this has worked well because it's almost as if she is practising the dance, and they are using a studio to do this because it has lots of space. But on the other hand it looks well rehearsed and really fits in with what she is doing. Videos like this  react well with performers because it is opening them up to new ideas and concepts.

Beyonce is s very conventional RnB artist and we know she does things, she does it right and well. She's been in music of many years and knows her target audience, she knows what they want to hear. I think the age range would be from 15 - 30 years old, as she very relevant in her music and a lot of girls and young teenagers look up to her as a role model because she had done so well for herself in such a short space of time. Girls like myself have seen her grow from being in the band Destiny's Child, to her being a very successful solo artist. Girls and women don't just look up to her a successful singer but as an icon in fashion. All these factors contribute to her gaining fans and attracting different types of audiences.

They sue a lot of long shots in this video to establish the scene she is in, and what we actually see as the audience is the New York City skyline, which is exceptionally iconic. I think the penthouse is strategically placed and for her, it was a great choice of location to film a music video. Other shots include close-ups of Beyonce's face, and these shows the emotions in her face she is performing this type of song. She looks, comfortable and content with what she is doing.Mid shots are used that display the top half of her body, throughout the performance, as well as the hand gesturing, her body language is also playing it's part in displaying the song visually. The way she moves her body and flows the to the beat of music expresses how the song makes her and the audience feel, if they can relate to it. From the influences that inspired her to this this type of song, a lot of panning shots are used, although they are not long pans, they are subtle and really fit in with the beat and style. The pans show Beyonce and her male backing dancers dancing away and getting lose in the music.

Visually there is not much editing that has been done apart form the obvious which is the editing of the different shots. She has kept continuity throughout the video, and you can hardly tell where shots have jumped to the next one because they have been edited together so well. Other editing that has been used, is the effects used in the second half of the video. They have darkened the shots to make her stand out more, and it also makes her look like she is performing on an actual stage. This is effective because it adds a different element ot the video, rather than it just being her and her backing dancers rehearsing, In the parts where the shots are darkened, light has also been added in from each top corner, this is to have all the attention focused on Beyonce herself and looks really good. Right at the end of the video we see Beyonce shout 'Cut' and she walks past one of the cameras that was filming her, and there would of been one behind this camera man to to get her doing this. Having the video show the camera man at the end makes the video feel more genuine, and also imitates that shes been performing in a show then all the effects disappear dramatically and it goes back to normal.