Molly Rickards (7111) Similar Product Research - 'Taylor Swift - White Horse'

Again this song can be related to by many people, the lyrics are really well written and I would like to use some inspiration from this video in mine.  The lyrics, “they’re in my rear view  mirror disappearing now” is a really interesting play on words, a great way of showing she’s letting go of her relationship; although those lyrics are not used in the song choice for my video, I would like to try and include some clip of film portraying this by filming through the rear view mirror of a car to show letting go, this may be a good way to begin and to end the video- again repeating a clip is done in this music video and is really capturing. It’s a story put into a song and is shown through the video which I think makes it so intriguing.

The opening begins with the sound of rain; it’s not a convention for a music video to have a non-diegetic sound but, like Barthes theories the rain can often be a signifier of an unhappy mood like upset of heartbreak. The song is both performative and narrative, although she is singing it all fits as though she is explaining what she is feeling, it is heavily narrative based.

Throughout the video the shots change from shots of the happy relationships to the destruction of it as it ends, the video plays on the idea of good and bad having the happy shots light with white colours used in the mise en scene and the opposite for the sad shots, they are dark with small amounts of dark orange lights coming through small gaps in the blind. The costume also changes from light and colourful to black and grey. I am able to apply Propp's theory to this song, it is clear that the artist, Taylor Swift is the victim and the male is the villain- this theory is supported by the suggestion of good and bad through the lighting and mise en scene, by the end of the song however, Taylor Swift apologises and she has the choice of what to do after the relationship has been destroyed, so although she not the villain she is no longer the victim either.

When the other female appears on the scene there is a very clever shot reverse shot used in time with the music to create a disequilibrium, it builds up to the climax, the lyrics “begging for forgiveness, begging for me, just like I always wanted, but I’m so sorry”  it is showing that although it was her choice she’s still hurt, the video has a lot of emotion, I think without this the song and video would not work, emotion is vital to create the right feeling and this will be something I will make sure this is present when filming my video.