Written by: Carrie Underwood, Hillary Lindsey, Josh Kear
Director: P.R. Brown
Genre: Country pop
Structure: Narrative/Abstract
This music video has a strong and dark narrative that is very obvious to the viewer/audience, but very unusual but not unconventional to the genre. In summary, a man is married and also has a mistress/girlfriend, this is unbeknownst to both women. The wife finds an unknown number on his phone and calls it, and both women discover each other's identity, realising that their lover is a liar. They devise a plan to murder the man as punishment for his lies and deceit. The mistress (played by the artist, Carrie Underwood) lures him into an alleyway one night, and his wife rams him with her car (a black Cadillac), killing him. At the end, the two women travel separately to his funeral, and meet face to face for the first and the last time, sealing their lover's fate and the dark secret they share. Most of the narrative is told through storytelling in the music video, as not many of the story's events are shown. Instead, the story is told through the song's lyrics that the artist sings, for example:
"Two months ago his wife called the number on his phone, Turns out he'd been lying to both of them for oh so long"
"It was the first and the last time they saw each other face to face, they shared a crimson smile and just walked away, and left the secret at the grave"
While the video's narrative is very obvious to the viewer due to the heavy use of storytelling and the showing of the story's key events (The man getting killed, the two women arriving at his funeral), there are still a small number of connotations, symbols that develop the narrative even more. The first is what the song's title is referring to, the two black cadillacs, they are key props in the video as well as imagery, they both represent the man's love for both women, as he bought them both this car. But it also hints and symbolises the theme of death due to the connotation of the colour black. You could also say that the two black cadillacs represent the two women's lack of morality, as they murdered a man in cold blood and the colour black connotes death.
While the music video primarily follows a narrative, there is a subtle use of some abstractness shown through symbolism and imagery. The first of this is towards the end of the video, when the crushed car (crushed from ramming the man into the wall killing him) repairs itself in a distorted manner. This could represent the women's skill of covering up the murder as well as showing their dedication to keep this dark secret between them. Another ambiguous clip in the video is right at the end. The two women leave the funeral together in one of the black cadillacs, they sit in the back passenger seats and the car drives away by itself with no driver, possibly representing their determination as well as guilt. This clip is very difficult to interpret, but it gives the music video a very mysterious and ethereal tone.
Although the video conveys a darker tone than the typical country music video, it still shares the same natural conventions. The setting is a common convention as country videos are usually associated with nature, as the artist is either in a field or a wood in a part of the video at least. In the video, one of the main settings is a graveyard, which is a key convention of dark country music.The other main setting in the music video, inside Cadillac, is also conventional in its own right, but quite rare.The season this video was shot in also represents the sadness and tragedy of the song's deep meaning. Typically, country music videos are shot in the summer as sunlight is associated with happiness, which suggests that the average country song is upbeat and positive While it follows the setting convention it could be argued that this is unconventional in the sense as the video is shot in the autumn/winter.
Another unconventional feature of the music video is the artist's choice of costume. Usually, due to most country music videos being shot in the summer, the choice of attire is usually appropriate for this season e.g sundresses, plaid shirts, jean shorts, jeans, cowboy hats etc. A very common and important piece of country-style clothing, cowboy boots, are also omitted due to the nature of the video (themes of death, deep meaning etc) It could be argued that the clothing is only different to adjust to the season in which the video was shot in (winter), but at the same time the costume isn't at all suitable for winter.
In terms of mise-en-scene, the major settings of this music video are in a rural graveyard during a funeral and inside a Cadillac car. Like I mentioned earlier, a nature based setting is a common convention of country music. There is strong pathetic fallacy with this setting as the weather reflects the mood. There is a strong use of mist or fog, which is also very appropriate. As the song and video is about death, the fog is very good at representing the sadness yet evil tone in the music video. It also makes the setting much more ethereal and spiritual, as fog in some way is similar to how you'd expect ghosts to look.
Looking closely into costume, it is essentially funeral attire, as she is dressed all in black. It includes black ankle boots, a long white black coat and a black dress. A key accessory she also wears is some dark sunglasses, which she wears to hide her joy of her lover's death in her eyes so no one is suspicious. Analysing this costume further, it seems to be a "mourning" choice of attire (people wear black when someone close to them has passed away). But linking to John Berger's theory of "Ways if seeing" this makes me see the attire in an entirely different way.The wife's costume is very traditional as she's wearing a long dress and veil, while the mistress's is quite provocative as it accentuates her legs. This makes it seem that the her gaze is meant to entice the viewer despite the song being very serious with no suggestion of this.
The cinematography in the video is very smooth, so it seems to have been shot with either a steadicam or a track. Since the majority of the shots of Underwood are of driving in the Cadillac car, the track is designed to keep the shots still on her and allows the audience's focus to be completely on her. The smooth cinematography gives the music video a very ethereal and spiritual tone, which is suitable as the song and the video is essentially about death and vengeance.
In terms of editing, the video is cut in continuity, which means it is telling a story with narrative continuity, but it also cuts to a flashback a number of times to show the husband being killed. The smooth flow from shot to shot and flashbacks help develop the narrative for the audience. Continuity editing also creates realism as the edit is invisible so the action appears real instead of constructed. The verisimilitude is very important for this music video as the aim is to make you feel the same way as the character is feeling. The more real it appears, the more likely the audience is to believe it and engage with the emotions of the song.
Another editing technique I picked up on was the use of slow motion. This isn't entirely obvious but I noticed this starting with the horse. I felt that this was used to again make the video seem ethereal which fits in with the song and music video's theme of death and vengeance. To add slow motion effectively in a way where the artist is still lip-syncing in time, the artist has to lip-sync to the song twice as fast. The slow motion doesn't just represent the theme but it also fits with the pace and rhythm of the song, as it is of a slow rhythm, there is more realism.
Structure: Narrative/Abstract
This music video has a strong and dark narrative that is very obvious to the viewer/audience, but very unusual but not unconventional to the genre. In summary, a man is married and also has a mistress/girlfriend, this is unbeknownst to both women. The wife finds an unknown number on his phone and calls it, and both women discover each other's identity, realising that their lover is a liar. They devise a plan to murder the man as punishment for his lies and deceit. The mistress (played by the artist, Carrie Underwood) lures him into an alleyway one night, and his wife rams him with her car (a black Cadillac), killing him. At the end, the two women travel separately to his funeral, and meet face to face for the first and the last time, sealing their lover's fate and the dark secret they share. Most of the narrative is told through storytelling in the music video, as not many of the story's events are shown. Instead, the story is told through the song's lyrics that the artist sings, for example:
"Two months ago his wife called the number on his phone, Turns out he'd been lying to both of them for oh so long"
"It was the first and the last time they saw each other face to face, they shared a crimson smile and just walked away, and left the secret at the grave"
While the video's narrative is very obvious to the viewer due to the heavy use of storytelling and the showing of the story's key events (The man getting killed, the two women arriving at his funeral), there are still a small number of connotations, symbols that develop the narrative even more. The first is what the song's title is referring to, the two black cadillacs, they are key props in the video as well as imagery, they both represent the man's love for both women, as he bought them both this car. But it also hints and symbolises the theme of death due to the connotation of the colour black. You could also say that the two black cadillacs represent the two women's lack of morality, as they murdered a man in cold blood and the colour black connotes death.
While the music video primarily follows a narrative, there is a subtle use of some abstractness shown through symbolism and imagery. The first of this is towards the end of the video, when the crushed car (crushed from ramming the man into the wall killing him) repairs itself in a distorted manner. This could represent the women's skill of covering up the murder as well as showing their dedication to keep this dark secret between them. Another ambiguous clip in the video is right at the end. The two women leave the funeral together in one of the black cadillacs, they sit in the back passenger seats and the car drives away by itself with no driver, possibly representing their determination as well as guilt. This clip is very difficult to interpret, but it gives the music video a very mysterious and ethereal tone.
Although the video conveys a darker tone than the typical country music video, it still shares the same natural conventions. The setting is a common convention as country videos are usually associated with nature, as the artist is either in a field or a wood in a part of the video at least. In the video, one of the main settings is a graveyard, which is a key convention of dark country music.The other main setting in the music video, inside Cadillac, is also conventional in its own right, but quite rare.The season this video was shot in also represents the sadness and tragedy of the song's deep meaning. Typically, country music videos are shot in the summer as sunlight is associated with happiness, which suggests that the average country song is upbeat and positive While it follows the setting convention it could be argued that this is unconventional in the sense as the video is shot in the autumn/winter.
Another unconventional feature of the music video is the artist's choice of costume. Usually, due to most country music videos being shot in the summer, the choice of attire is usually appropriate for this season e.g sundresses, plaid shirts, jean shorts, jeans, cowboy hats etc. A very common and important piece of country-style clothing, cowboy boots, are also omitted due to the nature of the video (themes of death, deep meaning etc) It could be argued that the clothing is only different to adjust to the season in which the video was shot in (winter), but at the same time the costume isn't at all suitable for winter.
In terms of mise-en-scene, the major settings of this music video are in a rural graveyard during a funeral and inside a Cadillac car. Like I mentioned earlier, a nature based setting is a common convention of country music. There is strong pathetic fallacy with this setting as the weather reflects the mood. There is a strong use of mist or fog, which is also very appropriate. As the song and video is about death, the fog is very good at representing the sadness yet evil tone in the music video. It also makes the setting much more ethereal and spiritual, as fog in some way is similar to how you'd expect ghosts to look.
Looking closely into costume, it is essentially funeral attire, as she is dressed all in black. It includes black ankle boots, a long white black coat and a black dress. A key accessory she also wears is some dark sunglasses, which she wears to hide her joy of her lover's death in her eyes so no one is suspicious. Analysing this costume further, it seems to be a "mourning" choice of attire (people wear black when someone close to them has passed away). But linking to John Berger's theory of "Ways if seeing" this makes me see the attire in an entirely different way.The wife's costume is very traditional as she's wearing a long dress and veil, while the mistress's is quite provocative as it accentuates her legs. This makes it seem that the her gaze is meant to entice the viewer despite the song being very serious with no suggestion of this.
The cinematography in the video is very smooth, so it seems to have been shot with either a steadicam or a track. Since the majority of the shots of Underwood are of driving in the Cadillac car, the track is designed to keep the shots still on her and allows the audience's focus to be completely on her. The smooth cinematography gives the music video a very ethereal and spiritual tone, which is suitable as the song and the video is essentially about death and vengeance.
In terms of editing, the video is cut in continuity, which means it is telling a story with narrative continuity, but it also cuts to a flashback a number of times to show the husband being killed. The smooth flow from shot to shot and flashbacks help develop the narrative for the audience. Continuity editing also creates realism as the edit is invisible so the action appears real instead of constructed. The verisimilitude is very important for this music video as the aim is to make you feel the same way as the character is feeling. The more real it appears, the more likely the audience is to believe it and engage with the emotions of the song.
Another editing technique I picked up on was the use of slow motion. This isn't entirely obvious but I noticed this starting with the horse. I felt that this was used to again make the video seem ethereal which fits in with the song and music video's theme of death and vengeance. To add slow motion effectively in a way where the artist is still lip-syncing in time, the artist has to lip-sync to the song twice as fast. The slow motion doesn't just represent the theme but it also fits with the pace and rhythm of the song, as it is of a slow rhythm, there is more realism.
No comments:
Post a Comment