Research: Beyonce's music video and how it is Voyeuristic.

This is ''Halo'' by Beyoncé. This video shows a great amount of Voyeurism which is emphasised by slow motioned shots accompanied by certain lyrics.

The video begins with a close up of Beyoncé's face which then cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot to show what she is smiling at, in this shot we see her boyfriend laid in bed asleep, the camera then cuts back to Beyoncé's face to show a reaction shot.

Although in this shot Beyoncé looks happy, in the next shot we see Beyoncé stood with her boyfriend behind her, they both look unhappy or concerned but are still very close to each other, suggesting love - this seems to be a clip of what has happened on a previous day.

Beyoncé's makeup is very natural and plain, this emphasises her natural beauty. So far the lyrics have not began therefore we (as an audience) have to imagine what they are feeling or thinking and guess what we think has happened.

The camera uses the bright light from the window accompanied by the beat of the music starting to slowly move to the next shot of Beyoncé stood alone against a wall. Once the camera cuts back to them both stood together Beyoncé continues to look down, the camera then cuts to show what Beyoncé is looking at and it shows their hands, holding each other and the person stood behind her has his arms wrapped around Beyoncé.

As the camera cuts to their faces Beyoncé begins to still, whilst continuing to stay in her role.

I have noticed that the way Beyoncé moves her head and body, emphasises the voyeurism in the video as it makes her look enticing.

In this video the camera cuts on the beat, and the shots stay quite slow. I am starting to think that this video is portraying a break up.

The shots I have seen have been handheld but still quite still, this suggests their movement and how they are standing.

In the next shot the camera slightly and slowly pans in a dance room, the shot then cuts to a high angle shot showing Beyoncé ready to practice in the room, this is an over-the-shoulder shot showing that her boyfriend is watching without her knowing, this may suggest a lack of trust on his side of their relationship or that he wants to be closer to her.

As the camera pan from around a wall, the close up of Beyoncé re-adjusting her outfit, and out of breath shows she still cares about her appearance even when she is alone, also the steadiness of the camera contrasts with how she is portrayed as tired.

The camera next cuts back to the couple stood together for  0:05 seconds then cuts back to a handheld camera of Beyoncé moving her head round, supposedly stretching her neck, I think that the dancing portrayed could be a way of showing physically how Beyoncé feels in her relationship.  

The camera next cuts to a sequence of 3 slightly quicker shots of the couple in very bright lighting, this makes the shots look very over exposed and pale. On the last of these three shots Beyoncé looks into camera for only a second, this emphasised the voyeurism as it teases with audience making her look captivating.

After the three brighter shots, it then cuts to a shot with high key lighting, this shot is again handheld and shows a close up of Beyoncé and her boyfriends hands together, but interestingly the camera is not focused on their hands, which are centre framed, it is focused on Beyoncé's face, I think that this is to capture her emotion in that moment. The camera is showing what the man can see, and what he is focused on, therefore we can see that although they are holding each others hands, he is not focused on that he is focused more on Beyoncé's face, whereas she is smiling at their hands.

A high angle shot follows this showing the couple laid top and tale on a white sofa, this shot contrasts with the last one as they no longer look happy with each other, something may have happened between the two shots that we could not see. The lyric ''you're everything I need and more'' is quite a reassuring sentence therefore you would expect them to look happy but instead the do not.

The two shots that follow this are close up, over-the-shoulder shot of Beyoncé's face, although she is still singing it looks as if she is in a conversation, and the lyrics emphasise that she is trying to reassure her boyfriend of something ''Baby! I can feel your halo''  

The camera cuts then to a shot of Beyoncé's boyfriend watching her from a high angle and smiling, this could suggest he's proud of her. A medium close up of her face and hips as the camera pans, suggests what he is looking at. It also again emphasises voyeurism and points out particular parts of Beyoncé's body making her look more attractive. We then get a shot-reverse-shot of Beyoncé and her boyfriend smiling at each other with a handheld camera.

We then get another shot-reverse-shot of the couple in bed together, they each smile into camera when it is facing them to make it look as if they are smiling at the other person.

The next 4 shots I think are a montage of events, it also shows more of what has happened in the locations that have been previously used e.g. playing with a puppy on the white sofa.

The next few shots we see are 0:04 second shots of different close ups, some are of Beyoncé and some her boyfriend dressing into the suit he wears in the shot of him watching Beyoncé in the dance room. The shots we see now are quite fast shots, the smiles on their faces suggest they are no longer unhappy.

I think that they over exposed light emphasises the fact that this is what Beyoncé is thinking about at the beginning of the video, the lighter shots make it look dream-like.

We then interestingly see a shot of Beyoncé wearing wedding dress underwater. This shot shows Beyoncé floating upwards in the bright blue water, this may suggest a sense of freedom or it may suggest that there is an underlining problem in their relationship and Beyoncé feels as if she cannot breathe. Just after this clip a shot of the couple in bed together then leads on to another shot of Beyoncé in the water, whereas the first clip of Beyoncé was 0:05 seconds this clip was 0:02 seconds, the movements that take place under the water match what Beyoncé does in the dance room, maybe she was planning for this?

The final shot in this music video is 0:42 seconds of an extreme close up of the couple, the man is on top of Beyoncé and they are not kissing but slightly touching their faces together, this emphasises voyeurism as it projects what they are feeling may be sexual.

The first and last shots we see in this video contrast as in the first shot we see Beyoncé on her own watching her boyfriend sleep, whilst in the last shot we see the couple together in an extreme close up. This could suggest that through time and throughout the video, their relationship has grown stronger and they have become closer.

 

How has this video influenced my planning and creativity?

 

What have I learnt?  

- costumes change but they do not have to completely different e.g. colours.

- shots can cut slightly off-beat.

- handheld shots, when used in the right place fit well.

- you can use bright lighting to move from one shot to another.

- emotions need to be exaggerated so it gets across right for the audience.

 

From this video I have realised how voyeurism is used and how certain things such as body movement, emphasise this feeling.

To create Voyeurism within our video we will experiment with body language, e.g. the way each person looks at Courtney or into the camera, and the way that the lead singer maybe holds the microphone.