Telephone - Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s music video for her song Telephone starts off very slow. The first minute I watched of the video doesn’t fall into just one style, it is narrative but also is based on performance aswell. It sets the scene in the jail, and takes places around the prison and in the cells. The costume Lady Gaga is wearing is very typical of her. She has her own style which is very controversial. She has her own ‘motifs’ which are outfits very different and things you would never think of. In every opportunity possible she goes to the extremes when trying to make herself different from all other artists and stand out as being ‘strange’. In this video she has sunglasses on which are made from cigarette’s and she has rollers in her hair which are coke cans. At the beginning she wears a black leather jacket which gives her a sort of ‘rock-chick’ look, and underneath studded black bra and knickers. Which also give her the same style and make her seem ‘bad’ and add to the fact she is in jail. When she answers the phone the video use’s special effects when she says ‘Wha-a-a-a-a-t did you say, oh you’re breaking up on me?’ the camera jumps to add to the effect of her breaking up and not hearing the person on the other end of the line. When she then goes back into the cells and starts the beginning of her singing and dancing, she takes off her jacket, making the video more based on performance and makes the audience focus on her as she has displays herself in just her underwear. At this point the camera is full length and we see long shots of her so we see her whole body. The lighting throughout doesn’t change drastically but when Lady Gaga is outside it is quite bright and the sun is shinning on her, where as in the cells it is quite dark and gloomy, to remind us she is in a bad place and that she is situated in a prison. This song probably falls into the ‘hip-hop’ genre, as do most of her songs. But her music does vary within styles. The audience for this music video is quite widely spread. It is likely to attract people of around the ages fifteen to thirty as it is a modern, up beat song which stereotypically attracts younger audiences. There isn’t just one gender that it would be focused on as many girls enjoy her music and admire her as a person but also because in this video she has herself displayed in her underwear, this would also attract many men.