Hello, and welcome to my blog. I am currently studying Media Studies at Ilkley Grammar School at A2 level and this blog will show you everything that I will be looking at this year. Each blog post will be like a piece of work that can be looked at individually. I hope you enjoy looking at my blog as I enjoy posting on it.
Lady Gaga’s videos and performances are extremely symbolic and filled with hidden messages. Her latest video, named “Bad Romance”, describes the dark and ritualistic inner-workings of the entertainment industry, by symbolically depicting Gaga as a sex slave.
The first opening shots are of Gaga, but each time the close up is enhanced more. Framing Gaga directly in the middle, gives the audience a sense of "Deja vu" that this is a symbolic device Gaga likes to repeat. The Music doesn't start until 0.12 but at the very start a harpsicle sort of instrument is played, it gives a sense of medieval music, this is when a king of queen would be the ruler of the world, again we have had this sense of Gaga trying to be a "God-like" figure.
The Music Video “Faint” by Linkin Park is a performance based music video, which shows the band performing and a live crowd as if at a live performance.
The video starts with a large light board half on and the silhouette of the lead singer and then the band members setting themselves up on a stage. The camera stands behind the band members showing the crowd who are watching the performance. The band seems to not be playing to the music until the slight pause before the heavier music begins. We can tell when this happens because the lights behind the crowd suddenly become fully lit and then the music begins. The camera swaps between different members and then to the crowd to give the audience the full view of what is happening on and off stage.
Throughout the first verse, chorus, second verse, second chorus and the third verse we only see the band from behind them and with the light this causes them to look like silhouettes. The crowd off stage have their hands up and are jumping in time with the music this suggests that the genre of the music is rock or heavy metal because that is the stereotypical way a crowd dances to that specific genre of music.
When the camera angle moves from behind the band to in front of them it then shows the performance from the crowds point of view and everything that they would be seeing while watching. The background that the band have been playing in front of is a rundown building wall with a garage door half open and the front of a car sticking out. This would tie in with the genre of the music as well as where you would be likely to see the listeners of that genre.
The camera changes angle the camera is placed practically on the stage behind the band members to show the lead singer getting close down next to the jumping crowd and then to a high angled bird’s eye view of the performance showing the vast number of people dancing to the music.
Overall the video show very little special effects, but a wide range of transitions, camera angles and lighting to make the music video a success. The lighting creates a silhouette effect on the band members when the camera is behind them looking out onto the crowd. The transitions cut between different band members and the crowd to show different events or specific parts such as looking at the change in singers and where they are around the stage. I thought that the lighting was a clever idea, the camera angles have influenced me to include those types of camera angles into the drafts of my music video.
The music video “This ain’t a scene, It’s an arms race” by Fall Out Boy is a performance based video.
The video starts with the band finishing a song and walking through the crowd which are cardboard cut outs which could be seen as they are not a very popular band. The video then shows the band working with a supposed super producer and the band are in a studio surrounded by the stereotypical coloured gangster. This shows the typical tensions between races. Also we could say that the singer is slightly nervous because he is seen as slightly nerdy and very uncomfortable with the situation he is in.
The close ups and different cuts on the vocalists facial features and hand movements show that he is nervous and is ridiculed by the coloured men in the room. The opinion of the black men in the room soon changes when the change in pace of the song comes along.
The editing of the video from scene to scene is divided by newspaper/magazine articles of the bands progress or stories of a specific member. This brings a sort of plot to the video or shows the audience the events that the band has been going through.
There are very little effects used in the video to give the audience the impression that it is a realistic event that happens to the band. The styles of the band change throughout the video from nervous uncomfortable, to a more stereotypical Emo, Rock look. The colour scheme changes with the style change in the video. It starts of very dark and plain then goes to the very opposite with light and colourful colours when they are in the hotel room. This could suggest to the audience that the band have progressed and become more confident with their songs and music.
The last part of the supposed dream of one of the band members along with lyrics has included a random group of people which entail; a random girl dressed in pink who stands out because she is at a funeral, people wearing antlers, a man in a space suit and a man dressed as a vampire. The lyrics tell the audience that the people who weren’t fast enough should join in the singing so that they can feel as if they are part of a group. This random group might confuse the viewer or might make them think that the band feel as if they are along with the misfits of society.
In conclusion the video is a band performance with a slight plot or history of the band. There is very little use of special effect which allows the audience to feel the video is more realistic than made up. The variety in shots and cuts used make the transitions and keep the plot moving throughout the song. The change in pace in the song also shows changes in the events that occur in the video.
The music video is a narrative/performance based music video. The band plays are a high school prom in America which changes the life of a student.
Before the music starts the narrative plot is set up, the stereotypical American way of asking a girl to prom is by sneaking up to her window at night and asking her while she looks down upon him. The next scene is just before they go into prom and she takes off his glasses which could represent that he is slightly ‘nerdy’ and needs to relax. When the band starts on stage the dancing begins and the camera swaps between the couple and the nerds friends dotted around the room.
The camera flicks quickly past the group of ‘nerdy’ guys standing together and then over to the benches where there are a small group of girls who haven’t got a date. Between these happenings the camera moves between the band playing and the rest of the students watching someone dancing in the middle of the circle.
The Mise-en-scene is set for an American homecoming, they have props and designs set as like a prom, with things draping down from the ceiling, balloons smart suits and dresses, banners and a performing band.There are very little special effects added to the video but the cuts between the various stories going on help the viewer to understand what is happening. The verisimilitude of the video is well done and anyone watching the video would believe that it was a very stereotypical American homecoming.
The ‘cool’ students pick on the ‘nerds’ by pushing them into the circle and watching them squirm in the middle while everyone watches them. This brings the plot of the narrative together when one of the ‘cool’ guys pushes the guy from the beginning into the crowd and he ironically manages to pull off some really good dance moves and so much so that other people watching join in.
There is a great range of different camera shots. Mid shots are used for conversations, and high angled shots are used to show the crowd dancing to the band performing. Close up and over the shoulder shots are used to show reactions to different events.
To conclude this music video is a good example of a narrative/performing based music video and has influenced the type of transitions and camera angles that I could use in my final music video. The fact that no special effects have been used has been seen in a number of music videos I have seen which would suggest that I need to think about using little if none in my final music video production.
The music video “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park is a performance based music video.
The video shows a series of different clips demonstrating all the bad events and disasters happening around the world. There are lots of fast cuts so people will have to watch it a number of times to fully view all the quick cuts. The world clips are separated by the shots of the band performing, they are located in the middle of a savannah/desert background. This makes the audience ask questions as to why they are there.
The shots used vary from old clips of the past and historical events such as World War Two and various riots, to give the audience the idea that disasters have been happening for a long time. Most of the shots of the band are low angled, looking up are the members of the band with the sun covering the tops of their heads to signify importance. There is quite a bit of spiralling around a single band member – the vocalist, this signifies that he is the singer and there for in some respects is one of the most important members of the band.
The bands colour scheme is black along with their musical equipment so that they can stand out from the reddy/brown background. Quite a lot of the old clips are in black and white because of the lack of technology at the time, the quality and colour suggests that they have been taken from old film footage; this then ties in with the band’s colour scheme. This similarity in colour schemes makes the video follow a certain pattern and brings the video together.
The Mise-en-Scene for the band performance sections seems to create a never ending day because they have set up big floodlights and the towering speakers around them. The camera circles around the different members and when this happens you see either the sun or a floodlight behind their heads. This could also tie in with the use of mixing old film footage with recent day disasters suggesting that they have been happening for a long time, which will give the target audience a real glimpse of all the problems and historical events that have and still are today shocking the world.
To conclude the music video is a good performance based video. The editing and transitions follow with the tempo of the music and lyrics. The fast cut montage makes the audience catch only a small section of certain clips meaning that if they are not quick enough they will miss certain parts making them need to watch the video a number of times over to see the parts they might have missed.
HoppÃpolla Icelandic for (“Jumping into puddles”) is a song by Icelandic band Sigur Rós
It depicts two childlike groups of friends – which are elderly people – strolling around a town and, just like children, pulling pranks on other people. Near the end of the video, the two groups meet each other in a graveyard to battle with water balloons and wooden swords. When one of them is injured and gets a bloody nose (which is referenced in the lyrics), the opponents run away in fear, while the others celebrate the victory. The video shows several shots of the friends jumping in puddles of water.
The lyrics of Hoppipolla by Sigur ros relate to childhood and the stereotypical memories that come with the thoughts of growing up such as jumping in puddles and holding hands. The lyrics also convey a sense of self pride because they are mostly about a person not getting down or bothered about what happens in life and always getting up stronger than before.
The artist has conveyed this by showing a music video which makes you feel proud and confident on the inside but which provides the watcher with a smile and a sense of well being.
The lyrics are not that important to the central message of the music video and the visual forms they are linked but not majorly for example the lyrics are about always getting up and letting nothing stop you where as the video also portrays these attitudes but in a sense of happiness.
You could sense the meaning of the song without hearing the lyrics quite easily because the video has strong visual codes and conventions such as portraying old people as young and fun switching societies stereotypes, reminding ourselves that everybody was the same once and would like to go back to childhood, where there seemed to be no cares in the world.
The narrative of the video is about 6 people aged above 70 acting in ways of their childhood such as spraying graffiti playing with fireworks and performing vandalism and ending in fighting with sticks. The narrative portrays a strong sense of satisfaction the video emphasises “Young Forever” with the actors well into their older years performing acts which would be reminisant of thei teenage years, the video swaps common stereotypes between the old and young for example an old person is seen knocking and then running away as a young person anwers the door, an old person is also captured throwing fireworks at a young person fixing their bike. The narrative shows stereotypes backwards and reminds everybody that you can be young forvever.
The narrative of the video shows the visuals as often fragmented and surreal. This allows the viewer to decide how they want to interpret the visuals and will encourage repeat viewing… seeing something new every time. For example the video has many different “segments” and acts of interest encouraging repeat viewing.
The themes of the narratives are love and happiness and care free attitudes towards life they are not completely relevant to life apart from the lyrics are something which you would be told when you were younger. The video emphasises the true “life” of having fun with your friends and getting into mischief it shows a set of old people doing what teenagers do.
The band members are featured in the video: keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson plays the victim of a Ding Dong Ditch trick (knock and run), guitarist and vocalist Jón Þór Birgisson plays the cashier at a shop where an old man steals and eats some pears, drummer Orri Páll Dýrason can be seen repairing his bicycle, and bassist Georg Hólm can be seen cleaning
The costumes of the actors are very interesting because although the actors are old portraying the youth they still dress up as old people with stereotypical clothes, this could be used to emphasise that they are young at heart but still none the less old. And what they are doing in the music video is a fantasy, the video is also shot in an old fashioned way with fuzziness this is used to crate the sense of memories like an old photo album.
Noah and the Whale are an English Folk band from Twickenham, London who formed in 2006.
The lyrics relate to love, love and love! They interpret the artists view towards life Noah and the Whale sing about how they are in love and in five years’ time it may all change, everything which is perfect shall become different, but one thing shall remain and that is love, love and love.
The song represents happiness all the way through, and it’s about how he really likes a person, and just hopes and dreams that in the future they will be together and happy. The lyrics are very optimistic, even at the end when he admits that maybe none of it will ever happen, it’s like it doesn’t really matter because ‘there’ll be love love love wherever you go’
The artists convey the sense of optimism throughout the song stating that there will always be love, love and love. So despite the artist believing that it will all change in five years’ time maybe moving away and losing contact the love shall still always be there.
The lyrics in reality relate barely anything towards the music video, they are not particularly important to the visual forms and narratives in the video.
The lyrics of the song are not portrayed in the music video except with childlike themes relating to the lyrics “fun, fun fun” where the band members are dressed up as young children smiling and having fun playing with balloons.
You would not be able to sense the meaning of the song without actually hearing the song this is because the video is very random and "indie" with lots of shots of the band playing instruments.
The narrative is very abstract, there is no set storyline throughout the video although there is a set theme this relates to the 80’s of flickering colour productions this represents that it was the past. The lyrics of the girl in the song are also sung in a monologue style representing separation. The narrative of the video is based on a girl and a boy growing apart, this is represented by balloons flying away together at the end, these balloons symbolize that all though they are flying away they are flying away together, this suggests that although they are separating a small part of them will always be together, like the artists states in the lyrics about there always being “love, love and love”.
The costume ideas show the artist is quirky and different with jumpsuits and bold colours which would have been expected to be present twenty years ago.The costumes which are used in the music video do not relate strongly to lyrics or themes in anyway.The costumes represent who the actors are though, for instance the band members are dressed in jumpsuits whereas the two people who relate to the narrative are dressed in casual clothes. The band members are dressed in jumpsuits to represent that they are in a way providing the soundtrack to the life of the two actors.
The music video features the band performing in a bar, and dancing/playing in the park. During the video, Laura Marling who provides backing vocals for the group is seen playing a tin whistle and also giving the camera the two-fingers. The video was directed by James Copeman. The style of the video echoes the style of a Wes Anderson film, using the same typefont the director typically uses in his films, and the themes of the video relate to love separation and a few references to alcohol, stating that in order to have a good time they needed alcohol.
The camera used gives a old fuzzy picture on screen, representing a love from a while ago. From 0.56secs - 1m41secs, the video gives repeated shots and a sense of stop motion. The video is very simple but each shot is edited to be shown on screen with the time of the beat to the song or the lyrics.
1. The first shot we see in the video is a medium shot of a large pink triangle on a black background. A unicorns head then appears from the right side of the screen into the triangle lense with a glittery effect, to emphasise the fantasy world Gaga is trying to portray.
Next we have a series of triangles compounding on top of each other, forming a series of "V" signs. A frequently used symbol by Gaga, as seen before in her previous music video "Telephone".
"This is the manifesto of Mother Monster," Gaga greets us, speaking to another one of Gaga's themes: gender equality, which is what the whole video is based on. The background behind her is a Futuristic cityscape, again another representation of Gaga's "world". The camera then follows her with the viewer also feeling like they are moving back into space. The contrast of lighting effects and quick moving background, give a hallucination effect for the viewer. She is now represented in a medium shot as some sort of ice queen. Her headdress, neck regalia, and wardrobe is a dedicated reminder of her dear friend Alexander Mcqueen. With the dramatic hair do shaped like the Popes hat, this also gives another representation that Gaga is God.
In the next shot we have stars that have been made to look like the female organs. Alternately, Gaga is also signaling her role as the "Mother" through some crucifixion imagery." Gaga is ready to die and be reborn for her Little Monsters seeking refuge from various forms of discrimination.
The most obvious and striking image, however is Gaga's birthing scene.Disgusting gooey birthing scene, a visual interpretation of what Gaga thinks the " future" looks like. Splitting identical cells repeatedly is something Gaga focuses on at this point in the video. In Gaga-land, this is speaking to the "two ultimate forces" in humanity: Good and Evil.
As the eternal mother, Gaga is exercising her power as a woman and giver of life, literally birthing a new race. The "V" imagery here is another signal to show her strength as a woman, and then butterflies fly out to show that something is being reborn.
This birth gives rise to the Evil Gaga—sitting atop her trademark lightning bolts, she delivers forth a huge gun. The gun functions in the video as it would in reality, taking away life—it strips Gaga of her more worldly beauty, leaving her as a skeleton or a ghost of a person.
Playing with juxtapositions of sexual expectations and gender roles. Gaga dresses practically naked, in skimpy lingerie, her hair is sexed up, and her makeup is in overdrive. This can be seen as either a contrast or an oxymoron towards to whole video, seen as it is based on Feminism, she goes against what the video is to stand for and starts to appear as more of a male gaze rather than a role model for women. Yet she's barefoot and primal, grabbing herself, and dancing aggressively.
In this music video the basic meaning of the lyrics is of a holiday romance, someone who has fallen in love with someone after what we believe is a one night stand, and then they are faced with the reality of leaving even though they don’t want to. The artist is conveying this through shots of him looking sad when he is on his own, and looking back to the times he had when he was with her. The meaning of the video would be obvious to the audience even without the lyrics as there are frequent cross cuts of the artist alone looking sad, contrasted by the shots of him being with the girl he met, laughing and having fun, showing the audience that he has met someone and had to leave. The main narrative of the music video, is that the artist ‘Example’ has gone on holiday and fallen in love with a girl, in what we can speculate as a one night stand. He has then had to leave, and is looking back on the times he spent with her. This narrative is obvious to the audience as it is also presented directly through the lyrics, and the shots of the artist being sat alone reminiscing of past events also show this. The themes in the video are love, partying and nostalgia, all of which are directly relevant to the lyrics, and the theme of partying is common to the artist. The costume of the artist at the beginning of the video affects the meaning because it shows us he has just got up from having a one night stand with the girl he met. Later on in the video his costume changes, and then remains the same, this is just conventional casual clothes you would expect to see a pop artist wear, such as jeans and a shirt. The girl in the video wears a red dress throughout, to make the audience understand that he met her on a night out, which shows the costume is also relevant to the scenarios and locations the characters in the video are in. This video is based around the normal codes and conventions of a pop video, with the artist, in this case ‘Example’ acting the main role in the narrative, and not playing any instruments. This is relevant to the lyrics, because it is all about him, and how he fell in love with a girl when he had a one night stand. Sadness and joy are both portrayed by the artist throughout the video, as we get shots of the artist looking sad when he is by himself without the girl, but when he is looking back on the times he had, we see he was happy when he was with her, usually through close ups of his expressions, or what they are doing in the shot, for example laughing. Camera work and lighting are usually used within music videos to emphasise emotions, or to establish a certain location to the audience. In this video camera work was mostly used to help emphasise the narrative. Throughout the video there are frequent close up or POV shots of the artist to emphasise certain emotions that make the audience relate to the narrative. The majority of the lighting in the video seems to come from street lights, giving the video more of a holiday feel, and emphasising the artist met the girl on a night out. There are several close up shots of Example, to get across his emotion, such as when is sat looking lonely and sad in the cafe. We also see certain tricks such as a shaky camera following the artist and the girl, to make the audience feel like they are there in person watching the artist, thus identifying with him and the narrative more. In this music video no over dubbed sound is used. Special effects are used throughout the video, but they don’t seem to have too much of a relation to the narrative. Instead they seem to be merely used as transitions from one shot to another, and may be following certain codes and conventions of the pop genre. Apart from at the end of the video when the speed of the frame is slowed, to represent the last moments of the two together before he has to leave. At the start of the video the tempo of the song seems to have an effect on the editing pace, but as the lyrics start to become more apparent, the pace of editing seems to be centred around them. This is done so the lyrics tell the story of what is happening in the video to make it easier for the audience to understand the narrative. In editing most music videos the cuts are usually effected by the tempo of the song. It can also be common for music videos to include external sounds affects, that relate to the narrative. Also special effects can be used to make the audience relate more to the narrative, and may be a case of going along with the conventions of the genre.It Is apparent that this video is made for the male gaze, as is shown through mid shots of the woman at the start of the video who is shown to be naked under the bed covers. This is also apparent further into the video, where the attractive woman take the artists top off, we then get a mid range shot from behind of her taking off her top. Voyeurism can however be seen in the video, giving the viewer a personal insight into Examples emotional life. This can be seen where she is asleep next to him in the bed at the start of the video, in contrast to later on when we see her lying there kissing him and being more intimate. The main element of this product to attract its audience is the narrative of the lyrics, portrayed by the visuals of the video. One particularly attractive aspect of the video to its target audience of males, will be the holiday romance/one night stand. This is can be attractive to the target audience, as this is often the gain of most male students on holiday with their friends, often in places such as Ibiza. The video will also appeal to its target audience through the clothing that Example wears, he is wearing fashionable clothes, that people will often look up to, and aspire to wear if they listen to this genre of music, this will also attract people to his video. The only obvious reference to any other artist in the text, is its reference to ‘Take on me’, by ‘A-ha’, a band popular in the 1980′s. There is an apparent reference to the video of ‘Take on me’ through the sketch style animation. A-ha’s video also had similar themes of love and attraction. This aids the narrative of Examples music video, because people can relate it to that video, and link the themes, which will make it easier for people to understand the narrative. However his target audience of young students may not understand the reference. It may have been done to suggest his own interests in the band, or to because of his admiration for their music, so this may be a tribute to them in his own video.
On the 16th November 2005, the Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys, realised When the Sun Goes Down. The basis of the video, is a prostitute Lauren Socha & Stephen Graham as the "Scummy Man". The "scummy man" who has been hanging around the neighbourhood, has been known to be a client for the prostitutes or a "Pimp". The last line "I hope you're not involved at all,"can be seen as the narrator expressing his disappointment that the girl has turned to prostitution. The Music Video used footage from a longer film Scummy Manwhich used the same actors who appeared in the music video. The emphasis is on the narrative of a young girl, only ever referred to as ‘that girl there’, as we watch her story of living life as a prostitute unfold. The Arctic Monkeys use a very iconic line in the song, "and he told Roxanne to put on her red light", which is a reference to The Police's song Roxanne, which is a song about a man who falls in love with a prostitute. Arctic Monkeys have used intertextuality within their song, Arctic Monkeys often use intertexual references in their song to other media; mostly songs or films.
Camera shots in ‘When the sun goes down’ focus on the women and man and their relationship. Close-ups are used of both of these individuals throughout, which emphasize the varying emotions felt. One particular shot that stands out is an extreme close-up of ‘that girl there’ at 03.08. This shot is quite powerful as it makes us as viewers wonder as to what she is going through and how she is feeling by focusing in on her eyes, which are flickering down. At the very start of the Video we get a shot of a young girl, mid-close up, with a snowy background. All the costumes, props and lighting develop their character’s stories. In ‘When the sun goes down’ the young girl is dressed in a tracksuit, ‘hoodie’ and trainers signifying to us as viewers that she is perhaps homeless, which provides an explanation to why she is making a living as a prostitute. ‘When the sun goes down’. The majority of Arctic Monkey’s videos are a performance videos, like, ‘Crying Lightning’ and ‘Don’t sit down ‘cos I’ve moved your chair’, so ‘When the sun goes down’ differs to way in which Arctic Monkeys usually create their videos. The music also relates with the visuals as well in ‘When the sun goes down’. When the drums begin to pick up the pace of the song, we see footage from inside the front of a car, fast-forwarded, as it drives through an urban area at night-time. This creates the notion of looking from the perspective of the person inside the car, and builds up anticipation and excitement as to what is to follow. It gives us an insight into the person in the car, which could be interpreted as either the female, however it is unlikely she would own a car, or it could be from the male’s perspective as he’s travelling round at night looking for ‘girls of the night’ (a line within the song). Throughout the video, the shots are edited to be fast, exciting, and build tension up with the beat of the music, the faster the music, the more action is shown in video. There is a point in the video where a magician is shown, helping the girl, but she is over reacting and throwing clothes everywhere. Her costume changes and she is seen wearing a pink, sparkly dress, this represents the typical feminine stereotype, pink and sprakly, she seems un sure and weary or possibly uncomfortable being in this situation, as it is out of her norm, so she over reacts and throws a "tantrum". The Scummy Man, causes tension throughout the video, increasing the build up to what the audience will expect. This is what is so different to any other Arctic Monkey's video, they expect and want the viewer to feel like this.
You can do so much more with Final cut express than you can compare to iMovie, refining more imaging and better effects as well as dual pictures and different screening options.
To use Final cut express you use the up and down arrows to get to prior or later clips and when refining to frames you use the left and right arrows all found on the keypad. You can also cut parts out of clips similarly to iMovie but instead when going through the clip and splitting you use the i character to start the clip from where you want and the o key for out which finish the clip cutting the remaining clip out when you have done this to insert the clip int your project you double click the clip and drag onto the right screen in the 'overwrite' section. When refining clips further and more accuratley use the left and right arrow to move through each frame on the timeline. Then, use the 'razorblade' tool on the bottom right to remove then select shift and backspace after highlighting by double clicking. Final cut setup----->
Adding audio: To add audio select file>open>add audio>then drag and drop the selected file into the clip. click motion at the top of the left screen for effect of dual imagery. Effects: You can select blur or stylus etc to add further effects although some effects on a clip may need to be rendered by selecting sequence >render>all>both.
Next we have the sun ray beaming and panning a dark room, that looks almost like a post-mortem room, and again Gaga has repeated herself her in the sense of bringing things back to life, or like in the "born this way" video, Gaga is rebornA lot of Celebrities cannot afford to do a swanky video such as "Bad Romance" on just a low budget, so they advertise products throughout their videos, and because of this they can get the money for the video. Gaga has gone for a classy, Vodka calledNemiroff Vodka, which is meant to be the darling of the Ukraine. This product is shown a number of times throughout the video.
Next we see Gaga in a more "cooled and calmed" down outfit than before, she is wearing a sleek black jumper dress, obviously still wearing a statement making head dress. The Contrast in costume colours such as white and black, yet again repeats another theme Gaga then later used in her "Born this way" video a contrast between Good & Evil. With this over the shoulder shot, we can see Gaga is looking in the mirror, this can be compared to a fairytale, for example Snow White, Gaga is playing both the Villain, and the "Princess Like Character" with her big Russian hero to save her. 
