Analysis of a Music Video - My Life Would Suck Without You

Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You!
The music video for Kelly Clarkson’s hit single My Life Would Suck Without You follows the generic codes and conventions of a music video for a pop video but it also uses ideas from rock music videos. She has used some of these ideas in some of her other videos.

As Stuart Hall (1980) suggested the audience are positioned to get a preferred reading of how they want the audience understand the video, this reading can depend on a person’s social background and beliefs. Mise-en-scene, camerawork, editing and sound are used to do this.

The story within the video is about a couple (Kelly Clarkson and a man) who have known each other since they were younger and are now in a relationship, the video looks at all the good memories of their relationship. The video is 50 percent narrative and 50 percent performance. Performances are usually seen in rock videos and not as much in pop videos.

Mise-en-scene is used to create verisimilitude of the diegetic world of which the video is set in. At the start of the video two young children playing together in a small park with climbing frames because stereotypically children love playing in parks with their friends. Props used in the video make the settings seem more realistic to the audience. The bracelet that is on the young girl is then shown on Kelly Clarkson to show it is the same person. In the flat which is a typical American flat which we see on TV on programmes is made to look more homely by having certain items in such as; a sofa, a goldfish in a bowl, a lamp, a picture on the wall, a dining table and a laptop, which most people have in their homes. In the car she uses a mobile phone, this shows they are young. Costumes are used in the video to help create a ‘rock chick’ look because when it is in the performance she is wearing leather looking bottoms and a black jacket, which is associated with rock music. When she is with her boyfriend both she and him are wearing casual clothes, jeans and a t-shirt. In one scene she is seen to be wearing a man’s shirt, it is often thought that women like to wear their partner’s clothes. At the beginning when the young children are playing in the park the girl is wearing a top, a skirt and long socks, she is wearing a skirt as it is feminine to show she is a girl. The boy is wearing a jumper and jeans.

The lighting in the video for the performance is dark with really bright lights. The bright lights connote happiness and love. The dark connotes anger which goes with the words of the song as she would be angry if she wasn’t with that man. In the narrative part of the video uses really bright lights. Whilst she is on the swing the colours are really dark which connotes sadness, which shows what she would be like if she was too lose him.

Camerawork is used to create a variety of effects. Medium close ups are a lot whilst she is singing parts of the song; this is to show the emotion on her face. This is a code and convention of any music video apart from ones that are all narrative which sometimes don’t even have the artist in. At the beginning of the video there is a long shot of the two children playing together in the park, this is to show the audience what they are doing and where they are. They use a high angled establishing shot of the block of flats; this is because it shows the audience where they are but also that they are in one of the flats near the top of the building. Whilst in the flat a long shot is used to show more of the flat and so it is clear they are running after each other around the table. In the performance part of the video an establishing shot is used the first time they appear in the video to show all of the people and their instruments. During the performance parts of the video there is a lot of zooming in to Kelly Clarkson’s as she is the main person in the video as she is the singer, this also uses the rule of thirds to show this as she is always in the middle in the performance shots. When they are in the car over the shoulder shots are used to the audience can see them talking to each other and so it is clear that there are two people in the same car.

Editing is used to help the audience understand the narrative; it is also used to cut between the performance and the narrative. Continuity editing is used in the performance as it follows on from the last scene each time it comes on. most of the narrative has used continuity editing apart from when there is a flashback to them sat apart form each other and then it shows them now sitting away form each other. Insert shots of her singing on the swing are used as it links to the first scene when they were in the park. In this part the 180 degree rule is broken because she goes from being on the left side of the screen to being on the right. Other insert shots that are used are the bracelet on the young child and then cuts to being on the woman; this helps the audience to understand that it is supposed to be the same person. Action matches are used when they throwing items out of the window, as we see them throw them out and then we see the items falling to the ground. In the car scenes shot reverse shot sequences are used to show them together.

The target audience for this video is teenage girls and women in the twenties; this is because for a teenage girl its how they want their life to be and for women this is how they feel about their partner at the moment.

In conclusion the music video for this song has generic codes and conventions of a pop video but also adds things from other genres of music videos, which makes it different from other pop videos.