Telephone by Lady Gaga (feat. Beyonce)
Telephone follows typical conventions of a pop music video; being narrative heavy, different locations of filming, a variety of outfits and of course the performance itself. Telephone has three many locations that it is filmed in; a prison, a car/truck and an old fashioned American diner.
The narrative is that Lady Gaga has been arrested and is out into an all female prison. Someone keeps trying to contact Lady Gaga through the telephone but Gaga ignores it. Eventually she picks up the telephone and Beyonce bails her out of prison. They then go to an old fashioned American diner and kill everyone in the diner.
Prison Shots:
The opening shots set the scene for us, this music video is located in a prison. The title 'TELEPHONE' appears in a comic book type of font and this comic book feel is displayed throughout the music video, with transitions looking like comic book columns. In one shot we see a radio that is playing one of Lady Gaga's previous songs, the other people in the shot are dancing/working out to the song. When Lady Gaga picks up the telephone the song starts.
We are cut to the prison hallway where Lady Gaga and some other women are dancing in unison down the hall to the song. This is very much a typical convention of a music video, with Lady Gaga miming the song and doing a dance routine. Various camera angles are cut to on the beat of the track and this gives doesn't give the audience viewer fatigue.
Lady Gaga's outfits changes 4 times in just this one location. The outfits are very bare and expose quite a lot of her body. This can be seen as a convention of a female pop music video, trying to attract male attention but also give the female audience confidence.
Car/Truck Shots:
Beyonce has just bailed Lady Gaga out of prison. This is the part where Beyonce sings. Despite being in a car/truck, a variety of camera angles keeps the scene exciting. The prison scene was very dull, with no colour but grey, but this scene has a vibrance of colour.
The comic book style stays in this scene, with 'woosh' sounds as the car moves on the road and the exaggerated engine sounds. The performance is here again and is very much a typical convention of a pop music video.
Old fashioned America diner shots:
This is the main section of the music video. They have arrived at the diner and plan to kill Beyonces boyfriend/fiancee, however, they end up killing everyone in the diner.
Lady Gaga is now in a chef outfit and is cooking the food. A funny editing stunt is used the show Lady Gaga is on a TV show called 'Poison TV' and she is using the 'Cook 'N' Kill' recipe. This adds to the comic book feel of the music video. More miming is done and a new dance routine is performed whilst making the food with the poison.
When the food goes out everyone starts to die but in a funny way and this fits in perfectly well with the theme of the music video. Quick cuts around the room show everyone dying from shovelling pancakes into their mouths. Suddenly Lady Gaga and Beyonce are in skimpy USA flag outfit and are performing another new routine whilst performing. This again is very much a typical convention of a music video. A variety of camera angles are used on the beat and again prevents viewer fatigue.
After this routine, a variety of shots show Lady Gaga and Beyonce running away from the scene in their car/truck and the news teams are swarming the diner. Different shots are cut in quick succession, showing random bodies, wheels spinning on the car, helicopters flying etc. The video ends with Lady Gaga and Beyonce driving into the sunset with a big 'TO BE CONTINUED' that appears, further and finally adding to the comic book feel which is original to a music video.
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