Price Tag - Jessie J
The next video I have decided to analyse is Price Tag by Jessie J. Similarly to Treat you Better, the music video has a meaning behind it, however it is more vague and abstract so it is not as clear when you watch it. It also focuses largely on the artist singing the song, as opposed to creative a narrative to focus on instead. Price Tag is a Dance/Electronic/10's Pop song.
The establishing shot for 'Price Tag' is a Long shot of a teddy bear with a missing eye and one severed arm. The background is pink and fades into white, with the bear at the centre of the shot. The background is quite calming and relaxing and also suggests and childish or girly theme as pink is often associated with baby girls. The teddy bear being in the centre also emphasises the childish connotations and with the plain area surrounding it becomes the main focus of the video. It makes the audience question why the bear is so tattered and intrigues them into continuing to watch.
The camera pans in to a close up of the teddy bear before zooming out again. As this is happening non-diegetic sound plays that sounds like that of a typical music box, expanding on the idea of a childish theme.
As the camera is zooming away from the bear, we come to see a girl sitting on the clean side of the teddy bear.
As the song opening begins to play the girl stands up and walks around the teddy bear, ageing as she goes and becoming an adult (Jessie J) as she reaches the tattered side. As she ages the editing is very jumpy almost as if she is teleporting. This sort of editing is very common in pop music videos as it puts an emphasis on the song and beat of the music.
The idea that the child ages as she gets to the broken side of the teddy bear gives the idea that as we grow we become broken, tattered and lose our innocence. This can also be seen through Jessie J's outfit which is more mature and revealing than the young girls. She is wearing short shorts and high heels which are stereotypically more mature. The loss of innocence and idea of a corrupted childhood is opposed by the light-hearted atmosphere created by the light colours.
One of the following shows Jessie J (adult) holding some childhood toys. This furthers the childish connotations of the music video and also contrast her dark ripped clothes which, compared to her childhood clothes, are quite dull and boring.
We then see Jessie J holding a giant price tag- not only linking to the name of the song but also suggesting the money is a big thing. The fact that it is covering her suggests it is overpowering and plays a large role in life. Her body language and facial expression make her seem bored of money/ price tags so she moves it away from her. She is once again central in the screen and the background continues to be simple. This puts emphasis on her and the meaning behind the video instead of unnecessary background images.
Throughout the video, it cuts to close ups of Jessie J smiling and mucking around to add to the light heartedness of the video and to make the audience smile or laugh. It also contrasts the initial idea that adults are broken and obsessed with money as we see one having a god time in a simple and enjoyable atmosphere.
We see three men in suits, on a blue background instead of pink. They look like stereotypical body guards or hard men with threatening poses and black suits and sunglasses to create a sense of animosity. The blue background makes them seem dull. Their black suits could also suggest wealth and, along with the threatening poses, how money has controlled their lives and made them powerful. The far away shot makes it hard to differentiate between the men, suggesting all money obsessed people are the same and basic.
We see Jessie J pouting, supposedly at the men, on an a grey background with a medium close up shot. It's as if their obsession with money and power makes her sad and she wants them to lighten up a bit, which they do in the next shot where we see them dancing.
The next two shots accompany the lyrics "Everybody look to the left, Everybody look to the right, Can you feel that yeah, We're paying with love tonight". As these lyrics play the camera pans left and right accordingly. As it does this all we see is the pink background, which is a colour often associated with love. It gives the idea that love is more important than money and you can go anywhere, left or right, if you love what your doing.
This shot of a money tree will appeal to the wider audience as everyone has heard the phrase "Money doesn't grow on trees"
The tree looks dead and Jessie J looks happy and is dancing. She is wearing denim and leopard trousers, making her outfit much more modest than her previous ones. This reinforces the idea that money isn't everything.
The following shots link back to the idea of childhood and innocence with a music box, puppets and toy soldiers. The puppets especially suggest that adults are puppets to society and wealth and that they are being controlled The constant link back to children's toys suggests that childhood is very precious.
When the puppet is off it's strings it seems to be having more fun and more animated. In society although adults have more power, the adult riding the small bike all over the shot suggests that children have more freedom and are not limited to one area - specifically in this case the centre of the screen where Jessie J has been almost stuck throughout the whole video.
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