Blank Space – Taylor Swift
The music video
starts presenting the record label that Swift belongs too and an organisation
she is affiliated with. The sound of birds chirping are played over the screen
as the audio. The shot then cuts to an establishing shot of the set that the
music video was filmed which shows a beautiful mansion along with an expensive
car riding up to which connotes that whoever is approaching the residence has
wealth and/or class. We then are shown Swift’s character contributing the
performance based aspect of the video where we can see she is singing along to
the lyrics. Although performing, here Swift’s character is adding more to the
narrative of the video as we see her in a large bedroom surrounded by two white
horses and a four-poster bed, again connoting wealth.
Swift then appears in front of a large two-sided staircase
to greet the young man as she also holds her hands out to him as if to shake
his hand or for him to kiss hers. Again as this is an extreme long shot we are
shown even more parts of the house and as more and more is revealed it is
further emphasised that Swift, in this video, has wealth. The scene is then
changed to a different location, this time being the dining room of the house
where a long table is decorated with mouth-watering food, certainly too much to
be ate in one sitting and so this connotes that Swift’s character has so much
money that she wastes it. We are shown the couple doing other leisurely
activities together including dancing in another room of the house dressed in
expensive evening wear and riding on bicycles in what appears to a room
resembling a library. Swift’s character is also shown painting a portrait of
the man which again connotes she is wealthy as portraits of that size are
normally the belongings of upper class people. All these activities also hint
that the two are a couple as they are spending lots of time together doing fun
deeds.
As the chorus is
introduced we are shown a close up of the couple with Swift’s character looking
intently at the young man. This close up enables us to state the feeling behind
the way she is looking at him as adoration but as we learn later on in the
video the feeling is beginning to form obsession. Swift’s character here is
also supplying the video with the performance side of the video which is a key
convention of most music videos and she continues this throughout the video at
various parts. A forward tracking shot then shows the couple walking onto the
gardens with three matching dogs.
A long shot which also is a backwards tracking shot shows
the couple riding the two white horses that were shown earlier on in the video.
The background shows twos rows of conifers and an archway in front of a large
path which connotes that the character not only has a large mansion but also
large gardens belonging to it. Mise-en-scene also plays a big part in
emphasising Swift’s character’s class and status as she appears to be wearing
riding boots and appropriate wear for riding and often equestrianism is
associated with the higher classes.
Editing is used here to show multiple shots of Swift’s
character and the man running through the gardens in slow motion. This could
symbolise the positive side of their relationship and how time stands still
when you’re with the one you love. Costumes also play a part in telling the
story of the relationship, as her character has a total of around 20 costumes
throughout the music video. This could connote that her character has many
different sides to her personality including the bad which we see in the next
half of the videos.
In this long shot,
we see Swift’s character hanging up a portrait of her new lover next to all her
other past partners. This is a direct reference to lyrics within the song: “got
a long list of ex-lovers”. This is connoting that she is repetitive with her
relationships and that they always end badly and she then she looks for other
lovers. We can see some foreshadowing as to what will happen later in the video
as they is a sharp weapon that ha punctured another man’s portrait and so we
are to assume that she destroys all her relationships.
We are then
introduced to the dark side of the relationship with medium shots as Swift
teases with lyrics; “wait the worst is yet to come”. Lighting is used here to
create a specific atmosphere as throughout the video where the ‘positive side’
of the relationship is shown the lighting is for the most part is very light to
symbolise happiness and love but to show how negative relationships can be the
lighting is changed to very dark. This pattern of darker lighting to show
negative parts of the relationship continues throughout the video, we can see
this when the couple are outside and it is starting to get darker and within
the house as well. The use of camera also differs when the relationships starts
to crumble as it becomes a lot more handheld which could represent the chaos of
the relationships as it starts to take a turn for the worse. The use of the
handheld camera could also be a link to the line: “I get drunk on jealousy” as
when you are drunk your vision becomes distorted which could resemble the
camera.
Special effects are also used a little later in the video to
show Swift’s character burning her partner’s clothes. Makeup is also used here
to convey emotion as Swift’s characters mascara is running and this is shown
this way to symbolise her pain, hysteria and insaneness.
Lighting is a key
factor in this music video and is used often to represent emotion or feelings.
In this scene lighting could represent the good and the bad, in Swift’s
characters eyes anyway. Swift here is standing in front of a white background
which could symbolise that she is the innocent one in this situation and that
she did not do anything wrong. It could suggest that the man, who has a dark
background is the villain in this story and he ruined the relationship. Her character also holds an apple in this
scene and moving it in a way that resembles the man’s actions. Due to the
constant cuts to each person, we can see that the man is the apple and she is
controlling him. For example
when Swift grabs the
apple sharply, the man grasps his head as if he is in pain or being controlled.
We see the use of editing again at the end of the video when
Swift’s characters insanity drives her to smash the man’s car and ruin it
completely. Due to the cost of the car, it would be unwise to actually damage
the car for the video and so instead CGI is used to create this effect. Swift’s
character is shown to be doing this in slow motion which adds to the intensity
and the emotion of the event. The man quickly leaves the estate and another man
enters. This is shown with many cuts between different shots and shots being on
screen for very little time, this could symbolise how quickly she gets into
another relationship after one ends.
This video and song was made as a parody to what the media
presents her as to the public: very controlling, unstable and psychotic towards
men.
