HS - Analysis of a promo package

Star Image and Metanarritive:

"Lorde" is the main performer in this music video and many techniques are used to help present her star image. In the opening shots, there are mid shots of her performing next to pool over looking a whole city. This placement establishes her as extraordinary and metaphorically "above" the people in the city.

Her outfit of a long white dress is also very glamorous and helps to represent her as powerful and extraordinary as it is not an outfit you would associate with a normal female in day to day life. The two large purple moons also help to connote surrealism and present her as extraordinary,

There are multiple meat shots used featuring the artist's face as she performs. This gives her screen prevalence and helps to present her as being a powerful figure within the music video.

A paradox is created as the artist is represented both ordinarily and extraordinarily. The shots that show her kissing another man show that she is ordinary as she has emotions and feelings just like any other human would. However this is interrupted by another woman unknown to the audience coming into the room and then kissing the man, with Lorde seemingly to have disappeared. This represents her as a extraordinary figure as she is presented as being not in the real world.

In the next scene, Lorde's persona is altered. One way this is done is through the use of costume. She is now wearing a black leather coat, an item of clothing commonly related to irreverence and this helps to change the audience's opinion of her. This is anchored by exaggerated and violent body movement such as throwing her arms around and this helps to give her a sense of empowerment as she now appears to be a strong, dominant character as apposed to a rather timid character she was presented as earlier in the music video.

This sense of empowerment is connoted even more towards the end of the music video as she is shown standing over the male character who is tied down in a chair. This goes against the dominant ideology that men have more of a physical presence than woman, and again helps to represent Lorde as powerful. She then goes on to kick the man into the pool and then set the pool on fire, giving her an extraordinary feel as she has committed a murder however is seemingly calm and not phased by this.

There is an enigma code created by the overlaying narrative in this music video. This makes the viewer want to watch the video all the way through or even re-watch is numerous times in order to make sense of what is happening. This helps to reinforce the star image of the artist as the audience consume the content several times, reinforcing the values that the artist is presented with having.

                                     

The print work for this song is very original. The bold fonts link to the bold character that Lorde is represented as being in the music video and help to connote irreverence and rebelliousness.

The image in the background shows an animated picture of Lorde, the artist. In this picture her face is stylistically highlighted with white lines. This helps to connote her sense of extraordinary as she has features such as eyes with rectangle pupils, reminiscent of some animals and a strong jawline, a physical feature more commonly associated with males, again helping to represent her as a strong character.

Her long, voluminous hair in dark black is very bold and stands out against the background, this gives her a physical presence and again helps to represent her as intimidating and powerful.

The fact that the image of her is animated and not an actual picture represents her as absent as she does not seem life like. As well as this there is no breaking of the fourth wall so very little para-social intimacy is created between the artist and the viewers.