Taylor Swift's Bad Blood Music Video Analysis

Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood pop music video uses sound, camerawork, editing and mise en scene effectively to reflect the lyrics of this popular song. 

Sound

At the exposition, sound is used effectively to build up a dramatic scene. The music video uses a contrast between silence when the audience first sees the office and the city around it and non diegetic background music which is loud, fast and dramatic when the fighting begins between Taylor, Selena and the antagonists. Having these differing sounds straight after the other emphasises the dramatic change and could make the audience jump as it seems unexpected. It also helps to represent the changing relationship between the characters Taylor and Selena play, as it turns from a casual calm friendship to an angry, violent rivalry. As this particular scene progresses and Selena turns on Taylor, she kicks her out of the window and pleonastic sound is used when the glass smashes as it makes it dramatically louder. This adds to the severity of her move and exaggerates how out of the blue it is. Making it have such a loud volume makes the audience feel as if they are there and experiencing the sounds that everyone else would be too. 

Camerawork

In this same scene when Taylor is kicked out of the window camerawork is used successfully to increase the action and the tension between the two friends, now turned enemies. The use of a low angle and a point of view shot when Taylor is falling show the power and strength of Selena as she stands tall in the office looking down and makes the audience sympathies with Taylor as it feel as if we too are falling due to us seeing the perspective from her eyes. This encourages the audience to side with Taylor and therefore hope for her to beat Selena which is likely to be intentional as it is her music video, so this is clever of the director to utilise. Throughout this music video there are repeated uses of close ups on the different characters faces which helps the audience to recognise them and see their facial expressions to get an idea of their emotions, therefore making it easier to relate to the different characters and follow the narrative as it progresses. One of the most significant uses of close ups, is the close up at the end of the music video on both of their faces as they get ready to fight each other. This suggests an equal balance between them as they take up an equal amount of space in the shot and they are directly going against each other without their ‘armies’ fighting for them. It makes the audience feel as if they are there, experiencing it, involved in the action as they get a sense of their feelings.

Editing

In this music video editing is used to show the relationships between the characters and create action in the video. For example this video uses dissolve from a shot of Taylor singing, into Kendrick rapping on half of her face so it ends up as a split screen. Having these two people next to each other suggest they are working together, they are a team or it could be interpreted that he won't go away, she can’t get rid of him. In this video fast paced cuts are used, particularly when Taylor and Selena are fighting the antagonists to create action and make it more dramatic. However it could also create a sense of panic for the audience as it may reflect how fast there heart is beating as the video builds up and they don't know what is going to happen and whether their problem will be solved. I think the director’s intention is to make the video more intense for the audience and therefore more exciting to continue watching and find out the ending.

Mise en scene

Mise en scene is significantly used in this video to help the audience follow the narrative and form opinions of the characters. The red colour of Taylor’s hair, her motorbike and her lipstick suggests to the audience that Taylor is of a serious threat to Selena as one of the connotations of the colour red is danger. As a result the audience don't know who to support and begin to wonder how much damage she could cause. It also may appeal to Taylor’s target audience as they get to see her playing a different character to her other music videos. In this video there is a contrast between the colour of Taylor’s outfits as she wears a white costume and a black costume. This suggests a mix of innocence and purity which we associate with the colour white and darkness and mystery which we associate with the colour black. This suggests her personality and feelings oscillate and emphasises the storyline as it quickly went from a friendship to them becoming enemies. This is reinforced by the juxtaposition between the high key lighting, particularly at the beginning of the video and the low key lighting when we are introduced to Taylor's’ ‘army’.