music video, digipak, poster analysis - Britney Spears (Circus)

Video analysis:

Lyrics:

The main theme with the lyrics from this song is that she is confronting a male who likes to use women for his own sexual needs. He doesn't mind hurting the women, and he see's cheating as very acceptable. Britney Spears is saying that she will never fall for a womanizer because she can see straight through the 'act'. For example, she says "no way I'm never gonna fall for you". The lyrics link in with the video as in the video she dresses up as different women, and he tries to seduce them all however he ends up getting used by all of them. As the lyrics imply she isn't going to fall for a womanizer as instead she uses them back. The lyrics also imply that although she would like to be with the womanizer in a couple with no cheating, she understands that a womanizer cannot change, for example "You got me going/You're oh so charming/But I can't do it/You Womanizer" implies that although she realizes he is a charmer, she also understands that he is a womanizer and probably says the same things to all of the other women. This video completely backs up Andrew Goodwin's idea that there must be a link between lyrics and visuals, as we can see that the 'womanizer' is an attractive, young male who seems to try and get together with many other women other than his partner. We can also see that throughout the song she is telling the 'womanizer' that she will not be with him, however this doesn't seem apparent until the end of the video when she makes him disappear, showing that there is a link between what she is singing, and what she is doing.

Tempo:

The beat of the song is very fast-paced throughout the whole song, and it has quite a fast tempo and this is conveyed in the cuts. The shots are quite short and in some cases very short as there is only a glimpse, even in the shots in which nothing is changing, the camera will still cut between being in a close up and an extreme close up. There is also a lot of cutting on the beat as there is a constant beat throughout the song, therefore there is often similar cutting on the beat.

Video Analysis:

The establishing shot is black clouds like in a storm, and the words "BRITNEY SPEARS" and "WOMANIZER" appear in bold black lettering. There is then a cut to Britney Spears in a sauna, completely naked. There are several cuts of her lying in the sauna, however when the beat changes and Britney Spears starts singing, there is a cut to a shot of a steamed up mirror, in which a young attractive male wipes the steam from the mirror, revealing his face. There is then a cut to a shot of Britney Spears (BS) stood over a cooker wearing underwear, and a gown over the top. She is lip syncing and bouncing her hip to the beat. We can also see that the word "womanizer" is repeated several times on the back wall. There is then a cut to a long shot of BS near the cooker and the male sat on the other side of the shot reading a newspaper, he is also sat in just his underwear. This implies that they are a couple who share a bed together. BS now takes the food over to the male, and when there is a shot of the food sliding across the table the male puts his phone in front of the meal, implying that he has a hidden life that the female does not know about (or so he believes). However, there is then a close up of BS who lip syncs "I know what you are" which implies that although he believes she is very naive, she clearly understands what he does in his time away from home. When the male has finished playing on his phone, there is a cut to him standing up and then his clothes get pulled onto him, as though they are magnetic to his skin. There is then a cut to him sat at a desk drinking coffee. There is then another cut to BS wearing a black short wig, she is also dressed very smartly, as though she works in the office. She is drinking from the water fountain, trying to seduce the male. The next cut is of the male sat with one of his friends or work colleagues, his colleague then points over the male's shoulder which we can only assume is of BS, however the male still turns around. There is then a shot of BS dancing with some men carrying her around, there are many women dancing on the tables and we can see that the male stands up and smirks, obviously thinking that he will be able to charm this female. However, to his surprise she pushes him onto a chair, and she starts pushing him around. This shows that although he is not rejecting what she is doing, she is still in far more control than he is. Throughout this scene there have been cuts to BS back in the sauna lip syncing. Many women then start dancing in front of the male, with BS at the front. Somehow, the male ends up behind BS whilst she is dancing, he starts lusting after her and at one point he even tries to grab her bum. However she simply grabs his hands just before he touches her and throws them down by his side. This shows that although he is a "womanizer" she can still see what he is planning to do without even looking at him, showing that he is very predictable. When the chorus comes on, she is behind him and when she sings "you say I'm crazy/I got your crazy" she acts as though she is whispering into his ear however he doesn't seem to be paying attention. Then all of a sudden after BS has started to walk away everyone who was standing up sits down in their normal seats, and the male stands up and looks around as though he is lost. There is then a shot of BS stood near the copier machine and then the male walks over, BS sits on the copier however we cannot see her do this through the main camera as the next shot is of BS sitting on the copier, which is very blurry, yet the male has his camera phone in front of her, therefore the shot is seen through his phone instead of the camera. She then kicks the phone and hands him a picture of her bum with her thighs on the picture. She then rips the paper in front of him. This could indicate that she is willing to 'open her legs' as she rips down the middle of the thighs, however she could also be saying that she will be the end of his womanizing days. After she has ripped the paper, she grabs his tie and pulls him so that his face is on the photocopier. She then leans on him, showing that she is in control and he has no control over her anymore. Then the scene changes, and we get a shot of BS who has now changed her wig to a long red haired one, she has also now got many tattoos on her arms and she is now working as a waitress. There is a shot of the male who is sat at a table with two friends and they all start lusting over the waitress. Straight away she starts to dance in front of the male, dancing on the table and then again she grabs him by the tie and makes him follow her, showing that once again she has power over him. There is then the repetition of the previous scene, as there are many females who dance around the male, BS also joins in dancing. The male also licks his lips when BS isn't looking, yet she turns round and puts her finger on his lip, again suggesting that she knows what he is like and that he is very predictable. When the music starts to slow down, there is a shot of the male with all of the women standing around him and they are all leaning away from him. At first this could seem as though he is a real ladies man, and that he is surrounded by women, however there are then many shots of these women kissing other men, suggesting that he thinks he is a womanizer, however in fact the women aren't keen on him because they know he likes to be with many women. BS also leans over the male's shoulder, and grabs his face, she imitates as though she is going to kiss him, however she pulls out at the last second, as though she is teasing him. She then pushes him into a kitchen, and she pushes him onto the table, he smiles as though he really enjoys this, however she starts pretending to seduce him, much like the first scene in on the copier. She starts to eat a cherry in front of him, as though she is seducing him again, yet this time he tries to move to the right of her, and the next shot is of him entering a car from the inside from the left. This is a clever thing to do as it seems that one shot flows on from another, as he leaves from the right and enters the left. The next shot is of the male in the back seat of a car, and then there is a female driver which surprisingly is BS again, yet this time wearing dark glasses and a hat, and she has put her long blonde hair into a ponytail. There is then a shot of the city, and the camera pans down revealing a car driving extremely fast down a road. The next shot is of BS in the back seat with the male putting her finger on his lips once again. We can see that the male's face suddenly goes into a shocked expression, and we can see why when on the next shot we can see BS is driving the car by using her foot to steer the wheel. The next shot is of BS in the back seat of the car, and we see the man quickly struggle as he grabs the wheel and tries to steer the car. This is the perfect way to show the transaction of power, as before the male was completely in control yet now the woman is sitting in the back seat, with the male driving the car, showing that she can now relax in the car whilst the male has to worry about the road; as though he is working for her. There are also now short cuts to him in the shower, for example his chest area. The next shot is of BS and the male sat in the back of the car, he looks very uneasy, whereas she seems very calm as she has her legs over his lap. The following shot is of the steering wheel turning itself (to the beat) and by itself. The next shot is of both BS and the male in separate showers, and BS spins her head around making her hair go everywhere. Then 2 doors open and 3 women are stood there, the three women who he has tried to womanize but always been under their control instead. They all spin around and become the first girl who was cooking him breakfast (BS1) as the male's face drops. It is clear to the audience that he has finally met his match, and that although we as the audience know that all of the characters were BS1, he did not notice. This again implies that she has a lot more control over him, as he seems very naive and idiotic. BS1 now pushes him onto the bed and he tries to get up, however the next shot is of the three caricatures holding him down as though he cannot get up. However, there is then another shot of BS1 sitting on his chest which means he is unable to get up, therefore it is contrasting between the fact that there is 3 of them in his mind but only one in "real" life. Once again, BS1 grabs him by the tie and rolls him over, which inevitably makes him fall off the bed but when he tries to run away, she just grabs him by the neck and throws him back onto the bed. She then walks round the bed lip syncing "womanizer" which could resemble a witch brewing a potion, doing a curse etc. There is another shot of her in the sauna, and then she blows a kiss at him in the bedroom, there is another shot of the three caricatures holding him down, and then BS1 throws the bed sheet over the male, and one of the final shots is of BS1 flattening her bedsheet on the flat bed - which shows that he is no longer there. This could imply that he was never there, or it could also mean that she has got rid of him. The last shot is of her in the sauna again, but she is smiling this time - showing she is happier without him.

Digipak analysis:

This digipak follows the theme of Circus as on the front cover she is sat infront of a light golden curtain. There is a border around the front cover, which is many blue stars which give the idea of glamour and that she is a star, such as in the circus performing for the audience. The fonts are the same as that on the poster, however they do not associate to the fonts on the video. For example, the video is very modern as the fonts are black, silvers and 3D. The colouring is very different as on the digipak the colours are typical colours of the circus, i.e. reds, yellows and gold. When it comes to the back cover, the Circus theme is not very obvious as it seems more towards the christmas theme, especially when it comes to lighting and colouring as red is used frequently, such as dark red and rosey red. One of the only things on this back cover that relates to the circus is the clown who is stood next to the bed as clowns are an often feature of circuses. There is also the band across the top in which the song titles are written which seems very circus-like, these are the only two aspects in which the circus theme is sent across to the audience. In terms of synergy there is not much between the video and the digipack as the video all seems very modern and Britney Spears seems very mischievous and independent, whereas on the digipack she seems very innocent and fragile. So even our interpretations of the artist differ between the two texts. We can see that when it comes to lighting for the images, one of the images (front cover) is very lit up, clearly on a set to make her seem more innocent, whereas on the other side the lighting is very dim and dark, especially as the only forms of lighting on this shot is from what seems to be a lamp out of the shot. This could show that there are two different sides to Britney Spears, making some form of synergy between the video and the digipack. One clear thing to notice on the digipack is that there is a barcode on the back, and there are also some symbols which clearly represent the companies which have been involved in the creation of the digipack, music video and CD itself. This will be something that we will need to make sure we put on our own digipack to make sure it is very realistic.

Poster analysis:

One main thing which I noticed when looking at this poster is that this poster lacks a picture of Britney, and it lacks a picture of the actual album itself aswell. This is the main way in which Britney's campaign differs to Lily Allen's as Britney is very popular and well known, therefore she is trying to sell her album not get herself noticed by the audience. The poster seems to fit in with the 'circus' theme, creating synergy between the poster and the album, therefore you would automatically associate the album and poster together. For example, the font is the same style on the album cover and the poster, especially as 'BRITNEY SPEARS' is written bigger than the actual album title on each of these. Another thing I noticed was that the poster includes that the album features "the #1 hit "womanizer"" which made me decide to base this part of my research on the song which is included on the poster. However, there is not much synergy between the poster and video. There is also - much like the digipack - some symbols on the top of the poster, which clearly represent organisations involved with the production/marketing of the album. To create a realistic album and poster we must include these images.