Deconstruction: Beyonce- Hold Up

Beyonce- Hold up

The music video I deconstructed was Beyonce's 'Hold Up'. I decided to analyse this video as it is very similar to the genre of music I'm doing. This song is from her sixth album 'Lemonade', which was released on April 23rd 2016. She is signed with Parkwood Entertainment, Columbia.

Focus group:

From the people that I asked I got a few responses such as:

'The beginning looks like she is being drowned which may symoblise a toxic relationship and then when she opens the door and all of the water falls it feels like she's grown above it and has escaped and become a strong woman.'

'I like how she falls in the water hard at first maybe because she went hard into the relationship then realised it was toxic.'

'I like the use of different angles and how she is telling us a story by using the words and visuals together.'

'I found the start of the video a bit odd but I can see that when the doors open and the water comes out she's letting go of things and the anger she has within her which leads her on to smash up everything. The dress is a very free moving dress which represents she's free but I don't like it.'

This is one of the first shots in the music video, in this shot she is telling us a speech which related to the music that is to come.  While she is saying the speech the audience can’t see her that well throughout the speech but then as soon as the song starts she opens the door and you see her. She is the main focus of this shot as she takes up most of the shot. The colours around her are bright but then fade into darker colours which could suggest something about the person that she is trying to show herself to be. 

In this shot again the viewer can see that she is in the centre of the frame however it is not focused enough on her to see her face. There are bubbles in the foreground while the speech is going on and she says ‘Less awake’ but the audience can’t see her eyes which would communicate a lot about the person. As she the speech goes on the shots are very simple which makes The viewer listen to the speech rather than the visuals. 

This shot is very powerful as there is Beyoncé but two of her looking at each other and in the speech she is saying she says ‘abstained from mirrors.’ This is a mid-level shot and the focus is the two girls in the middle of the shot, the lighting is very light around them and at the top of the shot it’s almost like they have a halo effect and surrounding that is darker lighting.  The only props they used in this was a bed which she is laying on and her other image is looking at her. 

This is a close up shot of the main character in the video and it is clear that the focus is on her as she fills up the whole shot. This scene is when she says ‘Slowly did not speak another word’ and she looks the other way all in a slow, close up motion.  The lighting in this is also neutral but then gets darker as the scene goes on. So far through the speech the lighting has been dark which could indicate that the speech she is saying is very meaningful and dark itself.

‘I levitated, confessed my sins and was baptised in a river’ is the first thing she says in this shot while she is being lifted up from the bed which shows a correlation between the visuals and the lyrics. Again she is wearing the same clothes that she has been wearing for the rest of the speech and the whole room is under water. Throughout the whole video so far there has been a theme that there is white lighting around her but then darker lighting everywhere else. This is another mid- level shot and the focus is on her as she takes up most of the foreground which suggests that the audience should be focused on her and the speech rather than anything else going on around her.

The audience can see her mouthing the words in this shot as well ‘I drank the blood and drank the wine’ in this part of the video the shots are getting faster and faster as she says the speech faster. This part of the video has a narrative however it’s more of a montage of videos and snippets that have been edited in to create the effect. This is an extreme close up shot of features of her face but again we can’t see her eyes which indicate a lot about a person, in this shot she seems mysterious . As previously mentioned this carries on with the lighting theme, light around where she is speaking and darker around the edges. 

This shot is once again blurry and we can’t see her face to the point we can make out her facial expression. ‘Are you cheating on me?’ is what is being said here as she comes out of the bubbles but not too much to let the audience know how she feels. This could show us her transition from being unaware that she’s being cheated on (dark light) to her moving on and forward with her life (light lighting). During the speech some of the words she was speaking co-ordinated with the visuals for example ‘The words from the holy book’ and the shot was of the Bible floating around in water. The lighting is very light on one side and dark on the other which could represent moving on as she says ‘are you cheating on me’ and moves forward.

At 1:37 the audience sees another powerful shot; this is because the last thing she said was ‘are you cheating on me?’ and this was in the room with water surrounding her, when the doors open the words flood out into the open and this suggests that she is moving on from the lies and cheating from her past while exposing him to the world.  The clothing that she is wearing stands out in the shot as the props around her feature neutral colours and then she is wearing a bright yellow dress which could symbolise happiness, positivity and clarity; this also co-ordinates with her album name ‘Lemonade’ This is a shot focusing on her only and a wide shot.

This is another extreme close up of her feet as she walks down the stairs shown in the previous clip. In this current scene there are no words it’s just her walking down the stairs as the intro music is being played. This shot suggets shows that she has moved on from the bad things she was talking about in her speech and moving forward. She walks down these stairs for 8 seconds while the music is playing.

This is a medium shot of her as soon as the lyrics start. The focus is on her as everything else around her is blurry and she is in sharp focus. Again, she is wearing the same yellow dress which makes her stand out from her background and matches her album name ‘Lemonade’  While she is walking the camera is tracking back slowly and she does not look into the camera meaning she doesn’t break the fourth wall.  This shot stays the same for 13 seconds and she doesn’t look into the camera once. 

Even though the visuals don’t necessarily represent what the lyrics are saying because she is just walking, the viewer can tell that they match. This is because the lyrics say ‘what a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you.’ And she is walking in a very fierce way almost like she is mentioning that she doesn’t need anyone and is above all of that. The lighting in this shot is neutral and she still stands out even though there are items behind her of the same colour as her dress. Her dress looks very cultural and this could suggest that it evokes connotations of flamenco dancing which results in people associating it with exotic looking dancers as she is tanned and wearing a cultural dress who are usually very attractive and alluring.This shot continues for 12 seconds and she carries on walking while the camera is tracking her from the side. 

In this particular shot she has a prop which she picked up on the way from someone in the video. From this shot it looks like someone is watching her and spying on her.  There are many other props in this video as she is walking on a street. The lighting again is neutral as it is daylight. This shot is a far point of view shot as we are looking at the main character through a window with blurry edges. ‘Something don’t feel right, because it ain’t right.’ These are the lyrics in this video which goes well with this shot. 

This is a medium shot, we can see the top half of the character and in this she has a baseball bat and is ready to smash the car. Again the clothing is the same as before and still stands out even though there are all of the natural colours of a street in the background. The prop she uses in this is a baseball bat and a car that she smashes into. The lighting around her is natural as it is daylight. 

In this particular shot the lyrics are ‘What’s worse, being jealous or crazy, jealous or crazy?’ and she’s spinning around which could suggest that she’s moved on and is happy with how she is right now. In the background everyone is looking at her which emphasises that she is the point of focus in this, she is also taking up most of the foreground which backs up the fact that we should look at her. Her outfit in this is the same as the whole video as well as her props. The lighting in this video is again natural as it is daylight. 

The lyrics match the video because she says ‘I’d rather be crazy’ while she is acting crazy and smashing everything including car windows and fire hydrants. Like before this could symbolise that she has just gotten out of a bad relationship and wants a new start and is moving on with her life rather than wondering where ‘he’ has been this whole time and if he’s cheating on her . The people in the background are looking at her as she is displaying unusual behaviour because she is acting crazy. The costume and lighting are both the same as the shots before. 

As you can see in this shot she is walking onto the road under the water and the camera is tracking back as she moves forward, she still doesn’t break the fourth wall. Her props, clothing and costume are all the same as the previous shots except for the lighting which has changed slightly to a darker tone. While she is spinning under the water the lyrics say ‘Hold up they don’t love you like I love you, slow down they don’t love you like I love you.’ Her facial expression looks happy and she’s smiling the whole time she’s spinning which backs up the point of her getting out of a bad relationship. 

This is a close up of the main character and it stays as a close up for 23 seconds while she is mouthing the lyrics and the camera stays still, as well as this she is breaking the fourth wall for the first time in this video by looking directly into the camera. The focus is on her even though she keeps moving side to side and everything else in the background is off focus. The costume is the same as before alongside the bat that she has been holding for the whole video. The lighting in this video goes a bit lighter than the previous shot. 

This is a bit of a different shot, this uses a fisheye lens and we see it as if our screen is going to get hit by the bat. A few seconds before this shot the screen was see though and we could see the main character clearly then all of a sudden the bat comes and smashes the glass window of the car. At this point the lyrics don’t go with the music video however there is a klaxon going off in the background as soon as the glass is smashed. 

This is a wide shot, the lyrics match with the video in a way because she is saying ‘Hold up they don’t love you like I love you.’  And she’s free with the wind blowing in her hair and she’s skipping like children do which could show us that she’s joyful again. The focus is still on her in the video even though she is sharing the shot with other people, this is due to the bright yellow dress she is wearing. The lighting is the same as before which is natural as it is daylight alongside with the props which is still 1 bat. A few seconds after this shot the wind is blowing a lot and all of the papers in the background are flying around and she’s just there with her arms in the air suggesting she’s carefree.

This is a close up of the character and it looks like something has caught her attention because she keeps looking at this thing/ person for a good few seconds. However in most of her other close ups she mouths the lyrics to the song she doesn’t do that in this one but she carries on walking forward as the camera keeps tracking around her. The lighting is a bit lighter than in the previous shot as it is a close up of her. 

This is another different shot of her as we see her through a CCTV camera. She smiles for a second and poses but then she takes a step back and holds her bat up and smashes the camera. This is also when the music gets a bit faster.  The shot is in black and white as it wants to show the effect of the security camera. The bat that she holds throughout most of the video could give her protection as she uses it to smash everything up and take her anger from the relationship out by breaking items. She is breaking the fourth wall by staring straight into the camera.

This is a very strong shot because as soon as she hits the shop window the sound of a klaxon goes off and the fire in the background emerges out. This is long shot as we see everything around her clearly. The lighting has gone a bit foggy due to the smoke from the fire but the props and clothing remain the same as the whole video.

This shot is a medium close up shot and the focus again is on her because in the background even though we see fire which is the same colour as the dress she still stands out and we still look at her over the fire. The costume is the same however the lighting is a bit orange/ yellow  due to the fire in the background.

 The lighting has changed a lot compared to the previous shots and it has gotten darker. The camera is moving however it seems like it’s moving at the back of a car or something similar to that because it’s a tracking shot however it’s wobbly which makes it seem like the audience watching the video are there as well.  A few seconds before this and after this she is walking around smashing things with the bat.

 This is a close up shot of the singer and she seems happy once she has trashed all of the things because it symbolises that she got out of a toxic relationship. The focus is on her as she is happy and smiling with all of the  people in the background blurred out and the lighting has gone a bit lighter than natural.  A s well as this she is breaking the fourth wall as she is looking directly into the camera.

This is a medium close up of the character; the lighting again is dark in the background and lighter around her like it was while she was giving the speech at the start of the music video. The costume and props are the exact same things she picked up at the start of the video and kept a hold of the bat the whole time. In this shot she is looking straight into the camera breaking the fourth wall right before she takes a step back and smashes the camera, the camera drops on the floor into black and white like in the picture below which Beyoncé is walking away from after she drops the bat right in front of the camera and all we see is the bottom of the dress and her shoes.

The album cover

This is the album cover for 'Lemonade' which was released on April 23rd 2016. From the album cover we can't really tell anything about the songs and she's keeping it mysterious so that her fans/ followers are intrigued with what this album contains. We don't see her face which is the main thing that expresses emotion but we don't see any of that. As well as this there is no other writing on the cover apart from 'Lemonade' which again doesn't really tell us much about what the album involves. The clothing that she is wearing is a fur coat with braids  and it looks like she is leaning on a black car. This is a side profile shot but we don't see her face properly.