Mise-en-scene If I were a boy

To cancel and analyse how mise-en-scene is used to create meaning in the video for If I were a boy.

What techniques/descriptive words can you think of for these key elements of mise-en-scene?

Colour:

• Monotone
• Colour Pallet
• Monochrome
• Filter
• Colour psychology

Lighting:

• Lowkey
• Highkey
• Ambience
• Contrast

Complete these sentences:

Lowkey lighting is used on Beyonce's character when she is shown with her boyfriend.

By using lowkey lighting here, Beyonce's face is half covered with shadow.

The shadows could suggest to the audience that her character is feeling depressed.

In this part of the video, Beyonce is shown in a close-up shot of her face.

Here the lighting style has changed from dark to bright.

In my opinion this part of the video is lit this way because it shows how she is beginning to realise something.

Identify one use of costume used effectively in the music video. Why has it been used?

 Describe the costume(denotation):

• Cop clothes

Connotations? What does it tell you about the character?

• This connotes that she has powerful and above the law, linking to the lyrics "If I were a boy" connoting that she is not as powerful as a man because she is a woman.

Why is she dressed like this in this point in the video?

• This is the beginning of the music video, foreshadowing the plot twist in the end that it's her boyfriend that has been with other girls, cheating on her.

How and why do the two music videos you have studied offer contrasting styles of lighting and colour?[4]

The music videos for Bruno Mars'  Uptown Funk and Beyonce's If I were a Boy have a very contrasting use lighting and colour. For example in If I were a boy they use a very monochrome colour palate, and lowkey lighting, whereas Uptown Funk uses very colourful palate and highkey lighting, both music videos using it through out the whole video. The styles contrast because If I were a boy is uses its lighting and colour to create a serious mood and even a message to all women, however Uptown Funk's highkey lighting and colour palate connotes a less serious and more fun kind of vibe.