Beyoncé - Run The World deconstruction

Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls)

Length - 4.51

Edits- Approx 148

    The opening sequence of the video is very unique compared to any of the other videos i have deconstructed. It is made up of several different shots edited together to introduce both the location of the music video, Beyoncé herself and also the narrative of the music video. The establishing shot for the video is a medium close up of the back of Beyoncé riding a horse. By her being in the establishing shot it lets the target audience know that she is the focus for the whole video. She is framed centrally within the shot to reinforce this idea. She is wearing a floaty white top  and her hair is long and wavy. When this is combined with the horse and the sunset remote landscape it paints a picturesque location which is enhancing Beyoncé's beauty to attract the female target audience. All of the different shots are edited on the beat of the music to help the video flow, but also to enhance the beat of the music which is important within the R&B genre.

      During the first verse Beyoncé is seen dancing in front of a group of girls while singing. She is preforming to a group of men who are watching. The narrative behind this part of the music video is that  the men are trying to invade the female run territory. At the point of the verse seen above there is a long shot of Beyoncé and her girls all dancing in unison. This helps convey to the target  audience that they are all together in fighting off the group of men invading. Beyoncé is framed centrally within the frame to highlight her higher status and importance to the target audience. Their unity also links to the lyrics of the song: "Boy don't even try to touch this". Beyoncé is dressed in a revealing black dress. This helps to insinuate her beauty and make her a aspiring figure to the female target audience. The girls behind beyonce are all dressed in a similar provocative manner. This helps to draw in the male target audience by making the music video look sexy.

    During this section of the music video she is engaging with the men who in the narrative of the music video are invading. All of the men are dressed in a similar way in dark clothes. This helps to represent them as united and together, something the male target audience may be able to relate too. The dark, mainly black clothes they are wearing have been specifically picked. Black has the connotations of darkness, death and danger. These connotations help to represent the group as dangerous which links to the narrative in the music video. Beyoncé steals a males wallet which links with the lyrics of the song: "Who will buy it for themselves and get more money later". This is shown through a medium close up angle, straight cut, close up camera angle, straight cut back to the medium close up shot seen just before. This mix of shots while Beyoncé steals his money helps the target audience relate with Beyoncé as its represents her as mysterious and sexy. The men are standing tall and in positions which highlight their strength. This is to reinforce in the gender stereotype that males are Strong. This representation will allow the male target audience to relate to the group of men in the video which will keep them interested in watching it. It also allows the men to become aspiring figures to that male target audience. At 1.56 in the video there is a juxtaposition between her evening gown and two salivating hyenas.This creates the effect of  Beyoncé  being strong and powerful.

    The music video changes when it comes to the bridge for the song. This helps to highlight the different tempo in this part of the song. To begin this section there is a long shot of Beyoncé wearing the same outfit as in verse 1. This is important because the target audience can then recognise her despite the scene changing. She is framed in centrally in the long shot to highlight her revealing outfit to attract both the male and female target audience. Water is being sprayed into the air behind her. This helps to represent Beyoncé as sexy. It also makes the rest of the shots in the bridge section of the music sexy which helps to represent the sexy style of music in the R&B genre. There is another long shot of Beyoncé in this sequence. She is once again framed centrally to highlight her importance. A car is on fire behind her. This helps to represent her female strength which is mentioned in the lyrics throughout the song. Her outfit has changed here. The dress she is wearing is still revealing and provogative  to help attract both gender audiences. It is a gold dress made up of lots of little reflective plates that shimmer when in contact with the sun. In the long shot this contact with the sun makes her sparkle in the middle of the shot making the music video interesting to watch.

    During the chorus there is once again a group of girls all dancing together with Beyoncé. This helps to represent them as united which links of the lyrics of the chorus: "Who run the world? Girls!". Beyoncé is framed centrally within the long shot seen above to highlight her importance. She is wearing another dress in this section of the video. All of the different costume changes within the music video help to represent her as trendy. This representation will make the female target audience aspire to be like her in terms of dress. The dress she is wearing is bright yellow. This makes her stand out against the black corsets and shorts of the girls in the background and makes Beyoncé the most important girl within the frame. The other girls are all wearing the same clothing which is a black corset, black mini shorts and suspenders along with a coloured cape. Their clothing is provocative and sexy making the music video more interesting to watch for the male target audience.

    There is a mid shot of the girls walking towards the male group and them stumbling back to get away from them. The coloured capes the girls are all working contrast against the plain black clothes of the male group. These colours help give the girl group a higher status against the men linking to both the lyrics and the narrative of the video. Gender stereotypes are subverted within this section of the video. The male group is seen stumbling back subverting their typical convention of strong and representing them as weak while the female conventions are also being subverted as they are being represented as strong instead of weak. This subvertion of gender stereotypes helps the target audience to be on the side of the girls which is the aim of the music video and narrative within the video.

    For the ending climax of the video, there is the largest group of girls that has been seen all the way through dancing in unison with Beyoncé. This makes the climax of the music video more interesting to watch and will encourage the target audience to re watch the video once it has finished, which will get them hooked on the song leading to a eventual purchase of the track. All of the girls are once again wearing sexually provocative clothes to make the female target audience aspire to be like them and to attract the male target audience using their sex appeal. Their dancing is to the beat of the music along with the editing of shots. This has been done throughout the music video to help it flow, make it more interesting to watch and to help keep the tempo of the music video going to represent the important beat within the R&B genre. Beyoncé is once again wearing a different dress which contrasts against  the rest of the girls to make her stand out. She is also framed centrally to reinforce this idea. At the end of the video, in a mid shot to highlight the expressions of the people, Beyoncé steals the lead males badge. This therefore ends the narrative which has been running throughout the music video. This ending also links to the final lyrics within the song of: "We run the world!"

This music video "Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls)" of the R&B genre follows many of the generic conventions in all music videos. The editing of the shots in the video is done on the beat. The artist is the centre focus of attention in the video. Lip Syncing is used to emphasise the artists ability and the music video has a narrative.

However I have found some conventions within the R&B genre which are different than in other music videos I have deconstructed. Throughout the video the use of dance was used to make the video more interesting and attract the target audience who would have a interest in dance. The representation of women was also different in this video. They were represented in a more sexual way than i saw in any of my other deconstructions. This may be because of the sexual nature of the R&B genre. The video also had higher production values than what i have seen in any of my other video deconstructions. This may be because of Beyoncé's success more than the R&B genre.