Carly Rae Jepson Video Deconstruction

 Carly Rae Jepson - Call me Maybe.

Length - 3.20

Edits - Approx 98

    The establishing shot for the music video is a mid shot. This helps to set the scene for the music video which is in a suburban street focused mainly on the house Carly Rae Jepson is currently positioned in. By the music video being shot in this location it helps represent the artist as a everyday normal person that the target audience for the video can relate too. The camera then zooms in towards her to help highlight how she is framed centrally and is important within the music video. The next shot is a extreme close up of her eyes before switching to point of view shot of her looking out at the man in the garden. These series of shots starts to create a narrative for the music video. The editing technique of match on action is then used as there is a close up of Carly Rae Jepsons face. She is wearing make up and her is styled to make her an aspiring figure to the target audience watching the video. The cuts between the different camera angles are straight cuts to help create a feeling of continuity within the narrative. The establishing sequence is well lit and colourful to help draw in target audiences. It also helps to reflect the happy vibe to the song.

    As the lyrics start for Verse 1 in the song there is a close up of Carly Rae Jepson singing. This helps tell the audience that she is the artist and brings the focus upon her therefore selling both her appearance and talent to the target audience. During the lyrics "I looked to you as it fell" there is a straight cut to the mid shot of the man. By linking the lyrics and music video together it helps to create a narrative and makes the music video more interesting to target audiences. The man is framed centrally in a mid shot to highlight his attractive appearance. By being attractive he becomes a aspiring figure to the male target audience and attracts the female target audience to the video. later on in verse 1 these ideas are enforced when the male takes of his top and reveals the stereotypically attractive 'fit' male body. Carly Rare Jepson is seen during this section of the song wearing a blue spotty top and jeans. This makes her seem attractive making her a aspiring figure. It also helps audiences relate to her as this may be something they wear from day to day. Across Verse 1 the different camera shots are edited together on the beat. This helps the music video flow better and makes it more interesting to watch

    Near the beginning of the chorus there is a series of close up shots of the different instruments being played. However the musicians faces are never focused upon in any specific shot during the first chorus. The clothes they are wearing are all very similar and blend into the background. All of these things help to bring the audiences attention onto Carly Rae Jepson throughout the chorus. She is wearing a different set of clothes to the ones she was wearing in verse 1. However she is still being represented as trendy and stylish to attract the target audience and to make her stand out among the other musicians in the background. There is a element of interexuality throughout the video in that it has a similar location to the "Bowling For Soup" music video "1985". The chorus itself is particularly similar as Bowling for soup also preform their chorus with instruments in a garage by a house. As Bowling for soup is a rock/pop band certain members of the target audience will be able to recognise this intertextuality.

    During verse 2 Carly Rae Jepson has another costume change into a more revealing outfit of a white top and shorts. This is represent her as stylish once again. Throughout verse two there is a mixture of mid shots and close ups of her to emphasise her image and also to help the narrative of the music video. There are also some long shots and close ups of the 'attractive' man mixed in with the close shots of her. Combined with the lyrics("You gave me nothing at all,but still, you're in my way") which are talking about her not receiving any attention from the male, the mix of shots between her and the male help to create the narrative of her trying to get his attention. The shots continue to be edited carefully to the beat of the music to help the video flow while all the shots are still well lit like the shots in the establishing sequence to represent the happy vibe to the video.

There is a short musical break after she falls of the car. This is then is followed by a ripple dissolve from her on the floor to the image above. This edit helps the audience follow the narrative of the music video as it suggests that the next section of the video is a dream.  Carly Rae Jepson then starts re singing to the man in the mid shot with her. They are both dressed in white which has the connotations of innocence and perfection. This once again represents that this section of the music video is a dream. Behind the male and Carly Rae Jepson is the title of the song and her name. This helps to sell the song and artist to the audience without them even realising it.  The colours within the dream section are a mix of purples and reds. These contrast to the natural every day colours seen within the rest of the video which helps to make this section stand out. It also helps to symbolise when the dream is over as there is a contrast from the purples and reds to the yellows and whites of the pavement when she wakes up and is framed in a high angle shot. This high angle shot helps to represent her as venerable and weak, stereotypical representations of women. This is then contrasted with a low angle shot of the 'attractive' man looking down upon her stereotypically representing him as strong and helping out the damsel in distress.

Near the end of the video we see Carly Rae Jepson in a long shot. Despite her being far away from the camera, so the audience focuses on the exchange between the two men, she is still framed centrally highlighting her importance. She is shown writing down her phone number so he can call her. This is what the lyrics have been leading too the whole music video therefore a good ending to the narrative that has played out throughout the music video. There is a comedic element at the end of the video where the 'attractive' man she has been trying to seduce all the way through turns out to be gay. This comedic element encourages audiences to watch and re watch the video therefore enjoying the song more and getting it stuck in their heads so that they will buy it.

Throughout this deconstruction of the pop genre music video "Carly Rae Jepson - Call Me Maybe" I have noticed some generic conventions within the pop genre music videos. The clothing all the way through is stylish, trendy and modern. This type of clothing is similar to what the target audience(those who like the pop genre) would wear. There is a strong narrative throughout the video which is a generic convention within most pop videos. The editing generally occurs on the beat of the song which is another generic convention. All the way through this video the shots were colourful and well lit which is a generic convention throughout the pop genre.