GENETICBOI: films

Marry the night: film student's analysis

12.4.11

As some of you little monsters already know, GaGa released her new epic music video for "Marry The Night" with a whooping 13 minutes long narration that is re-telling of one of the worse days in her life. When she was dropped from Def Jam records label, but finally got picked up back Interscope Records, the video follows her throughout the journey overcoming her own demons with lots of symbolism. The biggest one is the "Phoenix" or known as the "fire bird" symbolism towards the very end, and how cool that she was dancing on top of a Pontiac Trans Am car that was a "fire bird" car edition. Here I have the amazing video for you to watch and an equally amazing review from a film student (on tumblr) for you to read... trust me, it's a great analysis too!

MARRY THE NIGHT:
Analysis from a Film Student's Point of View

The video is made up of sequences; The Clinic, The Ballet, The Bedroom, The Dance Studio, The Car, The Street, The Montage. Half the video also takes place within Gaga’s mind; at least that’s what the fades tell us. So let’s get into this analysis...

First off, if you listen closely it starts with a film reel starting to turn, when the film reel reaches speed Gaga starts to talk and the fade from white begins. Usually, when a character begins to narrate after a film reel reaches speed it means that they are watching along with us or are looking back on things in their life. Fades from white generally mean death or an ascension into a different plane of existence or thinking, it can also mean an out-of-body experience or that the events being seen are taking place entirely within the characters mind. From the fade to white we go into a close up of Gaga’s face. Closeups are very important in film and have one very important main function, they show the audience what is important in the scene, here we are given a facial close up and these are used to get inside the mind of a character. With this close up we are being brought into the mind of Gaga. Closeups are also extremely intimate shots, when you think about how close you allow people in real life the only ones who get that close are very close friends, mothers, significant others… the people who are important to you, Gaga is letting us in.

Another thing about closeups is that they are either used to make the audience feel comfortable or uncomfortable with a character, here it is being used to make us feel uncomfortable. Because the closeup starts by spinning counterclockwise it gives us the sense that something is off, there is something going on that is not right. Another thing about the close up, film aside and this may be reaching a tad, but Gaga is wearing peach lipstick and the color peach is symbolic for strength. As the nurses push Gaga they are going up hill, this is symbolic for struggles. Majority of the clip is being shot as a medium tracking shot, giving the impression that we, the audience, is following the characters along, but also because of gaga’s voice over and her comments about the nurses and what they are wearing and what they are doing and the little moves the camera makes… like craning up a bit when they start to approach the door gives us the sense that its not only us that are following Gaga and the nurses along but Gaga is also following herself, almost like an out-of-body experience. She is taking us on this journey.

From here we go into another closeup shot of Gaga, as she is taking the camera zooms to an extreme closeup as she starts to cry, giving us another very intimate shot. In this shot she is not only telling the nurse/doctor and us what her goal is, she is telling herself. When the music starts Gaga puts on the cap and the camera start a dolly out, as we move back Gaga’s arms go up along with the music and then she lies down, as we continue the dolly out we are shown the room in a symmetrical shot. Symmetrical shots are very important, symmetry is used in connection with personal enlightenment, it is also often used to convey the high-status position of characters, it may also be used to show community, or it is often applied to scenes concerning death. Also, this is purely speculative, but as we move back into an extreme long shot we see all the other patients running around, laughing, with Gaga in the middle of it all, this could easily represent the struggles she had with her demons. As we continue to dolly out the screen fades to white again, as I stated before a fade to white means that the character is entering a new plane of existence or thinking, we are still in Gaga’s mind. The entire ballet sequence takes place within her head. She stands alone, center stage, the most important spot, the center of attention.

From this shot we fade to black, this fade means that we are now entering reality. We are given a long shot from above of a room, long shots are used to establish setting, and shots from above looking down are used to give a sense of an omniscient presence. We then see a time lapse, Gaga being undressed and put into her bed, she is being taken care of. The color red is extremely powerful in this scene, red is the most emotionally intense color, it stimulates a faster heart rate and breathing, it is usually used to symbolize something of great emotional importance. Which makes sense considering in the next shot she is receiving the call that she is being dropped from the label. From here we have another extreme close up as Gaga holds the phone and rolls towards the camera, this tells us that we are about to have another intimate moment with Gaga, she is letting us in again. Now we go into several quick close ups of gaga, clearly devastated. The quick cutting adds tension, uneasiness, upset, distress, these cuts are intertwined with the ballet sequence, with this cutting we are going back and forth between reality and what’s going on inside her mind. The ballerina’s dance represents her internal struggle. The dance goes from being slow and beautiful to extremely quick and chaotic, one scene the ballet Gaga even appears upside down; this is a representation of how her world was literally turned upside down. The shot of ballet Gaga on the ground looking up at other ballerinas on the stage, symbolizes being the lowest of the low. She started off all alone on the stage, being the star, now she is replaced by 5 more ballerina’s all looking down on her, essentially taking the spotlight from her. This is symbolic of replacement.

We fade to black, this represents a lapse in time, we are now moving forward. In the next shot we are shown a blonde Gaga in the tub, the film reel can be heard again and gaga can be heard singing 'marry the night' in the narration. This tells us that gaga is still watching with us, she is still guiding us on this journey. Her sitting in the tub is symbolic of her beginning to transform from Stefani to Gaga. We have another fade to black and we are propelled further into time.

The next sequence beings with a low shot of Gaga, we are looking up at her this makes it seem like she has some power, she is beginning to rise up. However, from this shot we quickly go to another shot looking down on her, showing that she still isn’t the most powerful. All the dancers are looking down at her, she is still low. This shot also contains two important symbols, first the wall behind the dancers says “The cross is my anchor” the anchor is an ancient Christian symbol signifying hope. We also have Neptune above that, Neptune God of the sea represents inspiration, dreams, psychic receptivity, illusion, and confusion; A youthful, and sometimes naïve, person. He is also associated with intuition and spiritual enlightenment, as well as the yearning of the soul to break free from restrictions and limitations of matter/reality. From the shot of Neptune we move to a shot of the moon, this shot is both symbolic as well as transitional, it moves us from one place to another. The full moon is symbolic of the height of power, the peak of clarity, and the fullness and obtainment of desire. Now, in this sequence we have Gaga both in the trans am as well as dancing around it, there are cars on fire as well as rain, water and fire are complete opposites and the symbolize two different things. The fire symbolizes the powers of change and purification. Whereas the water and the rain symbolize the subconscious mind, the world of the soul and dreams, evocative of all the emotions and qualities which cant be measured by physical means.

From this scene we are brought back to Gaga in the dance rehearsal, this is shot mostly with medium and closeup shots to keep us right in the action with Gaga, like we are with her taking part in the class. There are also some tracking shots, these are used for us to follow Gaga, with this shot we see that no one is really interacting with her, she seems alone in the class. In fact no one interacts with her until she picks Dina up off the ground after she falls, then she is brought into the group so to speak and all the dancers begin to surround her as she dances. This is symbolic of acceptance, finding her place.

The last sequence is my favorite sequence, in this sequence Gaga uses Soviet montage theory. This is a style that relies heavily on editing, and it is used to have the montage express much more than just a simple lapse in time. Here she uses basically two types of montage: intellectual and tonal. Intellectual montage uses shots, which, combined, elicit an intellectual meaning. For example, the cutting between shots of gaga destroying her room and breaking glass and ballet Gaga doing her dance. Or the cutting between gaga about to purge in the bathroom stall and Gaga in the bathtub dumping water on her head. The meaning does not exist in the individual shots, but only arises when they are juxtaposed. Tonal uses the emotional meaning of the shots—not just manipulating the temporal length of the cuts or its rhythmical characteristics—to elicit reaction from the audience. An example of this is when Gaga is shattering the mirror, or throwing the wine glass, or the extreme close ups of her crying while holding her head, she is emoting distress, sadness, anger, frustration, so much emotion, and it is made clear to us by the cutting between shots.

The last minute or so of the video is comprised of quick cuts between 52 shots; this last minute, and quick montage is gaga showing us what struggles she overcame. We see her dragging a piano, eating, then purging, then crying, then dumping gas on cars, all of these shots are cut between with ballet Gaga, doing her dance, the struggle within her mind. In the quick shots with gaga dragging the piano down the stairs she first refuses help from the man but after falling down the stairs the man helps her up and she finally accepts the help. This scene is cut between Gaga purging in the bathroom, she enters the stall after throwing away her food and makes herself sick, she then stands up and starts smoking. After the shot of her accepting help form the man, we cut back to her in the stall, she slams open the door and we see a close up of her throwing away her cigarettes, from here we go to the shot of Gaga walking out the door carrying the piano with the mans help. We then have Gaga sitting on top of the trans am and standing next to it watching as the cars around her blow up, this symbolizes Gaga overcoming her demons. She accepted help and is on her way. We then see Gaga get into the black car and then the extreme close up of “Interscope Records Hollywood, CA 4pm” written on her hand, we all know what comes next. Gaga has achieved her dream.

The video ends with Gaga surrounded by flames, dressed all in red, with the blue mask on. This is symbolic of the phoenix. The phoenix is a universal symbol of the sun, rebirth, resurrection and immortality, this legendary “fire bird” was believed to die in its self-made flames periodically, and then rise again out of its own ashes.

In short, the video is about Gaga overcoming her demons and becoming the woman that she is today. It’s a video about how no matter what it is you are facing, no matter how impossible it seems, there’s always a way to overcome it if you are willing to fight for what your dream is. You have to pick yourself up and go kick some ass.

Some side notes:
The video reminds me a lot of film noir, a lot of the shots are filmed or shot for night, there are lots of mirrors, glass, windows, reflections, and water. Noir literally translates to “dark film” and they are just that, dark. They deal with dark subject matter.

A lot of this video is filmed through P.O.V (point of view shots) meaning that it puts us in gaga’s shoes a lot, we are seeing what she is seeing. Like when she is looking up and all of the dancers are looking down on her.

There are three colors that are mainly used in this video: Red, Green, and Blue.
Red -emotionally intense color
Green -calming, refreshing, this color relaxes people
Blue -The complete opposite of red. The least intense of colors.

Reviewed/analyzed by: rhiannonbmoriarty.tumblr.com