CALL THE SHOTS VIDEO ANALYSIS

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG AND VIDEO The song Call The Shots is a song by Girls Aloud from their fourth

studio album, Tangled Up. The song was written by Miranda Cooper with an inspiration from and article about the advance of women in business.

The music video was directed by Dean de Sparengo and features the artists in purple dresses on Malibu beach as well as in their own locations following their own storylines.

Call the shots was received well with critics with positive reviews from Digital Spy and Daily Star. Kim Dawson from the Daily Star said that “Call the Shots is one of the band’s best singles.

There are then several cuts between the members of the band allowing you to identify each member. The girls are also

wearing purple dresses in the other scene, they also have their hair and make up don’t too, this is contrary to the other scenes

of the group.

The video opens with a long shot of Cheryl one of the singers in the band. She is facing with the back to the camera and looking out of the window. She is in white dress, the colour

white has connotations of purity.

When in the purple dresses the group are shown dancing fluidly around a fire with sexy body language this then encourages the audience to focus on their bodies and

appearance. This objectification of the female body is often shown within a popular girl’s music video. Partway through the video there is a topless man showering, this also objectifies the male body and breaks the convention stated but it can also be

seen as he is ‘arm candy’ for the girls and will make women want that lifestyle.

The lyrics of the song compliment the video’s narrative because the lyrics are about female empowerment and this is

shown in the mise-en-scene of the shots an example being when the group wear purple dresses as the colour purple has

connotations of power and independence.

The video is a performance as the group are miming the lyrics and addressing the camera, however there is still a narrative to the video, this is of a break up in a relationship. This is shown

in mise-en-scene as one of the members is shown burning photos of her and her partner.

Lyrics such as: “I won’t cry for all the hunger in my heart, no I won’t cry because I’ve stumbled through this fat” suggest that the group have became independent and don’t need to rely on

their partners complimenting both aspects of the narrative.

The colour purple is dominant throughout the video connecting the connotations of power and independence to the recent

break up that would’ve happened in the video.

The mise-en-scene of shots when the group are in the building show luxury, examples of this are the pool this will make the audience lust for that lifestyle as the audience can relate to

wanting that lifestyle.