This document provides an analysis of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" music video. It examines the camera angles, editing, mise-en-scene, dominant ideologies, genre, intertextuality, anticipated audience reception, and connections to theories of Andrew Goodwin, Laura Mulvey, and Stuart Hall. The analysis finds that the video uses sexualized camerawork and Lady Gaga's dominant presence to portray her as powerful and in control, while also appealing to audiences' desires.

1. LADY GAGA
POKER
FACE.
MUSIC VIDEO ANAYLSIS

2. WHY HAVE I CHOSEN
THE VIDEO?
I have chosen Lady Gaga’s song poker face to analyse as I
think she is a good representation to the genre I am focusing
on. We have chosen a dance pop song for our music video
and poker face is a good representation of it. I think there will
be many opportunities’ to take from using this video. Lady
gaga is an iconic artist of our generation as her videos are so
outrageous.
My perception on the music video that I have taken it is that
you can’t tell what she is feeling and she hides herself. She is
hidden by her ‘poker face’.

3. POKER FACE MUSIC
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=bESGLojNYSo

4. CAMERA ANGLES
The video is quite seductive and sexual and this is
depicted through the camera angles. When she
sings the line ‘I’ll get him hot, show him what I got’
the camera zooms in and out of her quickly and
unsteady. This shot has been taken to get you to
focus on her body and the movements she is
showing which are ‘sexual’ as she is going up and
down on the chair.

5. When she is walking through the blinds it is a
tracking shot. As she walks the camera watches
her go through and try’s to follow her in. This
establishes the scene but blocks the audience off,
this depicts that you cannot come in and she is
hiding something. This highlights the idea of her
having a ‘poker face’ as you don’t know what is
going on.

6. EDITING
The idea of the music video is for it to match the song. In the
establishing shots lady gaga is getting out of the pool. These
shots have quick edits and go along with the fast beat of the
song. The edits are also in time with the song as she says
‘ma ma ma ma’ and they shot changes each time.
The quick edits highlight her weirdness and quirkiness; this
is a great reflection of her, as she is well known for it. The
robotic sounds match the movements of her body and how
it’s been edited.

7. Shortly after when she is getting out of the pool
everything slows down. This juxtaposes the song
and the previous quick edits that matched. The
slow movements depict the build up of the song as
you are itching for her to carry on and see what
she does. She is a mystery as she has a ‘poker
face’.

8. MISE-EN-SCENE
At the beginning of the music video there are Great Dane
dogs on either side of her. The dogs are well known for being
powerful, strong and the biggest breed of dog. This could
represent her being powerful as she is walking in front of
them and she is bigger, indicating that she is better than
others. The dogs could also represent the men in the video.
When the man leans back onto her he is darker than her and
lower down. This could highlight that she is better than him
and should be dominated by her like a dog.

9. The beaded curtains cut off the audience from entering to
poker game. As you see the back of her and you watch her
go in it depicts that she wants privacy. This reflects intimacy
of her and whatever is going on within the game. Blocking
off the audience and cutting them off connotes the intimacy
of the players. This is a good representation within the video
as it’s quite sexual and intimacy is a part of that. Also the
curtain gives the audience and her distance – you can’t see
through her ‘poker face’

10. Lady Gaga’s movements are provocative within the music
video. Her actions can be seen as sexual as she is kissing a
man and dancing with a range of people up close. This
represents the sexual themes within the song.

11. DOMINANT
IDEOLOGIES
Lady gaga is the dominant figure in the music video as she’s
lying on the sofa and on the neck of a mannequin. The
position she is laying in looks as if she is confident in who
she is. Also the man is sitting in front of her but looks weaker
than her. He is in the dark and she is in the light. She is
singing behind his back, which depicts that she is higher
than him and he cannot see through her poker face.

12. When the man leans back into her she is the hierarchy. This
depicts that she is more important than him as he has
cowered into her. As she is higher than him it highlights that
she can get him to do whatever she wants as she will not be
fooled, she will do it to him first. He cannot see through her
but she can see through him.

13. In this part of the music video Lady Gaga’s mise-en-scene is
encouraging the audience to not look at the male being
intimate with her, but only looking at her sing. She sings ‘no
he can’t read my poker face’ this depicts that she is the
dominant character as he doesn’t understand what is going
on as she is a good hider and you can’t see through her. He
isn’t important within in the music video as it’s all about her
as he is being intimate with her and she covers his face and
doesn’t react to his movements.

14. GENRE
The genre of this song is dance pop and this is represented
through the fast beats and dances. One of the outfits she
wears is blue and silver – this is for the electronic, glamorous
side of the song. The red and black in her outfits represent
the sexy dangerous side to her. This also connotes that she
has different personas that you cannot see through. The
genre of the song is represented through costume.

15. Some of the main genre conventions of the video are the
dancing, dancers and unique clothing to show the quirkiness
within her. Also the video focuses on the main star – Lady
Gaga in every scene with many close ups. These
conventions are associated with the dance pop genre.

16. INTERTEXUALITY
Bwin is a world leading gambling website. This company is
highlighted within the music video as it’s related to poker. It
could also be seen as her only wanting the best, as she is
higher than everyone else. As Bwin is advertised in the video
they would have sponsored her, this depicts that good
companies want to be associated with her – she is good
enough for them.

17. Beats by Dre headphones are also shown in the music video.
There is a close up of her taking the headphones of someone
while looking into the camera. This long pause of her looking
attracts you to the headphones as she is so focused on
them. Beats are expensive and are known for being good
quality, this highlights that she only associates with the best.
The intertexuatity she has used within the music video
represents them well as they are associated with poker and
music.

18. AUDIENCE
RECEPTION
How might the audience react to the
video?
Stuart hall has a theory of preferred
reading. Stuart looked at the role of
the audience positioning when
interoperating media texts of social
groups. He believes there are three
ways that people perceive media
texts.

19. The first is dominant reading where the audience will accept
the obvious message that has been given out in the video.
The audience watching the video will respond to the text well
and how the creator wanted them too.
The second type is negotiated reading where the audience
will believe partly what the code is depicting. This also
means that the audience will sometimes modify it to reflect
their own life.
Third, there is oppositional reading where the audience will
reject the reading of the message. The social position of the
audience will contrast with the relation to the code.

20. MY OPINION:
I think the audience reaction in relation to Stuart Halls theory
would be in association with dominant reading. The message
in the video is quite clear throughout as she is using poker
metaphorically as you cant see through her, as she has a
‘poker face’. Meaning - people cannot read her. The audience
will react to this video well, especially girls as they think they
can relate to her.

21. WHY MIGHT AN
AUDIENCE
WATCH/ENJOY THIS
VIDEO?
The audience of lady gaga will enjoy this video as she
displays many aspects throughout the video. With the outfits
Lady Gaga wears you can see she is glamorous and
powerful. She walks around confident in what she is wearing
and has men obeying her. The audience will enjoy this aspect
of the video, as it is what other women wish to be. They will
idolize her for her actions.

22. As the video is quite fun and up-tempo the dancing gives a
good vibe to the audience. The dancing depicts that she is
having a good time and others will see this as an escape of
there own life. Lady Gaga is having fun throughout the video
as you can see in the party scenes; the audience will feast on
this and use it as inspiration. This video will encourage the
audience to have a good time, which is why they will enjoy
the content.

23. ANDREW GOODWIN:
Andrew Goodwin has 6 features of a music video:
1.
The video will follow genre characteristics. (eg: Pop videos
will have dance routines and general aspects of having fun)
2.
There is a connection between the lyrics and the visual
content. They will relate to each other.
3.
There is a connection between the music and visual content.
The atmosphere of the music will relate to the visuals.
4.
There will be many close-ups of the artist (demanded by the
record label). As the artist evolves they will create a style
they will follow throughout there videos.
5.
There will be many obvious references to looking and
‘voyeuristic’ treatment to female bodies to satisfy others.
6.
There is intertexuality used to advertise.

24. Lady Gaga does follow some aspects of Andrew Goodwin’s
theory. In the poker face video they follow genre
characteristics. The genre of the video has a dance pop vibe
to it; this is depicted through dance routines. There are many
dance scenes through the video and this reflects the uptempo song and genre.

25. There is also a connection between the lyrics and visuals.
The song is about not being able to read Lady Gagas mind,
you don’t know what is coming from her next. This is shown
metaphorically through poker. When she sings ‘cant read my
poker face’ she is sitting behind him and he is in darkness
whereas she is light. This highlights that he is in the dark
about something that she is hiding – he cannot read her. This
scene connects with the lyrics as she is creating a visual for
the words.

26. Lady Gaga depicts a connection to the music and the visuals.
The tone and atmosphere of the video goes along music. As
there is a lot of dance beats and seductive notions in the
music they are reflected within the video. This is highlighted
in the video by the clothing she is wearing - minimal
amounts. She is also wearing mirrored glasses that stand out
in the scene; this suits the pop dance culture she reflects in
her music.

27. As you can see throughout the video there is many close ups
of the artist. There are many scenes where she is the main
focus of the video where she sings close up to the camera to
get to get the audience attention. Almost every scene is
focused on her even when others are in the room. When the
male character is kissing her on the neck she has a close up
of her carrying on and singing. This depicts she is the only
one who is important in the video – no one else.

28. There are frequent references to looking in the poker face
video. Lady Gaga wears extravagant mirrored glasses in one
scene of the video. She also uses her hand to make a circle
that she looked through to the audience.

29. Lady Gaga uses her body voyeuristically through the video.
She makes many sexual/seductive movements with her body
to satisfy the audience. These movements are seen when she
is thrusting up and down on the outdoor lounge chair. She
also makes sexual references in her dance moves when she
is sitting with a group of people. This is used in the video to
attract a range of different of audience

30. There are different types of intertexuality within her video.
She advertises BWIN the famous poker company, this relates
to her as her song titles ‘poker face’ that she uses as a
metaphor throughout. Gaga also has close up of her taking
off Beats by Dre headphones. This advertises the company
to encourage people to buy them as they can see she uses
them. They are music related so they have relevance to her.

31. LAURA MULVEY:
Laura Mulvey looks at women and how they are represented
in films and literature. She believes that women are portrayed
as being dominated by men.
Laura has argued that classical Hollywood cinema has
generally been put into a masculine subject position where
as women are used as a figure of desire instead of the main
role. Men are given the active roles within films where women
are passive. Laura believes that the men take over the
women’s gaze and remove them as the subject focus.

32. Lady gaga could contradict Laura Mulvey’s theory, as she is
the main focus of the video. She has many close ups and is
the main character of the video. She is in every scene and is
the dominant character. As you can see in the video she sits
higher than the male figure that depicts she is in charge of
him. The roles have switched around as she is the active role
and he is the passive that listens to her.

33. Although Gaga is the main focus of the video Mulveys theory
could also be true as she can be seen as a figure of desire.
There are scenes where the camera skims over her body.
This attracts the men, as she wants them to want her by
flaunting her body. There are also scenes where she makes
sexual/ seductive movements towards the camera. This can
be seen to attract men and benefit their desire for her. This is
for the men’s benefit that could mean they are in fact in
control of her as she wants to please them.