Task 2.1- Reseach into existing products (moving image) Lady Gaga Bad Romance

At the start of this video Lady Gaga is dressed in gold and is wearing glasses designed to look like razors.These two elements connote her wealth and danger. While Gaga is sat on a throne type chair all of the people surround her almost look like they are protecting her. This shows that she is the most important thing in the room, she is famous, expensive and worthy unlike the others. Despite this being the start of the video is looks like it should be the end as Gaga is at the peak of her wealth and seems to be heavily sought after, The men are dressed in black alluding to the 'bad' characters with the women in the white alluding to the 'good' or 'innocent' characters. By being dressed in gold Gaga is the center of attention and different than anyone else, as said before this also symbolizes her wealth and importance. This is similar in Lady Gaga's music video for Paparazzi where all of the women are dressed in white, the men in black and Gaga in yellow and black. Later on in the video Gaga insinuates that she and the women in the video are prostitutes and the men are looking to buy them. This could be another reason for the costume colours- the men being the dangerous ones and preying on the innocent women, Gaga being the most important of these women.

The pods shown in the beginning of the narrative are white, again showing innocence and some have the word 'MONSTER' written in red with a cross underneath it. The red cross is a christian symbol showing the religious connotations in the video and monster alludes to her fans the 'little monsters' but also what she will become in this video.


As the women come out of the pods they are dressed in white and have masks covering their faces, this could show how they are blind to the music industry and what will be expected of them. They all have the exceptions of becoming rich and a pop star when they are young but over time (as seen through the video) these girls have to loose their innocence and become more sexualised to become rich and famous.

Gaga portrays this idea throughout the video by showing herself and the women as loosing themselves and who they were. To begin with Gaga is shown as being equal to the other women as they all wear the same costumes and you can't really distinguish her from the rest. In addition to this, Gaga's innocence at the start of the video is shown in this mid shot. She has quite wide eyes which make her seem child like and she is wearing pastel colours which, compared to her usual bold outfits, show her as being quite dull and fading into the background. The reason behind this look s to make her seem quite quiet, young and innocent to begin with so that we see how the music industry changes her. In these shots you can also see her in what appears to be a bathtub this could be done to convey the idea that she is slowly being cleansed of all that she knows and of all of her values so that she is ready to be manipulated.

Later on in the video Lady Gaga gets stripped of her clothing by two other women, Gaga struggles but eventually lets it happen. This could connote the competition between women in the music industry, they all try to be better than the rest and don't care about the repercussions for their fellow artists. This is a different message to what Gaga tried to convey in 'Paparazzi' where she almost tried to show a sense of unity throughout all women against men. However in this video she shows the mistreatment of women as individuals rather than as a collective.

This part of the video could also represent the point at which Gaga turns into this new person in order to be successful- the industry strips her bare and changes her into a famous, rich woman who doesn't know who she is and has to prostitute herself to become successful. The drink she is forced to consume also shows how she is being forced to do/be something that she doesn't want. Gaga uses these visual representations to show what women, and perhaps herself, have to do in order to achieve 'pop star' status.


After she has consumed the drink the women remove what she is wearing to reveal a costume made of jewels, Gaga is then thrown in front of a group of sitting men and expected to dance for them. The women from the opening scenes are alongside her and they now all have no masks on. This shows that they are no longer blind to what happens in the industry and that they now know what is expected of them. Gaga is deemed the most important out of all of them as she is wearing the jewels and at the front whereas all the other women look identical. To begin with Lady Gaga looked the same as the others but the change connotes how she is now the 'chosen one' and non of the other women really matter, they just want to be like her.

The above shot shows Gaga's costume changing from white to black. This conveys her change from an innocent young woman to a dangerous woman. Later on the women are all seen dressed in red which is the colour of blood and seduction, this connotes that they are all now part of this dangerous industry and they will do whatever needed to achieve their goals. The jewels leaving her also imply that she is no longer of much worth to the men they only want her for her money or in this example her body. The men in the video that are 'bidding' for Gaga could also represent all the men that have wanted to 'buy' a part of Gaga throughout her fame. For example, Lady Gaga has a distinctive sense of style and gets paid a lot to advertise certain brands both in her video's and in other forms of media. Many want a piece of her and more than likely at some point there has been a type of 'bidding' to see who can give her the highest amount to advertise their product. Gaga adds this aspect into her video because it shows that once you are at the peak of your fame everyone wants to know you no matter what they have to do to achieve this and it's all part of becoming a world famous celebrity.

Just before this scene, this image is shown in the video. It alludes to a computer screen with 'Lady Gaga' 'SOLD' and a large sum of money on it. This image confirms the idea that she has sold herself to multiple men or companies to get the fame and attention that she has now reached in the video.

At the end of the video, Gaga walks towards her 'buyer' with it looking like she is going to have sex with him. However, the bed is actually set on fire and as you can see from the above shot Gaga stands by looking triumphant. The ending of the video shows how despite the fact that she has potentially sold herself in the past to get where she is, she now has the control and nothing can stop her from reaching her future ambitions, The final shot also conveys this message as Gaga lies on the bed next to the skeleton of the man. She now can do as she pleases and is dangerous if you now try and manipulate her the way she once was.