Video Analysis: Beyonce - If I Were A Boy

Beyonce is a famous female singer known and loved, her single 'If I Were A Boy' was released on the 12 October 2008. The genre of Beyonce is typically POP/R+B although some of her songs fall in the hip hop genre, This song genre is a slow pop song. The strong feminist perspective in this song means the target audience is 17-30's. The narrative is based in inequality in a relationship, this music video is a strong narrative base of a male and female role reversal. The audience is meant to feel sympathy for the female in this story once the twist of the narrative is revealed. This single sold over 2 millions copies with many nominations for several awards.

Goodwins idea of their being a strong relationship between combinations of music, lyrics and visuals. In this music video are here however it involves having to read between the lines to discover these. In the first half of this narrative the showing of beyonce the artist herself in a negative light and her loving husband in a positive when the lyrics are describing how you should behave in a relationship we are shown more of the husband re enforcing the idea he is the reliable one in the relationship, then the negative lyrics we are shown beyonce. Further into the video but still before the swap back to reality of roles the audience hears the lyrics 'I would turn off my phone, tell everyone its broken, so they'd think that I was sleeping alone' and we see her turn off her phone and put it back in her pocket cutting to him trying to call her. Making it clear to the audience the narrative that we are being shown. With narrative music video's we are more likely to see lyrics link with the visuals.

Strong continuity editing was needed in both halves of this music video to allow the audience to fully understand the effect that was intended. Before the song begins there are several words spoken from both characters 'intimacy' 'honesty' 'commitment' 'you' 'me' these are all important factors in a relationship between each word there are clear jump cuts to show without these elements it would be clearly broken. There is a pause in the music as Beyonce is about to go to work this is when the narrative clicks in the audiences mind. The tempo in editing and music throughout this video stays on one level this is to connotate that nothing will change if your stuck in a relationship similar to this, apart from when the reverse role is uncovered. After the switch and the break in the music the music starts to fade in with the next shot also fading in, as reality kicks in, leaving the audience first in suspense followed by clarity.
This video goes against the codes and conventions of a typical Beyonce video as there is a strong narrative with no dancers or upbeat movement. A feature of a Beyonce video is the strong female she is portraying and encouraging her fans to take control of men and relationships.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7XW0KBUjP0