Case study 3

Case study 3 – Jason Derulo – What if

In my third case study I will look at music video ‘What If’ performed by Jason Derulo. The music video is directed by Ethan Lather and it produced by the Warner Bro Label. It is a single is of pop genre and it part of the self-entitled Jason Derulo Album. The single was released on 26^th of July 2010. The length of the video is 4 minutes and 16 seconds. The video starts off with a slow instrumental background sequence of piano before the song enters a rhythmic beat of both piano and drums.

Synopsis
The music video begins with Jason Derulo and his girlfriend moving in together, Derulo takes a diamond engagement ring out of the nightstand and puts it in his pocket as she comes into the room. Derulo offer to get the last box out of the van but she refuses and leaves to get the last box from the moving truck. While crossing the street, a driver from another car is texting on his phone and nearly hits her.  Suddenly Derulo hears the car brake skids and runs out of the house and towards her to push her out of the way of the car. Just about when he is going to push her away the camera goes to a freeze frame. A clock on the nightstand begins to tick slower until it eventually stops before going backwards. Time begins to go in reverse; Derulo’s relationship with his girlfriend is shown as if the video is being rewinded back to the beginning. When the video shows their first time they met, time stops going backwards and goes back to normal. This time, as he walks past her, he does not stop and talk to her. Therefore their relationship never happened. He looks back at her before he continues walking. She disappears from his memories and from a picture as the first encounter never happened the future is rewritten to save her life this is shown as the video ends back on the street, as the car is about to hit his girlfriend, she disappears as does the moving truck and the car just contuines to drive off.

The video is narrative based but it done in a unique way where the story is told backwards. The incident of the video is shown at the start and the audience go on a journey of the past in the video where they see the relationship between the two characters unfold in the music video right up to point of the first meeting of the individuals. As the video goes the audience understand more of the story that is being told. The incident that happened at the start of the video then changes as in the video as time goes back there are factors in the video that change the course of the future. 

Themes and Motifs
The theme in this video is about the future there is a lot of emphasis on time in this video as they are numerous shots of a clock. Also the concept of the video is unique and different from other music videos as the music video is show backwards showing the present at the start of the video working along the video showing the past until it shows the very first encounter at the end of the video. Another theme in the video is also forbidden love,  In the video Jason can be seen wanting to be with the girl however he knows what would happen if they did get together as he knows that them getting together causes her death therefore he must stop himself from talking to her to save her life.

Representation
The video starts off a close – up shot of Derulo placing a picture frame of him and his girlfriend near the alarm clock on his bedside table this is a visual illustration of what the song will be about which what the future holds for the couple. Jason can be seen taking out an expensive engagement ring and as his girlfriend goes to get the last box from the truck he focuses on the ring and the beginning lyrics start with ‘What if?, I’m the one for you and you’re the one for me? What if...’ this tells the audience that he is questioning about future of their relationship. Suddenly a tyre screech can be heard and a close up shot shows the box full of glass the girl she was holding dropping and smashing on the floor. Jason runs out and loud heartbeats can be heard and this to emphasis the dramatic and intense moment.

The scene also cuts to the close up shot of the clock on the nightstand as it zooms in it shows the clock ticking over second by second with the second dial clearly being heard this corresponds with editing technique of slow motion to show the car gradually coming closer about to hit the girl and this is to represent that Jason is nearly out of time and there is little he can do. The video also cuts to the picture frame of them to together and this is to connote what he may be about to lose. However just when the car is about to hit the girl there is a freeze frame and the scene cuts to that of the nightstand clock which shows the clock stopping. The second dial then suddenly begins to go backwards and this represents time reversing and the instrumental beat of the song starts to build its way into the song.

The video is then shown in reverse as Jason is running backwards towards the house and the broken glasses pieces together and goes back into the box. There is a fast cutting rate and this represents that time is going back quick. The lyrics of the song are told before the accident has happened so Jason envisions how life would be so good together and thinks that they are made for each other and that fate bought them together. ‘If you are the one then us meeting is fate, future with a dog called a ben and a house with a fireplace’. The lyrics are sung in a heartfelt voice and this represents how Derulo desperately wants a happy life with her, however he questions the future and this is shown when the video cuts to scene of him in the park where they originally met and a close up shot shows him lip synching ‘But we can’t we can’t tell the future no, but that’s just the beauty of the world we know.’ A long shot also shows people in background walking but backwards still illustrating that time is going in reverse however Derulo is not pacing backwards but in the standing in the middle of the frame as the vocal point of the shot and this is because this scene tells the audience that it is separate from the narrative.

Also close up of Jason Derulo’s face show his emotion which represents his worry of not knowing what the future holds for the both of them. There video then shows flashbacks of their time spent with Jason and his girlfriend where it can be seen him feeding her strawberry’s, washing the dog together and him teaching her how to play the piano while he sings “picture me on one knee with a perfect diamond ring and if you said then we’d have our wedding on the beach”. This shows how much they are fond of each other and the amazing chemistry between the two and how he feels that they are the perfect match.

The next shot then shows close-up shot of a phone erasing a number the audience then see the first encounter of them together where the camera uses a shot reverse shot to show both of them smiling at each other and talking and this shows the first time they met and the instant connection between the two. However the video is still rewinding but at a very slow pace and Derulo gets up and walks backwards and rests his feet on the car and this is to show that slowly the time is about to stop reversing.  There is then a close up shot of Derulo’s watch on his wrist and it shows the dials going backwards until its stops at 1.25 the first moment he saw the girl sitting on the bench smiling at him this represents the first moment they saw each other and this is also a significant moment of the video as it shows where it all started and where is has eventually gone back to lead up to. Also as the watch has stopped reversing it means time has stopped going backwards and that it now the present. This time as he walks towards the girl he passes her without looking or speaking to her only to glance back and wave. This shows that Derulo has been re-written the past and so the future has now changed for both of them. The picture frame showing the picture of them together the girl disappears from the picture, the moment in the kitchen where he covers up her eyes to reveal a surprise an editing technique is used to evaporate her out of the frame.

The freeze frame from earlier on the video where the car is about to hit the girl is then shown again but this time the girl, the moving van and the box on the road dissolve from the freeze frame and when the picture unfreezes the car passes along the road without an incident and this shows how them two never meeting has saved her from the accident which would have happened if they had gotten together and moved in.

In terms of mise en scene the video uses clocks and watches to emphasise that time is going backwards. Also the in the scene where Derulo is teaching the girl the play the piano the lightening in the room Is dark and this is done to create an intimate setting. However in the park where Derulo lip syncs and where they meet artificial lightening is used and this is to create scenery where it would be the perfect place to meet a person that you like. Also throughout the video Jason derulo only wears black costumes and this connotes loss as in the video at the start there is accident where his about to lose his girlfriend but also at the end he never talks to the girl so he may feel alone and lost without that special someone.

Target Audience

Audiences who would like this music video would be into pop and R&B. The target audience is expansive in that both teenagers and adults would like this video. The music video makes the audience question situations in life where they think about things that could have gone differently. Audience are encouraged to by this record as the video is distinctive in a way that no other video has used the concept of telling the story of the music video from the end to the beginning. This a unique selling point for this video as audience would like this new refreshing way that the video is portrayed.

Ideas that can be subverted into my video

One of the elements that I would like to use in my music video from this case study is the unique way they the video uses the clock and uses special effects to turn the dial backwards to illustrate  that time is going in reverse and that the video is showing the past. It is a creative idea which I would use in my video to show the audience a period of time in my video that was in the past.  Also I like the way that in the scene of Jason Derulo lip synching in the park in the background people are swiftly moving past him without taking notice of him and he is the focus point of the shot it creates an interesting shot. I would use a similar sort of idea where my main character in my music video will be lip synching in a scene where individuals are moving past him in the background ideally this will be on a busy street then later on in editing I would fast forward the pace of the people in the background and this will create an artistic element into the shot.