As you may know, I am a Video Editor – and one of the things (probably the main thing) that inspired me to work in television post production was actually music videos.

Music videos are one of my favourite things in the world and I spent hours and I MEAN literally hours when I was growing up watching them Even now in the modern world, I can find myself getting lost on YouTube watching music videos for hours on end – they are an addiction.

This month we look at a musician that creates some of my favourite videos. At university, my housemate and I used to be so excited on new Lady Gaga Video day as you never knew what to expect from them and they were always so magical. I find her music and her videos really inspiring because she always goes above and beyond to do something that no-one else has thought of. So this month I want to celebrate and look at the queen of pops music videos. Be warned, some of these analysis could be essays because there is a lot I love about her videos from an editing perspective.

Lady Gaga – Poker Face

Why did you choose this particular video?

This was the first song I actually liked by Lady Gaga and it influenced me a little bit at university – every time this song would come on in the club I would get excited and start doing the eye circle she makes with her fingers, also I loved her half gloves she wears and always wanted a pair. From a narrative perspective it may not be the most exciting video of hers but there is a lot of fun editing choices which make it a fun video to talk about.

So, what is the narrative?

Lady Gaga is dancing outside near a swimming pool and then throughout she is at a house party playing poker.

Favourite parts of the video?

The opening shot of this video automatically introduces you to the world of editing in this video. I really like this video because it relies on editing on the beat of the music and I always think that is such a great way to create a music video. This opening shot is a slow pan up on Lady Gaga with then a cut edit that distorts the image. I like this style of editing because for me it connotes that this isn’t your average pop song, it has edge, it is different it is unique with its own style.

I really like this edit shot as yet again it defies the fundamentals of a pop video. What makes this really effective this particular shot is that it looks like she is surrounded by mirrors. However, when you look at this shot more closer you start to realise that it is actually a number of different frames of the same video with different parts cut up and zoomed into.

It is important to talk about the lighting in the video as it plays a big part. The light has been used in many shots to highlight Lady Gaga centre stage. Look at this shot above – whilst the background lights have been exaggerated in post production, it is done in such away to make sure that your eye naturally focusses on the popstar. It happens a lot throughout the video you just need to keep an eye on it.