Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball Research 3

Camera/Editing/Mise en scene

The music video opens with an extremely close shot of Miley's face, this lets the audience look closely at what she is feeling and we can see that tears are running down her face; this implies that she is upset. Also, direct eye contact is given which makes the audience feel more intrigued and that they have a role in this video. The background is white but I can see that it is slightly blurred which creates a mysterious atmosphere. Miley wears bright, red lipstick throughout the video and this creates the impression that she is bold and wants to make a specific impression. There is a high angle shot of Miley when she is licking the sledgehammer, this allows the audience to look widely over what she is doing. The high angle shot suggests that she is no longer in control and has lost power. A long shot is used and the audience can see Miley walking around in just white knickers and a white vest, in the background of this shot the wrecking ball crashes into the walls. This implies that her life is breaking apart and she is unaware. Up until this point, the music has a slow pace along with the actions but when it gets to the chorus is suddenly becomes louder and more aggressive. The white nails she is wearing represents the innocence she used to have. After these shots, they are mostly repeated and Miley is shown singing up close and swinging on the wrecking ball. The music video ends on a close up shot of the wrecking ball coming at the camera which builds up tension.

Narrative

The story in this music video is about how Miley didn't intend to destroy relationships or friendships that she has. The narrative starts off with Miley in distress as tears are running down her face and her eyes look although they are sore because of the lack of sleep. Miley doesn't seem to wear much clothing or any in some scenes and this begins to tell the story. Miley needs comfort, support and protection and she is not getting any of this, and how she is revealing her body is reflecting the consequences. This video wants to reach out to girls and parents to let them know to support each other and that there is nothing wrong with who they are. The impression that she is a mistake is created as it says "I came in like a wrecking ball" which means that her first appearance was huge and wasn't liked. She is shown lying in the smashed crumbles of the walls, this is supposedly reflecting her life; full of smashed dreams. Throughout the video Miley is upset, the ideology that women are not strong is created. The wrecking ball ends the video which shows us that the thing disturbing Miley defeated her and is defeating other women out there too.

Conventional/Unconventional

I think this music video is unconventional because there is only one person present in the video (Miley) this makes the audience focus on just her and the story behind. Also, it is set in a random setting what looks to be an inside skip yard which is unusual as female artists usually pick a more formal place.

What works/doesn't

I think the best thing in this music video is how Miley's emotions are shown. The close up camera shots allow the audience to get a more in depth understanding of how she is feeling by looking directly at her face and her expressions. However, I think a negative side to the music video is that it can seem inappropriate as Miley shows herself to be revealing which doesn't create a good look for her fan base.