Intertextuality

Definition-The term Intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media text via another media text. In other words Intertextuality essentially means for a type of media(film,television,music etc) to pay homage to another media text.

Intertextuality in music videos

This Music video showed many elements of Intertexuality as it refers to many action films and super -hero characters.Camera and editing techniques are what make a music video exciting and make people want to watch it and listen to the song instead of skipping to the next one. Camera angles enable the artist the show  their feelings and body language. There a close ups during every chorus and also throughout the video, to show her anger yet enjoyment of revenge and how in power she now is with the situation. The close ups show every individual celebrity, as the theorist, Andrew Goodwin says there is a demand from the record company for lots of close ups of the main artist to put the focus of them. We see this in even the first few seconds of this music video as their is a fast zoom into her face to emphasise who she is. We see a lot of voyerism, where she is lying down and their is tracking shot, panning shot objectifying her body in a latex outfit. Editing can be used to establish a mood, such as slow motion to give a sense of sadness and deep thought but split screen to give a sense of anger or represent a split personality. Mise en Scene could also be used in this to represent a mood as her red hair at the end could be used to represent her anger

In addition to Goodwin's examples there is the idea of performance from the artist, such as lip sync in this video this occurs in the chorus as every video has a performance element, plus the lyrics match the visuals such as when she's talking about bad blood theres a fight.

The intertextuality of music videos often includes soundtracks to films and television programs which include a story line linked to the plot in the film - and often using clips and characters.

The source suggests that the references in music videos through intertextuality usually come through from cinema, fashion and photography. 

The video of Taylor Swift "Bad Blood"  is the plethora of celebrity cameos and film references it makes through out. In total, the video references somewhere near 20 different movies. Mostly alluding to action and sci-fi, the video has scenes reminiscent of everything from James Bond to The Hunger Games.

This can include catwalk references and news with the use of supermodels and mannequin style females which also present and support the stereotype views shown in the media and in some songs.

The sources of intertextuality will grow with the changes in technology.  It also suggests that video games will begin to influence the contents of music videos in terms of editing and graphics to aim at a larger audience.

For Example the Bad Blood music video had the split screen that is used to demonstrate half the faces of both Swift and Kendrick Lamar possibly to highlight the interrelationship with the pop style of her lyrics and the rap of the featured artist. The obscure and somewhat appealing nature of the video is extended through the use of the special effects within the editing process as it clearly follows the conventions of a typical superhero movie and movies like Kung-fu Panda action and lighting used, and this further extends the intertextuality within the music video. 

Moreover, the repeated use of the titles above the characters follows the conventions of this film genre. Additionally, the use of the props and costume here presents a similarity to that of a superhero film. Also , it refers to the hunger games especially the speeecial effects are added within Swift’s video in a moment of breaking through a brick wall potentially highlighting the power of the artist and furthermore demonstrating the intertextuality.

At the beginning of the video it reference a movie :

1. The Matrix (Reloaded)   The first 45 seconds of this music video are clearly inspired by the opening scene of The Wachowski’s sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. In this scene, Trinity crashes through a window and plummets out of a skyscraper in slow-motion, a parked car breaking her fall.The fast pace/rapid editing used in the video matches the typical stereotype expected in a pop music video of how the editing is normally fast to mirror the rhythm of the song

In a another scene of the video the movies "The Fifth Element" is shown through:

In the following scene, Swift is dropped onto a table, wearing an outfit very reminiscent of Leeloo’s thermal bandages in the 90’s classic, The Fifth Element. 

Taylor is widely known for creating songs with a pop genre and normally her music video use the stereotypes expected of a pop music video. However in the Bad blood video she goes against the typical stereotypes as although she is used featured in the video her famous friends also take up a lot of the shoots as well, with some of them being frequently featured throughout.

Later on the video you see Motor bike scenes.                                              "Tron"

Later on in the video, Swift gets into a motorcycle race with Jessica Alba. The bikes looks VERY similar to the light cycles made famous in Tron. 

This shows that this isint a typical pop music video with dancing and performance based video .
 Taylor swift through a series of different settings, a montage which is sequenced to go with the beat/rhythm of the song. For example each time when there is a loud part/beat in the song something happens in the video to emphasize it, whether it is her breaking through a wall or someone being hit.

4. Sucker Punch

In my opinion, this entire music video is inspired by Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. The film is about a group of young girls locked away in an insane asylum who enter an alternate reality and fight a battle to escape their fate. Though the theme of “Bad Blood” is revenge on someone who has wronged you, these girls too have entered an alternate reality to achieve their goal The bad blood music video is an example of Voyeurism as in the video Taylor and her friends are seen wearing tight clothing and dark lipstick which is associated with being erotic. Also the fact that they stare straight into the camera, like they are holding eye contact with you can be appealing to the male gaze as it is classed as being a sensual movement. As a lots of Taylor’s friends featured in the video are supermodels, well-known to being attractive this alone will appeal to the male gaze

 5. Sin City

Before the release of the video, a series of character posters were released. These posters are heavily reminiscent of the character posters that were released for both Sin City and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Additionally, the opening shot with Swift lying on an old-fashioned car with the words “BAD BLOOD” appearing in crimson red letters seem to be an ode to Frank Miller as well.The theme Power is also exercised within the clip through the use of the low angled shots as this presents the characters as having a role of dominance, and therefore presents the narrative of the music video whilst maintaining the lyrics of the song throughout and creating a contrast to the stereotypical pop music video. The dominance of the character, and in particular Swift, is extended through the use of slow motion in the editing process of the boxing scene, this creates more suspense for the audience as it would if it was in an actual film.

Intertextuality=  The character that Taylor plays in her music video can be widely linked to the character that Britney Spears portrays in her music video for Toxic. this film reference was from "Kill Bill" . The costumes that both the women wear in their music videos are very similar as they both wear the same material and both have a consistency of black and red. However the reason behind their costumes are different as Britney uses it as a way of branding herself in a sexual way but Taylor wear the costume in order to go along with the theme/mood that the song creates. Also both the videos can be linked on the actions performed as they are both seen riding a motorbike. I think Taylor uses parts of Britney’s music video on purpose as Britney is known for being the princess of pop music so by using similar ideas Britney’s video in her own video people will compare them and Taylors image will be made bigger. Also I think that she uses parts of the Toxic video within her own because she wants to the Bad Blood video to create a new persona for herself and Toxic is widely known for Britney re branding herself.