Telephone Music Video Analysis

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Released back in 2010, the music video for 'Telephone' by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce is more like a short film, with the run time being nearly 10 minutes. The narrative essentially follows Gaga being put into jail and then being bailed out by Beyonce. The two then drive to a diner where they poison a bunch of innocent people, perform a dance sequence, and then drive off into the sunset.

At the beginning of the music video, establishing shots are used of the area surrounding the prison, interspersed with shots of the barbed wire prison fence. Credit titles are also used in these shots making it seem more like a film than a music video. We then see security camera style footage of Gaga being brought into the prison. This unusual footage style grabs the viewers attention. Gaga and the rest of the actors all wear very extravagant and revealing clothing, even including the prison staff. This links to Goodwin's idea of voyuerism being featured in music videos. It also could suggest that the prison scene is more of a metaphor and not real life. Gaga blogger and student, Meghan Vicks said that the prison scenes are a 
metaphor for Gaga's imprisoned identity. This is futher emphasised by Gaga's costume when she goes out into the exercise yard, for example. She wears sunglasses covered by cigarettes which block her vision and is draped by chains, weighing her down. In the prison yard, one of Gaga's other songs 'Paper Gangsta' is played on the stereo. We then also briefly hear someone listening to 'I like it rough', another song from her album, through headphones. This subtle inclusion of other songs helps promote the artist further, even within her own music video.
The song itself doesn't start until nearly 3 minutes in when Gaga receives a phone call from Beyonce. Gaga looks directly into the camera when singing which is one of the main features that makes it differ from a short film. This makes the audience feel more connected with Gaga. This idea of voyeurism is further emphasised when Gaga and some of the other prison inmates perform a dance sequence in the prison whilst wearing only underwear and high heels. The dance sequence is to the beat of the music and is entertaining to the audience. Close up shots of the women's bodies are used which links to Mulvey's male gaze theory. Later in the diner, a close up of Beyonce's chest is shown, again linking to the male gaze. Stills are also used of Gaga posing provocatively, wearing nothing but crime scene tape wrapped over her. Jonas Akerlund, the music video director, claims that these crime scene tape images were supposed to be about her being claustrophobic in her cell. Vicks also suggested that these images suggest how society view criminal females as more abnormal than criminal males.


The way this music video combines lots of interesting and bizarre visuals, to me makes it almost seem like a fever dream. The video makes references to popular Hollywood movies such as Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Grease. In one scene Gaga looks like she is on a live cooking show and at the end of the music video, news footage is used reporting the crimes that we have just seen Gaga and Beyonce commit. This use of different media types makes the video much more unique and interesting to the viewer than most standard music videos. The use of the very extravagant costumes and set design throughout is something that is associated with Gaga and now could be seen as one of her trademarks.



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