Amy Winehouse: Rehab (Video Analysis)

·         Mise en Scene

~has various different locations within the video (most of which suggest rehab/mental hospital): portrays a visual of how she views herself acting like in that situation, contradicting the lyrics meaning of her not going to rehab in the first place (suggests that, although she says she doesn’t need to go, she probably needs to)

~people dressed in pyjamas, poor clothing: symbolises the idea of attending rehab even further with them creating the surround sound of the song around Winehouse (the sound is significant within the song)

~wearing two different outfits: the lyrics “yes I’ve been black, but when I come back, you’ll know know know” could help suggest that these are her varying changes when she’s on/off the drugs and alcohol (lack of clothing suggesting her being ‘black’ and wearing clothes such as red heels and leather jacket suggesting sober)

·         Editing

~editing is irregular: it doesn’t follow a specific pattern although it does appear to roughly flow with the beat of the song that the people surrounding her are replicating

·         Camera Shots

~close ups of her face: to portray her emotions, to have good angles of the singer’s beautiful features and to help create a symbol to put a familiar face to Amy Winehouse

~wide shot: to ascertain the setting to the audience and how its significant to the song’s lyrics

~zoom out of Winehouse as she sings: consistent camera technique used during her solo scenes alongside close ups to keep the scene interesting as Winehouse is seen to be stationary throughout most of the video

·         Sound

~song is played over the narrative: keeps the song heard loud and clear whilst allowing the director to play more with visuals and narrative for the video: however, not too many visuals used within the video (keeping singer and song in spotlight) so that the video truly portrays the significance the song has for her

~the background people whom replicate the instruments and rhythm of the song portray a visual representation of the raw sound that was put into the music that evolved into the song

·         Goodwin’s theory

~contradicting link between visuals and lyrics: although the scene(s) are set to imitate a rehab centre (the psychiatrist’s room and the enclosed bedroom) plus the people surrounding her are dressed in pyjamas to emphasise this, she is singing about not attending rehab which is the complete opposite (challenges the conventions of soul music)

~certain genre characteristics: music with a personality (can vary in sound), typically sung by singers with magnificent/unique vocals

~notions of looking: Winehouse is seen staring at herself in the bathroom mirror where she is seen wearing very little and appears ungroomed (suggests she’s observing herself during her down days)

~demands of the record label: a lot of close ups of her face and body (more sexual than past soul videos with low tops, showing off her legs) which suggests something sexual (perhaps she embraces her bad days by acting sexier?)

~narrative based: follows her through the various locations whilst she mimics the lyrics although there is no specific narrative (only focus is upon Winehouse and the lyrics that have meaning to her)