CASE STUDY: Beyonce - If I were a boy (peformance)

VIDEO

This music video for this song is mainly a narrative with elements of performance incorporated within it. The video features a role reversal in which the stereotypical gender roles are swapped, hence the title "If I Were A Boy." The video explores how things would be if men had empathy for women in relationships. The video is stripped back and filmed entirely in black white which allows the focus to be on the story told as opposed to the actors' makeup or any other distractions.

The video begins with Beyoncé and her love interest standing a against a wall reciting single words relating to relationships. During this close ups are used to show the facial expressions of each as they say these words.

Closeups are favoured in this video, to focus on the emotion and pain felt when a loved one is cheating or not giving you the attention you deserve. They are used in particular when Beyonce shuns her partner, or vice versa at the end where the roles reversed. 

As Beyoncé bustles in and out of the kitchen, practically ignoring her partner who has clearly spent time making her a breakfast (emphasized by the table full of food when the shot zooms out) a two - shot is used, in order for the audience to gage the interaction between Beyoncé and her partner. While Beyoncé remains standing, her partner sits, this symbolically represents the relationship the two share in which Beyoncé is "above her partner". The two - shot also allows the audience to focus on the difference in costume of the two individuals. Beyoncé is wearing a vest with her hair scraped back, her trousers are very practical, clear indications she is working in a very "hands on" industry which is usually associated with males. Her partner, however, is wearing a shirt, unbuttoned at the top and has time to prepare a cooked breakfast and sit down to eat, implying he either does not have a job or a less demanding one.

Throughout the video, many examples of two-shots are used to highlight the relationships (and lack of) between the characters in the video. For "masculine" Beyoncé and her man, it shows the lack of communication, love and respect. For "masculine" Beyoncé and her co-worker, the two shot is used to highlight the lust, flirtatious glances and body language between them as Beyoncé shuns her partner. The two-shot is used in regards to her partner and his female co-worker who he rejects as  attempts to seduce him. Mid-way when the roles are reversed to the stereotypical gender roles, the same two shots are used to show how Beyoncé is now the one being shunned as her partner goes to work.

A shot-reaction-shot, is used just before Beyoncé leaves for work, in which we see the disappointment of her partner's face after being shunned at breakfast. We see a close up shot as she adjusts her hat and it is then that we learn she is a police officer, which is a stereotypically male line of work.

The video ends with the gender roles back to the stereotypical. Beyonce is now the one being left at home while her partner flirts with co-workers and the video also now matches the lyrics and the viewers, expectations of affairs often being something men do as opposed to the women.