(Vernallis) Music Video Analysis: You Ruin Me

Narrative

The video for the song 'You Ruin Me' can be said to follow the theory of Vernallis. The first still pictured shows a ballet warm up in action. Ballet forms the base of the video, with the narrative centering around the ballet class and the ballet teacher. The video jumps between Jessica and Lisa as ballerina's to the singers they really are, performing in an empty theatre. At the beginning and end the video shows their action in response to the song and what would want to do the person who caused Lisa the pain of her resulting in singing 'You Ruin Me'. The video continues as narrative through showing the developing relationship between the dance teacher and Lisa. The video shows them in a 'happy stage' while being almost judged by the other girls in the class. The video then goes continues through the narrative to show someone else enter the scene, possibly the wife/partner of the dance teacher, who then confronts the dance teacher. While this is going on, Lisa can be seen standing still and looking numb and lost while the other continue to practice around her in a circle. This can be seen in the third still (left to right). The next still shows the video going back to the performance aspect showing both Jessica and Lisa on stage singing to an empty theatre with the string section of an orchestra behind them. The last still is a continuation from the first 10 seconds of the music video the dance teacher (pictured) is tied up with ropes and seen cramped in the boot of their car. This imagery could be to visualise the dance teacher being held a captive audience while the ladies tell him about the pain he has caused and make him face the reality of what he has done and the consequences of doing so. It also seems, the ballet scenes are where the ladies (especially Lisa) are seen as more vulnerable to what has happened - whereas the scenes which depict the ladies on stage singing show an action of revenge and the come across as much stronger and not vulnerable like in the ballet scenes. Their strength is seen in the first scene (dance teacher in boot of car) and the end scenes showing the dance teacher as captive audience.

Editing and Camera Movement

The editing in this video has been cut to the beat. Every 2 bars of four there is a slight note change of chords on the piano and here is when there is a change in the scene or the angle at which either the narrative and performance aspect can be seen. The third still seen actually appears before the introduction even starts. The still shown sets the scene and atmosphere of what the music video is likely to portray. a few frames before the point of the still, the shadow of the stairs on the wall seems to be moving further up the stairs. This could almost be considered as foreshadowing the ending as to showing what was going on upstairs (held captive). The fifth still here shows a curtain lifting to unveil someone ready to perform (Lisa). Alike the third still, during this moment, the music that can be heard seems to be from a chello. When the chello can no longer be heard the the curtain begins to lift to reveal Lisa walking down stage, along with the sounds from her shoes, diegetic sound has been used during part of the video to show the changes in time to the music. The fourth still here shows a blurry frame of Lisa just after the curtain lifts from the front. During this shot, her heels are the only sounds to be heard. There is another moment of silence, where the camera cuts to Jessica, who is sitting at the piano. The camera then cuts back to Lisa, who is seen in focus, who then looks up to the camera and once again begins to sing. The first two stills show Lisa in Ballet class and the second shows Lisa and Jessica singing on stage. Both of these scenes are seen when the notes in the chords change on the piano. The lighting in the second shot especially shows the ladies being lit from the top, side and heavily lit from the front. This gives all focus to the ladies and what they are singing instead of what they are wearing or their surroundings. The image also gives a glow around their faces, but it is almost a witch like glow to possibly show revenge. Finally, the last still shows a partner of the dance teacher who the song is about. This again comes at two bars of four. She is seen confronting the dance teacher, however, what she is saying is unknown because the footage has been slowed down. This reflects Lisa in the first still who is shown standing still while the other ballerina's continue to practise around her.