"Trumpets" is a song by American recording artist Jason Derulo, released as the third single in the UK, from his third studio album, Tattoos (2013). The song was written by Derulo and Jon Bellion, who also handled the production. The music video’s typology is a combination of performance, illustrative and amplification which presents his artistic skill to the audience in the form of singing and dancing.

 

The opening shot of the music video is an over the shoulder shot of Jason Derulo looking towards the opening in the room, where at 0.02 a female starts to appear from and walk into the room. At the very beginning of this shot a shallow focus is used to emphasise Jason from the rest of his surroundings. This use of a small depth of field highlights him as being the most important component of the music video to the audience as after all he is the pop star. However at 0.02 when the female starts to appear the focus point switches from Jason to her, creating a focus pull. This is a very effective shot as it draws the audience’s attention away from him and onto the girl who they then also assume has an influential role in the music video. It also suggests to the audience that the song could be about her as she has managed to draw the focus from the artist himself, emphasising her significance to Jason. In terms of the over the shoulder shot itself, it creates a sense of intimacy between the two characters, which again suggests that they have a relationship to the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is clear from the very beginning that Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ theory plays an important role in Jason Derulo’s video, due to the fact that the first introduction of the female character features her in nothing but her black underwear and an oversized blazer, which the audience presumes belongs to Jason. This is a representation theory, specifically gender that suggests that representations are constructed from a male heterosexual point of view and that women are relegated to the status of object of sexual desire. The fact that the female character is in very revealing clothing throughout the music video cements this theory. The theorist Jonathon Schroeder (1998) also stated that “to gaze means more than to just look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze.” His quote again agrees with the term ‘male gaze’ highlighting the fact that as the male is looking at the female in provocative clothing, he is assumed to be in control and be the dominant character. Mulvey also distinguished between two modes of looking, voyeuristic and fetishistic, the second of which can be seen in Jason Derulo’s video. Fetishistic viewing involves ‘the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous. This builds up the physical beauty of the object, transforming it into something satisfying in itself.’ This basically implies that the women is still objectified, however both parties take mutual satisfaction in knowing that it is happening. This is very much the case in the video as the women is fully aware that Jason is gazing at her in a seductive way, however she is also going along with it by teasing him as she is enjoying the attention.

 

As mentioned before, the music video for “Trumpets” is both illustrative and amplified. Examples of how it is an illustrative music video can be seen/heard at 0.23 and 0.45. At 0.23 the Jason sings the lyric “I wrote this song just looking at you ooh, oh” while the shot is a close-up his face where you can see his eyes scanning up and down the females body. This is a literal interpretation of the lyrics as he says he’s looking at her while he is also depicted doing so, which has the connotations of lust and confirms the audience’s initial impressions that she is the subject of the song. A second example is as stated at 0.45 into the music video where he sings the lyric “yeah the trumpets they go” while him and the female character are shown in a two shot about to kiss. Firstly the two shot enforces the audience’s idea that they have an intimate relationship, but also immediately after the singing the lyric, they are interrupted by a marching band bursting into his bedroom playing trumpets. Not only is this again a visual representation of the lyrics but also an example of diegetic sound. This is in the form of source sound as the music is represented as coming from the trumpets in the shots sequence of shots. We can tell this because Jason and the girl react laughingly to the introduction of the band, which implies to the audience that they can hear the instruments as well. However the music video is also amplified, an example of this being at 1.11 when he sings the lyrics “is it weird that I hear, trumpets when you're turning me on? Turning me on.” At which point trumpets can be heard in the song while he is shown sitting in a car with the woman. The inference of the lyrics being that he can hear the trumpets in his head when he’s ‘turned on’, however this is amplified by the fact that you can hear them in the song as well, which provides a new layer of meaning to the lyrics. Hearing the trumpets also suggests to the audience that he is sexually aroused by the women.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 1.05 there is a mid-shot of Jason Derulo standing in front of a wood décor wall, posing half naked. I would consider his topless figure to be an element of his iconography. This is because he is shown to be like it in most of his other music videos such as “Want To Want Me” and “Talk Dirty” so therefore it is a part of his star image. The theorist Richard Dyer who came up with the ‘star’ theory said that “pop stars are constructed to appeal to a specific market with specific values.” In terms of Jason and his topless iconography I would say that his sexual magnetism and youthfulness is his specific values that means he has a global audience of young females and most probably homosexual males. Dyer also stated that “all stars are constructed, artificial images even if represented as ‘real’, they all have unique selling points.” Jason’s unique selling point is his toned body depicted in the mid-shot at 1.05 which has been constructed over a period of time, ensuring his longevity in the music industry.

 

1.48 features the use of fast motion to speed up the movements of the trumpeters and Jason himself. This is effective as before he stated that every time he’s aroused by the female character he hears trumpets in his head, which by using fast motion to exaggerate the movements of the marching band, it implies that his emotions are all over the place like the band members motions. The effect of this therefore is that it suggests to the audience that he has a real bond with the female character, which emphasises there connection. By contrast at 2.32 slow motion is used coupled with a tracking movement around Jason in a chair. The reason for this is because the tempo of the song slows and his vocals are mostly accompanied by the sound of an acapella group. Slow motion editing is effective at this point because it matches the tempo and connotes a change in mood. The audience feels as if the lyrics are more heart felt and are being sang directly to the female character at this point, suggesting she is special to him.

 

Between the timings of 2.11 and 2.50 every shot of Jason sitting in the chair is being tracked around him so that the camera appears to be circling the chair as he watches on at the female character on stage dancing on a pole. This gives off an erotic atmosphere along with the low key lighting, like he is getting his own private show. However the use of red fluorescent tube lighting also gives of the connotations of romance, suggesting to the audience that it is token of her love for him and therefore not just a sexual gesture. The tracking shots also suggest that the camera movements around him are like his affections for her in the sense that his emotions are spiralling out of control. This implies to the audience that he can’t control the way he feels about her, but that his aroused non-verbal communication depicted in the shots displays that he enjoys the sensation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From 3.00 onwards the music video features a series of shots of Jason performing with a load of other cast members in an urban location. The urban setting has youthful connotations and also suggests creativity, both of which Jason wants to portray himself as having to the audience. Not only this but the urban backdrop and the artist performing with other cast members are both conventions of the pop genre. The theorist Swales (1990) described genres in terms of ‘family resemblances’ among texts. This approach involves the theorist illustrating similarities between some of the texts within a genre. As the urban setting and the artist performing with other cast members are common conventions within the pop genre, they could be described as family resemblances as they are things that an audience can recognise and distinguish as being from that genre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After analysing this video in detail, I can see that there are many things I would consider putting in to my own. I liked the use of camerawork here, and how it originally shifted focus away from Jason momentarily in order to highlight the female’s importance, however return back to him for the remainder of the video as after all he is the pop star. I also liked the light hearted nature of the video as he connoted fun and playfulness to the audience, which is something that we also want to do in our music video as we did in our preliminary. This is because I believe that it makes for a more successful and enjoyable video, especially when paired with an upbeat song such as “Trumpets” and “Did You Miss Me.”