Geri Halliwell - 'It's Raining Men'

Andrew Goodwin states in his book,  'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' a series on conventions a music video will normally include. A good video to represent the majority of these conventions is 'It's Raining Men' by Geri Halliwell.

The music video is directly related to an audition from 'Flashdance' which indicates intertextuality within a music video. Also included, are clips from Bridget Jones, showing more intertextuality and cross promotion.

The opening to the video begins with diegetic sound accompany the visuals as she walks across the room towards the judges. We cannot see her face initially, creating an enigma. The formality of the judges and the silence creates tension at the beginning of the video.

Fragment body shots are used in the video to establish Geri Halliwell as an artist and show off her body. The video is used to promote her as she moves on to be a solo artist, and also show her new body. Shots consist mostly of close ups, as this allows Geri Halliwell to appear as the main focus during the video and allow it to be associated with her. The video gives her the oppurtunity to create her own iconography aside from the Spice Girls.

The notion of looking is prominent within the video, firstly with the judges looking on as she performs, but also as people begin to gather outside the door and look through the window. People are seen to be looking through windows in amazement to emphasis how good Geri Halliwell is dancing.

The camera movement throughout the video echoes the lyrics, for example, as she sings 'humidity rising' the camera moves up her body, and as she sings 'the street's the place to go' the dancers move out onto the street.

Low angle shots as she is on the stairs indicates confidence and dominence, after breaking down the critical judges.

Faster cuts and quicker camera movement represent the engery and confidence in the video after the scene with judges. The pace of the music begins to drive the editing. Geri Halliwell gathers a crowd fascinated by her dancing and takes control. As the move out into the street, she is dressed to stand out in the crowd. In the crane shot the is still shown with importance as she stand out amongst the other dancers. In medium longshots, she is still framed as a central character.

The video is typical of its genre, whereby the artist is seen singing along to the lyrics but the video is mostly based on a concept. The video does not show anyone performing the music, and focuses solely on Geri Halliwell, so we can see that these types of videos are mostly used as a way to promote an artist.

At the beginning of the video, a predance is performed whereby she falls over and asks if she can start the routine again. When she looks up to ask, this is the first time we see her face and know who the dancer is. Fragment body shots and close ups of Geri Halliwells actions are used before we see her face, as this makes the audience wonder who the dancer could be. As the audience do not know who the dancer is, and Geri Halliwell has changed from what she used to look like, the audience already take a liking to the dancer then get an element of surprise when they see it is Geri Halliwell.

The judges appear very pessimistic about the performance and are filmed from a low angle shot, to express their dominance and authourity. Geri is sometimes shot through the feet of  the judges, emphasising how she must do alot to impress them. When they reply 'in your own time' when she asks to perform the routine again, the tone used is very patronising.

However, as the video continues, and the dancing appear to impress, Geri Halliwell breaks down the once authoritive judges and becomes the dominant character. Crowds gather outside the door and look through at the dance, while the judges begin to tap their feet, signifying enjoyment.

At the chorus, faster cuts build up excitement and the crowd that had gathered outside the door burst in. All formality of the original audition is lost and the video becomes very energetic and colourful. When she kisses the judge, it is filmed over the shoulder of him with Geri appearing higher up. This shows how she has grown in confidence and is now in control. Whip pans are used around the room to reflect the energetic and hectic scenario.

The close ups of Geri in a tight frame establish her as a solo artist and the low angle shots looking up at her allow her to exert further dominance.

Special effects are used in the video as Geri is filmed standing in front of a screen, which depicts clouds and the 'stormy weather moving in'. Special effects are used within a music video such as this to emphasise the lyrics and create a scenario that would not be possible to film naturally. The screen shows the 'stormy weather moving in' at a quick rate and reflects the lyrics of the song.