Music Video research 3: Geri Halliwell- It's Raining Men (2001)

 Genre: pop

The point of this music video is to appeal to the audiences yet again and show the world the transformation of the star (The drastic haircut, the toned body) which is all a part of Geri's new image.

Overall, the video mainly consists of dancing and singing into camera, which are references of two films, the start of the video looking very similar to Flashdance (1983), with the judges and Geri's costume, especially of the star. The video conventionally involves a lot of closeups of her body, as she is trying to appeal to both male/female audiences, according to Janice Winship, by exposing most of her body and trying to look aesthetic to both males and females, however for different reasons.

The video begins with a remake of one of the iconic scenes from Flashdance, but instead of the actress it is Geri, she enters as the camera begins being in level with the floor, and then slowly angles upwards from behind upwards to her body as she walks into the room which is very quiet. When she stops, the camera angle also does, halfway through her body, focusing on her tiger tattoo which can represent connotations of Geri being a fierce fighter who will not give up until she achieves what she wants. Her costume is similar to the original, and she holds a vinyl which was used in the original- which gives an authentic feel to the whole video.

The vinyl starts rolling and Geri begins to dance, and all seems well until  the needle of the player slips and so does Geri, onto the floor, which is very quickly into the video, only a few seconds after she started dancing. The camera, after the fall switches to a reaction shot of the judges, which oddly seem to have a concerned look on their faces, instead of a not caring expression. The camera switches to Gerri and for the first time in the video we see her face when she asks the main judge "can I start again?"  which is linked directly to the video, however, is also to her career and the twists and turns that it took before, and how she is getting a new look and starting again. The centre judge gives an interested/serious expression in a SRS as he puts on some chunky glasses and says allows her to carry on.

When Geri stars to dance again, a few shots that are positioned in the same angles throughout a few parts of the action are shown, one of them being of the judges' feet and seeing Geri in front of them, appearing small. Another type of shots that occur within that time frame are voyeuristic shots of the star's body in close ups, halfway through bending and stretching. After a few seconds of successful dancing, the camera stops showing her body and switches to the judges' faces who are enlightened with surprise of her skill in a reaction two shot. After Geri gains her full confidence and carries on dancing with all of her might, some other dancer boys are seen showing up at the doors and staring at her in an interested expression. After we see this guy's facial expression, the camera quickly switches back to the star and pans up her body as she sings, looking at the judges and moving in a coquettish manner. After a few more shots that follow Geri around the room, the camera switches back to the door  in a medium log shot, where more students begin to gather to see her, all with enlightened faces, fighting for a place near the windows to be able to see Geri dance.




After Geri starts to gain more confidence and dances for a while, the reaction of the judges is seen positive, with a low shot of their feet tapping to the beat, as they loosened up and began to accept the unconventional style of the star's routine. The tapping is also an intertextual reference to Flashdance yet again, which represents acceptance.



A lot of voyeuristic shots of Geri's  body is shown throughout the music video, and there are two main reasons for this: one would be to show everyone her new physique as much as possible (which is also the reason for some of her costumes, such as the more revealing version of Flashdance ) and the other reason would be to appeal and build a relationship with her audience by appealing to some more specific parts of her ta (young males, females who aspire to reach such physique themselves) with those shots.



However, there is more intertextual reference linked to Fame (a 1980 film) when in the video Geri is seen wearing a shirt with the logo of the film. There is also more references to the film as the dancers are dressed in similar costumes as the actors from the film.
When the cast run out into the streets of London, they are captured in tight long shots dancing together which creates a feeling of a community.








How has this research influenced my planning and creativity:

• I could use intertextuality within my own music video
• I could refer to things through costume
• I should change costume a lot throughout my video
• Singing into camera creates a relationship with the audience - I should use it too