Video Research 10 | Lady Gaga - Poker Face

In this video, one of the first major hits for Gaga, we see a large amount of performance, with what could either be a narrative or a concept, the line is somewhat blurred.

While the song, on the face of it (and perhaps even to some tween audience listening), may appear to be about poker, the story behind the metaphors present a different song. The song, after some reading between the lines, seems to be about Gaga exploiting a man for his wealth and hiding behind a poker face.

The video takes on this approach, featuring moments where Gaga is playing in a game of strip poker, and with the end having the implication that she a caught a guy in the trap.

At the start we are presented to Gaga, who seems to be living with luxury.
The editing has slowed down the leaving the pool and also jumps around the frames, creating a quite jarring effect.

Through the 1st half of the 1st verse, we see 4 shots per line, then we see around 6 shots leading to the chorus. The time between 2 different shots seems to have shortened as well.

When we reach the chorus, we see quick changes between shots, I noticed that the shots, while different in order, seemed to cut at the same point in the line both times, something perhaps worth considering, as it seemed to work quite well in this video.

Just after the chorus, when the track isn't as busy, the shots too aren't as busy, they are in slo-mo, and seem calmer than before, even though there are more things on screen.

Again, we slow down in this verse, back to around 2-3 shots per line.

back into the chorus, and it seems just as busy as before, we are greated with shots were there are backing dancers to shots where there aren't, almost immedialty next to each other, with the dance happening in both shots concurrently, this adds to the jarring effect felt at the start, making the video seem a little unusual.

We get to the bridge, and the cuts between shots are slowed down once more, in fact, for the opening of the bridge, we see the same scene, just getting more zoomed in to it.

The first half of the bridge is cut to the drum beats. as we continue through the bridge, the cuts become more out of sync, but there are still 1 or 2 happening on time.

As we enter the final chorus, we are presented with a single shot for a line, but with very quick cuts between. This continues through out (1-3 shots a line), but with the quick cuts between the lines, the pace still seems quicker than normal.