Madonna: Strike a Pose

This music video by Madonna is very classy and sophisticated, this is shown through the use of mis-en-scene within the video. In the video the props used such as statues and large photo frames etc. Represent wealth, also the clothes that Madonna and her cast members are wearing represent this as the waiters and maids (models) are dressed very smartly and in suits, whilst at the same time Madonna looks very elegant dressed like Marilyn Monroe, She looks like this throughout her video. The video is shot in black and white, which recalls the look of films and photography, and the style is mainly 40’s, 50’s glamour, from the Golden age of Hollywood.
The Golden age of Hollywood: The start of the Golden Age was arguably when The Jazz Singer was released in 1927 and increased box-office profits for films as sound was introduced to feature films. Most Hollywood pictures adhered closely to a genre—Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, biopic —and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. The cultural references made in the video e.g. Marilyn Monroe, it’s almost like Madonna is trying to say she is as famous as them. This is shown by the close-up shots of Madonna ‘striking a pose’. These shots show Madonna presenting herself to her audience, giving her performance and showing her gratification. Also there were many other famous stars of this era that were name-checked in the song’s lyrics, such as Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn and Jean Harlow.

The cinematography used in the video is very effective at representing what the video is trying to portray. Throughout Madonnas'video there has been many different shots used to interest the audience and give them a clear view and undertanding of the narrative behind the music video. These include shots such as mid shots, medium close ups, close ups and long shots with the occasional wide shot of the whole cast and visual imagery in the video. In the opening scene of the video the first shot is a medium close up of some feathers, this is really effective in the opening of the video as it shows, to the audience, the theme of the video and it also shows that itis classy and targeted at the upper class, as you would usually find big, elegant feathers in big shows in places like and in the video this is what madonnais trying to recreate is 'The Golden Age of Hollywood'. moving into the second shot, it is of the models that have been casted for her video. These shots of them are mainly mid shots and medium close ups, which is good because is another way of how the audience can nderstand the video. the models are dressed very smartly and elegant, which gives a good representation of whta they are tryin to do in video. The first shot of madonna in the video is of her back although the viewer, in this scene, can't see her face this shot is still very effetive. The shot used is a mid shot. the clothes that madonna is wearing in this scene/shot are very classy to fit with the rest of the video.