Genre: R&B/Hip Hop (Performance)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Released on 26th June 2006
Although this video is sung by female artist, I still think that it is aimed at men as we can see that the Dolls are involved in sexual objectification. However a Post-Feminist view would be that the Dolls are desiring Snoop and that they want the 'to-be-looked-at-ness' quality. This can be backed up by the lyrics as the Dolls are requesting Snoop to 'loosen up their buttons' and referring to themselves as 'sexy mamas'. The music is very upbeat with a strong bass, which is accompanied with lip syncing from the Dolls and Snoop. From the music we can identify that it is aimed at a young audience. This video has won awards for being the most 'sexiest video' in 2006 supporting the idea that it was aimed for people that wanted to gain visual pleasures from watching it. The song overall is very enjoyable, with beat to get feet tapping. However some Feminists may feel that the video shows Snoop as independent and dominant over the Dolls and how they are subject to sexual objectification.
Buttons is a R'n'B/Hip Hop video made by the famous female group, the Pussycat Dolls, and the equally famous Hip Hop artist Snoop Dogg. This video is one of the most controversial music videos of our time. This is because the typical representations of gender are strongly shown: Snoop Dogg shows to have power over the Dolls and is the only male in the video, whereas the Dolls are shown to have provocative qualities as Nicole Scherzinger seductively advances towards Snoop at the beginning of the video. Snoop is wearing very 'hip hop typical' clothes: tracksuit bottoms, a hoodie with a baseball cap. This indicates that Snoop is a hip hop artist.
The scene cuts into a mixture of a low angle medium shot, a long shot and medium close ups, using several jump cuts. This sequence of shots show all of the Dolls walking down a stage full of lights. The dolls are wearing semi-revealing clothing: short clothing and boots. The camera tracks in behind the Dolls as they walk down the stage (perhaps giving a chance for the male audience to check them out). As the camera tracks out of a medium long shot, the Dolls pose seductively.
They walk into a large pipe and start to slowly advance/dance towards the camera, trying to show off their apparent 'to-be-looked-at-ness' quality. The pipe scene uses a lot of basic (continuity) editing techniques like cuts with very short takes to keep the pace of the video fast and upbeat, just like the music track. They start to strip off the light tops they are wearing as exit the pipe, showing themselves off as sex objects. They then start to execute choreography very similar to that of pole dancing, as they wrap themselves around the pole. Scherzinger also uses a chair as a prop to dance on and around. The rest of the Dolls join Scherzinger's 'chair dance' in the same flirtatious manner, making it look like a striptease. A clever technique that the editors used is when the Dolls kick the chairs backwards towards the camera (in the form of a POV shot), it almost hits the camera but cuts into a medium close up of Snoop, starting his rap. The Dolls walk as though they are cat walking as they walk towards Snoop, pose, then walk in the opposite direction.
The next scene shows the individual Doll members dancing in front of a big light, thus creating a silhouette effect. This piece of choreography is sequenced with medium close ups of the individual Doll members breathe heavily onto frosted glass (parallel editing). It cuts into a sequence of dance moves performed by the Dolls to music sounding similar to Arabian belly dancing music, a form of dance that is associated with belly dancers, who are usually seen dancing to please male viewers. CGI is also used - as they crouch, the floor ignites and fire is seen all over the floor (perhaps the Dolls are trying to show themselves as 'hot, desirable women'.
The scene cuts into a mixture of a low angle medium shot, a long shot and medium close ups, using several jump cuts. This sequence of shots show all of the Dolls walking down a stage full of lights. The dolls are wearing semi-revealing clothing: short clothing and boots. The camera tracks in behind the Dolls as they walk down the stage (perhaps giving a chance for the male audience to check them out). As the camera tracks out of a medium long shot, the Dolls pose seductively.
They walk into a large pipe and start to slowly advance/dance towards the camera, trying to show off their apparent 'to-be-looked-at-ness' quality. The pipe scene uses a lot of basic (continuity) editing techniques like cuts with very short takes to keep the pace of the video fast and upbeat, just like the music track. They start to strip off the light tops they are wearing as exit the pipe, showing themselves off as sex objects. They then start to execute choreography very similar to that of pole dancing, as they wrap themselves around the pole. Scherzinger also uses a chair as a prop to dance on and around. The rest of the Dolls join Scherzinger's 'chair dance' in the same flirtatious manner, making it look like a striptease. A clever technique that the editors used is when the Dolls kick the chairs backwards towards the camera (in the form of a POV shot), it almost hits the camera but cuts into a medium close up of Snoop, starting his rap. The Dolls walk as though they are cat walking as they walk towards Snoop, pose, then walk in the opposite direction.
The next scene shows the individual Doll members dancing in front of a big light, thus creating a silhouette effect. This piece of choreography is sequenced with medium close ups of the individual Doll members breathe heavily onto frosted glass (parallel editing). It cuts into a sequence of dance moves performed by the Dolls to music sounding similar to Arabian belly dancing music, a form of dance that is associated with belly dancers, who are usually seen dancing to please male viewers. CGI is also used - as they crouch, the floor ignites and fire is seen all over the floor (perhaps the Dolls are trying to show themselves as 'hot, desirable women'.
Although this video is sung by female artist, I still think that it is aimed at men as we can see that the Dolls are involved in sexual objectification. However a Post-Feminist view would be that the Dolls are desiring Snoop and that they want the 'to-be-looked-at-ness' quality. This can be backed up by the lyrics as the Dolls are requesting Snoop to 'loosen up their buttons' and referring to themselves as 'sexy mamas'. The music is very upbeat with a strong bass, which is accompanied with lip syncing from the Dolls and Snoop. From the music we can identify that it is aimed at a young audience. This video has won awards for being the most 'sexiest video' in 2006 supporting the idea that it was aimed for people that wanted to gain visual pleasures from watching it. The song overall is very enjoyable, with beat to get feet tapping. However some Feminists may feel that the video shows Snoop as independent and dominant over the Dolls and how they are subject to sexual objectification.
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