Beyoncé – Dance For You

In this video, the R&B characteristics are shown by Beyoncé’s dancing, and her beautiful star image which portrays an expensive, wealthy lifestyle. The first scene is a long shot of Beyoncé depicting her typical star image through her expensive looking silk dress, large diamond earrings and attire in general. She also has on a trench coat, which symbolises a desirable female and is an iconic look presented in many portrayals of the 1940's.

Her costume doesn't change throughout the video which gives the audience a sense that what they are watching is happening at the present time. The 2nd shot type used is a close up of the male love interest, also in a typical 1940’s ‘gangster’ style suit similar to something like Al Pacino, gazing at the artist as she enters the room; the expression on his face is one of desire and sexual tension.

Voyeurism is largely displayed in this music video because of how personal Beyoncé makes it by dancing with her male interest. Voyeurism is best defined as the practise of observing sexual gratification by looking at sexual objects or acts. In this video there are many examples of ‘looking’ by the use of close ups and extreme close ups. Typically the close-ups are of Beyoncé and her love interest, there are no close up’s on the dancers only long shots. This video also shows the male gaze as the leading man does nothing but stare at the artist, which highlights the view that men may see women as a sexual object although in this video she is a sexual object as the dance she is performing in purposely provocative.

This is a video captured in film-noir, depicting the 40's style of women, men and working relationships. The video connotes femininity due to the stereotypical image of women in suspenders being something automatically tied to feminine women. Beyoncé is portrayed as a femme fatale, because of the dominance she is showing through her dancing and movement. It’s as if the choreography has been used to make her appear predatory and in complete control of what is going on around her although typically the stereotype of women is that they have little control of the environment they’re in and that men control, fund and run the world. I feel that although this video still represents females as sexual objects it empowers women due to the genre of music it’s based on and the narrative of the video itself.

The video does have a narrative although not a very clear one. It is obvious it presents the stereotype of the male as "the boss" and Beyoncé as the "secretary" connoting an office based affair/relationship. The whole video takes place in the office and by the end of the video it is clear that they are going to engage in some sort of sexual activity, left to the viewer’s imagination. The entire video is black and white with little editing throughout. There is no use of fade in’s, dissolves or wipes. It appears the video is one seamless take from different cameras in different positions around the room. The one apparent use of editing is the use of cuts where the image changes from Beyoncé to the male love interest demonstrating juxtaposition.

One of the codes of R&B music videos is to have a dance routine, Typically in R&B videos there are dance routines to help promote the artist and draw in more viewers making the target audience broader.. The video, which was directed by Beyoncé herself along with Solange’s boyfriend director Alan Ferguson, is about losing control and giving yourself fully to one man. This is reflected in the dance moves as they are seductive and controlled, as if she is stating that she is in a position of power but willing to give herself up to the right person. By widening the target audience the artist is creating more opportunity for self-promotion, sales and creating a way of enabling more listeners to be drawn to the particular genre of music. Overall, as viewers, I feel that this video fits the codes and conventions of its genre.