Music Video Analysis - Survivor by Destiny's Child

‘Survivor’ was released by girl group Destiny’s Child in February 2001. Destiny’s Child is made up of three members: Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. The song was written by Beyoncé, Anthony Dent and Matthew Knowles for the group’s third studio album ‘Survivor’. The song was distributed by Columbia Records.

This is a mix between narrative and performance music video as the group members are lip syncing and performing to the camera throughout the narrative. The technique of lip-syncing is used by all three members in this music video and works effectively to make it look as if they are actually singing the song. I would say that in the production of this music video, both mise-en-scene and chroma key are relied on heavily to convey both narrative and meaning of the song. I think that for this reason, the music video must have been quite expensive to produce. 

Mise-En-Scene

The only prop that was used in the music video was an orange raft which Kelly Rowland’s character arrived in however, costume is heavily relied on. There are 3 main outfits that are switched between during the music video. 

For example, when all girls wake up on the beach, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams wear an all red dress whereas Beyoncé wears a yellow dress. I think the reason that Beyoncé  is wearing yellow and not red is to make her stand out from the rest of the group and present her clearly as the lead singer and performer of the group. I think that these colours were chosen as they are symbolic – red often symbolises both power and anger which links in with the lyrics. 

In contrast, the colour yellow which Beyoncé is dressed in often symbolises happiness and positivity which reflects the  lyrics as they are singing about being independent. When arriving on the island at the beginning of the video, all their costumes are torn which makes it appear as though they have. Later on in the music video as part of the narrative, they change outfits from their torn dresses to what looks like a handmade bikini top/bra and skirt from animal skin. 

In terms of this costume choice, although different I wouldn’t say that any of them look better than the others – they all look of equal importance. When in this costume, Beyoncé wears medium sized gold hoops in comparison to Kelly who wear small studs and Michelle who wears no earrings. This reinforces the idea of Beyoncé being the lead and thus more important than the others. However, in the shots towards the end of the video when they are struggling on the raft, Beyoncé is still wearing gold hoops, Michelle is now wearing hoops and Kelly wears no earrings. After climbing up the cliff and finding what looks like a deserted temple, there is one final outfit change – the girls emerge wearing camouflage outfits. Beyoncé is wearing very short camouflage shorts and bralet with black boots. As for accessories she wears the same gold hoops and a camouflage headband. Kelly wears a very similar outfit – a one shoulder bralet with short camouflage shorts and black boots with no accessories. Michelle looks slightly different to Kelly and Michelle wearing camouflage trousers and a more covering bralet with black boots and a shiny silver necklace. 

What I have noticed about all the outfits worn by the girls throughout is that in all of them, their waists and hips are exposed. This is an example of the male gaze which is reinforced through voyeuristic camera angles. I also noticed that Beyoncé is placed in the middle of all the shots, the effect of this is that the audience’s attention is drawn to whatever is in the centre of the frame (her) as she is the lead, making her more important than the other girls. I think chroma key was used for the shots in the deserted temple but for the other locations like the beach and the jungle the group probably travelled to these places for the music video. For the shots at the beach, high-key lighting is used whereas in the shots in the jungle and the temple, a mixture of low-key and high-key lighting is used.

Camerawork

 In terms of camerawork, there is a frequent use of voyeuristic angles to capture the female body. There are a lot of close up shots of the women’s’ chest area, legs, waist and hips. This is an example of the male gaze which is evident in most music videos. Accompanying the close up shots, the camera also pans up and down their bodies, often not showing their face. Camera angles like this are used to sexualise and objectify the female body, by not showing their face and only their body, the subject is being downgraded to the status of a sexual object for the visual pleasure of the heterosexual male. (Mulvey’s Male Gaze). Long and medium shots are used throughout to establish location as well as head-on shots which make the audience feel connected to the artist. Close up shots are used to capture each member of the group as an individual.  

A very high angle shot is used here to put us into the perspective of the man also on the island who has spotted them. The effect of this show is that if makes the group look vulnerable which they are to some extent at the beginning of the video as they have washed up onto a unknown island. Head-on shots are used more frequently when the women are in the jungle and performing to the camera through the bamboo trees. Low angle shots are often used when the girls are performing together during the chorus to make them look strong and powerful which reinforces the meaning of the song – they are singing about how they are strong and independent survivors. Similarly, there are also high angle shots to capture the whole group of dancers at the deserted temple. 

Sound

The lyrics were written by Beyoncé Knowles, Matthew Knowles and Anthony Dent and was produced by Beyoncé and Antony Dent. A both writer and producer, Beyoncé sings and performs majority of the song, however Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams have their own solos. Beyoncé is the lead singer but the chorus is sung by all members of the group. Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams both have their own solos but Michelle’s is significantly shorter than Kelly’s. The concept for the music video came about from a TV show with the same name about contestants voting each other off an island. At the time the song was being produced, a great deal of negativity surrounded the group after 3 members left, because of this Beyoncé wanted to ‘write them out of the negativity’. 

The meaning behind the song is one of independence and being able to handle anything that gets thrown at you. The song has a very upbeat rhythm which links with the meaning of the song. At the beginning of the song, there is the non-diegetic sound of typing as the words appear on the screen but also the sound of a helicopter. There is another helicopter sound effect at the end.

Editing

The video starts with a shot of the sky with text that reads: ‘Somewhere in the south pacific…’ in green coloured writing which is written in a font that looks like computer code before it fades out just before the video. There is lots of fading to black effects at the beginning of the video as it establishes the members as individuals and makes the narrative mysterious. As the tempo speeds up so do the length of time between shots – cuts are used to transition between shots. As the camera needs to follow all 3 members individually, there are a lot of jump cuts. Zooming in is used quite often to establish location, for example the shot starts in the jungle but zooms into the jungle to show where the group is. 

▶    Discuss the representation of people especially focusing on gender identity including voyeurism

As Destiny’s Child is an all girls group they are the only women in the music video along with one other man who seems to have been living on the island for a while. In terms of representation, I think that all 3 members of the group are represented quite negatively due to the male gaze. The voyeuristic angles that have been used to capture them make it seem like they are only on screen for the visual pleasure of the audience.

I think the way that they have been represented contradicts the lyrics of the song as they are singing about being strong and independent but are dressed to please a male audience. The high angle shot that I talked about earlier was from the man’s perspective looking down upon the women which makes him seem superior in relation to them. Therefore, in this specific shot women are represented as being vulnerable in relation to the man who is looking down on them. On the other hand, the group are presented positively through the meaning of the song – they are singing about being strong and independent which could be seen as inspirational to a wide audience. Throughout the narrative, all the girls stick together, this suggests that they have a close friendship which is a positive representation. 

▶    What can you say about the record label behind the production this? Has this influenced the final product? If so, how?

The record label behind the production of this music video was Columbia Records. As I previously mentioned in the sound section of this analysis, Beyoncé had a large part in the production of the music video. For this reason, I find it unlikely that the record label influenced the music video. Columbia Records is a very large and successful record label that has signed various artists from many different genres which makes me think that they have a lot of freedom in terms of the music videos that they distribute. In comparison to a smaller record label that has a more niche audience, they do not have to make music videos with specific genre characteristics.

▶    What audience has been targeted and how can you tell? What makes it suitable for them? What type of audiences wouldn’t it be suitable for and why? Are there any secondary audiences?

Similarly to the TLC ‘No Scrubs’ music video, I think that the main target audience for this music video is young women as they are of a similar age to the members of the group and can probably relate to the meaning behind the song. A small percentage of the target audience will be young men due to the voyeuristic angles used. These angles have been used deliberately to attract a male audience. The fact that it is largely performance based means that it will probably appeal to a younger audience rather than the older generation.

Watch the full music video here: