Music Video Analysis - 'Family Portrait' Pink

The music video I am analysing is Family Portrait by Pink, which Sophie Muller directed. Pink is normally associated with songs of a rocky-pop genre however this song is thought to be of an R&B genre. However the music video only follows a few of the typical characteristics of an R&B music video. Typical characteristics of an R&B video include:

• ·      Part lip synching from the artist and part narrative
• ·      Close ups of the artist
• ·      ‘Showing off’ material possessions
• ·      Maybe some dancing
• ·      Usually set in nightclubs or party atmosphere

The music video has subtly taken the lyrics into account. If you were to hear the song before seeing the video you would imagine a random family’s lives being portrayed or Pink’s family being portrayed. The song is about Pink’s relationship with her family, and the lyrics and video portray the events through the eyes of her as a child. So in the video most of the lip-synching is done by a child version of Pink, (although some is done by Pink herself) who wears the same clothes as Pink to show this.

The lyrics “glasses breaking” near the beginning of the song links to when Pink wakes up right at the beginning of the video and smashes the glass as she answers the phone. As well as this the end lyrics of “pretty happy” is shown through the cereal that is aptly called Pretty Happy.

The editing of the music video is fast paced and at the beginning it cuts in time to the beat of the music. This is a common convention in most music videos. This is demonstrated from the beginning when Pink is lying in bed and there are quick cuts of her changing positions in time to the beat. This is also done with a range of close-up shots and long shots to show Pink as the artist of the music video. There are also a lot of uses of jump cuts when “little Pink’ is playing with Pinks hair and arguing with her over cereal.

The critical response to the song was that it was ‘stripped back’ and ‘different to what Pink originally released’ which is reflected through the music video. Compared to previous music videos that Pink had released previously this music video is simple and really highlights the issues and urgency that is underlying in the lyrics of the song. Pink also tried to make the audience understand and accept her representation of pain, frustration and aloneness through the lyrics and the images of her as a child and her as an adult. This song has unofficially been named the national anthem for young kids who have been through the harsh effects of divorce of their parents. The song addresses how Pink struggled through her parents divorce but it also addressed to other kids, encouraging them to talk to their parents.

The use of a TV advert in the music video highlights the ‘perfect family’, which is essentially what Pink wants. The contrast between how the family dress and act towards each other and how Pink and “little Pink” dress and act towards each other is highlighted through cross cuts. It portrays how upset Pink was with her family and what she wished she had. This is again highlighted at the end of the video when “little Pink” is taken into the TV screen to join the perfect family. This again shows that this was what Pink wanted to do when she younger ‘run from the noise run away’.

Some conventions of a typical music video are followed as Pink lip synchs to the lyrics but there are also cross cuts between Pink and “little Pink” lip synching to show that all the events that took place when she was a child still affect her now.

There are subtle messages in the music video highlighting how Pink felt through all the different scenarios. For example at 1:23 in the music video when Pink is talking to the lawyer, there is a picture behind them saying ‘CRUEL’ which is how Pink felt towards her parents when they were getting a divorce when she was younger. The music video is an amplification of the lyrics and the visual.

The music video ends with the perfect family portrait, which appears to be real but through the nature of the lyrics is there a hint of fakeness behind it? It also ends with cross cutting of the family portrait and Pink, which highlights her aloneness and her wishes of being in the perfect family. The music video is primarily narrative-based although there is an element of performance by Pink, however it is stripped back and just her lip-synching to the lyrics.

Overall the Pink music video “Family Portrait” has successfully achieved an outcome of delivering a message to her fans and expressing and revealing a vulnerable side to herself.