Case study Geri Halliwell

Background Information on Geri Halliwell

Geri Halliwell is a British Singer, Clothing designer, Author and Actress. Geri Halliwell is mostly known as Ginger Spice when she was part of the British pop girl band Spice Girls between the years of 1996 and left in

2000 due to differences within the group. Geri Halliwell’s ‘It’s raining men’ was the first single from Geri’s solo

album ‘Scream if you want to go faster’. It’s raining men originally written by The Weather Girls in 1983. The

single was featured on the soundtrack of the 2001 movie Bridget Jones Diary but also it was featured on the

popular video game, Dance Dance Revolution. It’s raining men lasted 2 weeks at number one and is said to be Geri

Halliwell’s most successful single worldwide.

Background Information on Jim Canty and Jake-Sebastian Wynne

The music video for Geri Halliwell’s It’s Raining Men video was based on the movie Fame and Flashdance.

Camera workIn the opening of the music video, the camera uses close up shots to reveal different parts of the artist

body via 'fragmentation' - in which the artist Geri Halliwell is wearing very revealing clothing consisting of black pants and black sports bra. The use of the tight skimpy clothing helps to sell her 'new image' &

'body' but also it involves Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory because males can’t help but admire/ look at her because of the use of camera shots but also because of the minimal clothing Geri is wearing. The

camera works on long takes allowing us as the audience to take in everything that’s happening but also making us look at Geri’s body. The long takes with the low angle shots not only reveal Gerri Halliwell’s

body but also shows the facial expressions of the panel of judges, in which she is dancing in front of. The judges expressions looked shocked which could be what Geri wants people to feel when they see her

video or see her s what her. The lighting in the video is centered to the middle of the audition room where Geri Halliwell is positioned, this draws our attention to Geri but also the light emphasizes her tanned body but also the camera shows parts of the body where the light touches. There are also of long tracking shots

of Geri as she is dancing for the judges for example when she is touching her body. Over the shoulder shots are used to make us see what the judges are seeing. Camera shots work in time with the music for

instance the part where Geri does a forward roll and lands on her feet it works in time with the music. When the people come in the pace of the music stays the same but Geri is still seen as the main part of the music video because she is positioned in the center of the frame. Next scene we see Geri in a mid

shot wearing a different costume dancing amongst other people dancing. Geri is made to stand out because she is stood on a higher level compared to everyone else. The next shot seen Geri in a close up and this is the first time she is looking into the camera interacting with us than rather us watching her

perform. Also by the looks of things this is also the first time she is seen covered up which could show that Geri has two different sides to her, the good girl side where she covers up and her bad girl side where she doesn’t. The next scene we see Geri in yet another costume and another location. This location is more in a road area compared to before where it was in a studio. The camera shot for this scene starts off with a low angle shot where Geri is looking down at us. The scene again changes to the studio scene where she is seen in a long shot so we can see all of her body and face, all of the crowd and all of the judges. The

next shot is the first time we see Geri in her black ‘bad girl’ outfit and she acknowledge the camera whereas before she wasn’t looking into the camera. The next shots are hard to work out who the people the close ups are on but these shots don’t last long in comparison to Geri who’s shots tend to last a long time and they are mostly on her body rather than her face. Tracking shot from behind the judges which

shows everyone dancing and Geri in the center of the frame yet again. When the chorus kicks in and the music tempo gets faster the camera shots get faster and most camera shots are in close up such as the

shoes running and the close up of Geri’s tummy as she does sit ups so that’s an exercise theme throughout with the dancing etc. The next scene is a long shot of Geri rushing out in yet another costume

we see this in a long shot which shows her body movements are in a panic as if she is supposed to be somewhere else soon. Following scene is very different compared to pervious scene because Geri was

more rushed and in his scene Geri is calm but also wearing another costume which emphasizes the whole good girl bad girl Geri has throughout the video but both scenes are seen in a long shot and last for the

same amount of time. The scenes when Geri is outside all tend to be either long shots when Geri wants to be seen in the middle with the dancer in the background but it also has crane shots to show how many

dancers are dancing behind Geri. After we get to a low angle shot of Geri looking like she is doing a strip tease for us as the audience which is seen in slow motion. The final shots of Geri Halliwell’s It’s raining

men begin to be seen in mid shot of Geri looking into the camera more in comparison to before. Also there is less close ups on Geri’s body but the close up we do get is a close up of her belly which is wet which is seen as sexy. The video ends with Geri walking into the camera giving direct eye contact to it as if she is

looking at us.

NarrativeThe narrative for It’s Raining Men by Geri Halliwell is based around the film ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’. The song was performed originally by The Weather Girls in the video for The Weather Girls version It’s Raining Men, men are literally falling from the skies. Geri Halliwell’s cover of this song was her first single as a solo artist after she previously left the popular pop girl band Spice Girls. The video is showcasing Geri’s new figure and blonde

hairstyle, this could be to differentiate herself as Geri Halliwell not as Ginger Spice as she was more known well as when she was in Spice Girls. The video is in a audition style dance routine in front of judges similar to the 1983 movie, Flashdance. Similarities between Geri’s video the Flashdance video is the audition going wrong. Opening to both Flashdance and Geri’s audition is the diegetic sound of Geri’s footsteps as she walks to the

judges. After Geri mucks up the first time just like Flashdance she begins to dance again and we see a student looking through the door watching Geri performing to the judges with a grin/eager look on his face this then

cuts back to Geri dancing. After the cut back to Geri more people arrive to watch her through the door window. This could be to emphasize Geri’s as a performer or star as well as her being seen to be popular amongst her

school that everyone should watch her. We see the first clips from the movie Bridgett Jones in the middle of the music video because the song is promoting the movie that it features in. Suddenly her peer students who were

watching from the door window burst in and start to dance with Geri as if it was posed. Clips from Bridgett Jones are again played but they also link in with the lyrics of the song such as when Geri says “It’s Raining Men” the scene from Bridgett Jones where Daniel falls into water shows the link between the song and the

movie. In the Bridgett Jones clip there is a scene where Bridgett is choosing pants she picks out similar pants to watch Geri is wearing as if Geri is what people should want to be like. The video strongly links with Bridgett Jones such as Bridgett is exercising and Geri is exercising but Geri’s exercising is more to show off her newly

toned body so in a way it could be seen to mock Bridgett Jones body as hers isn’t not toned but is aiming to be which again emphasizes that Geri is what people want to be like. Connections again between Flashdance are

shown again when Geri Halliwell is seen to be doing ballet which does seem to be random but if you knew Flashdance you could work out the connection. Geri stands out in this scene because she the only one wearing white also she is graceful and elegant whereas Bridget Jones isn’t and we get that feeling because they have put a clip of Bridget falling over which again could be to show how great Geri Halliwell is. The final scene you see Geri running out of the building which is very similar to Flashdance where Alex runs out after her audition

but with Geri she has all her dancing peers around her suggesting again her popularity. Again links with Bridget strongly link with the video for example “she’s a single woman too” and it shows a clip of Bridget. A big dance routine all in time is seen between Geri and her peers whereas before it was everyone doing what they want.

During the last chorus of It’s Raining Men, it actually rains. It isn’t like The Weather Girls version of men actually falling from the sky but the rain is falling and there is men so there is some connection but most of all I think the rain isn’t just designed to link with the song I think it is also to emphasize the male gaze as Geri who

is wearing minimal clothing is getting her body and clothes wet which is seen to be sexy.

RepresentationThroughout Geri Halliwell’s video for It’s Raining Men she is seen to

represented in different ways. There are a few different ways which I think Geri is seen to be shown in. The first representation is the scene where is she dancing in front of the judges as much as it’s a copy of the movie her outfit is very promiscuous and reveling. The tight pants with the high line

and the bra which emphasizes her chest area all draw our attention. The fact that the color of her outfit is all black is that it gives the connotation that

Geri is bad, so this is her bad girl look. Her dance routine is designed to show off her extremely toned and flexible physique but also the moves could be

seen as quite sexual as she rubs/touches her body which could been seen as voyeurism. This representation of her shows her confident side as she isn’t afraid to dance in sexual ways in front of strangers. Another representation of her is when she is seen doing sit ups on the floor. The dog to the side of

her is her actual dog in real life which could show her down to earth side and that she really is no different to anyone else. The other representation is the ballet scene where Geri is dressed in a ballet dress but also it’s white. White has the connotations of being pure, good and also is the sign for innocent. This is very different to the black she was wearing at the start where she

was wearing minimal clothing and her routine was more sexual whereas this routine is more elegant and peaceful. The final representation of Geri is when she is wearing the orange and blue trackies. The orange top has writing on it ‘Famous’ in similar writing to the 1980’s movie Fame. The

writing on the top with the word famous could be a hit to what Geri wants. She wants to be famous and possibly by covering this song could make her

famous.

Video style and iconography

The video style for Geri Halliwell It’s Raining Men is dance so the iconography of this is the dance school and with the backing dancers.

Mise en scene (Everything in the frame) – Location,

Lighting costume Geri Halliwell’s video is set in a dance school similar to the

location to Flashdance. The location for Geri Halliwell’s video lets us link at the beginning that the video will be similar to the movie

Flashdance. Similarities of Flashdance using mise en scene are the costume such as the black pants and bra Geri is wearing is very 70’s which is when Flashdance was out. The lighting of It’s Raining Men there are both natural light and artificial light. The

natural light is provided by the windows on the right of Geri so the sides of her toned body are highlighted and the artificial light is

used to spotlight Geri so it draws our attention as the audience to her. An interesting prop I think which gives the video and song date is with the vinyl record at the beginning of the video when back in 2000 tapes were popular so having a vinyl player gives

the song age because it is an old song but it also gives the video age because the video is based on a 1970’s movie.

EditingThe editing for It’s Raining Men is effective for instance at

the beginning when Geri makes a mistake and asks to start again there is a cut away editing of Geri to the judge the take is long giving us time to see the actions and facial

expressions of the judge. We can see he is looking down at Geri and we are seeing this in a POV shot so it makes us feel

that he is talking to us from a higher perspective. During the dance routine there are a lot more cut aways when Geri shakes her head the camera changes to the judges then she does it again and it changes to a boy watching her through

the window. Through the video the editing is fast paced when looking at Geri’s body but besides that the editing

isn’t fast paced. The ending there is slow motion editing of Geri and editing of the background to dark skies as if it’s

about to rain, this matches with the narrative of the song.

Intertextuality/VoyeurismIntertextuality for Geri Halliwell’s It’s Raining Men is based on the dance movies Fame and Flashdance. It’s Raining Men uses iconic

parts of Fame and Flashdance making it recognizable but also there is some narrative behind it if you have watched both Flashdance and

Fame because you know what will happens next. Voyeurism is important for Geri Halliwell’s video because she is showcasing her

new body off to everyone so the costume helps us see her new body. Furthermore throughout the video Geri is being watched by everyone this could be an example that she is being watched by

everyone in real life too as she shows off the new Geri. This strongly links to the male gaze by Laura Mulvey because all the males are

looking at her because she is an attractive female but she is also the stereotypical blonde bimbo which is emphasized by her showing off

her body but there is also another side of Geri which is the more clever and talented side and that’s when she is doing ballet

Analyse using Andrew Goodwin

Analyse using Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze

Theory