Digital Audiovisual Media Class Blog

A space for uploading regular blog posts on topics covered in the module

Case study. Taylor Swift – All Too Well: The Short Film

Taylor Swift – All Too Well: The Short Film

The music video industry has changed through the years, we jump from music television like MTV to social media and digital platforms like YouTube. Now, artist not only creates their music videos for digital platforms but also upload lyric videos to their new songs, and in some cases, they release the full album simultaneously on all platforms, including YouTube.

The new generation of singers has adopted this model of promotion, creating different videos that probably will work for the internet but not for TV. The main case of analysis of this writing is Taylor Swift’s Short Film Al Too Well (10 minutes version), where the singer released the longest version of one of her songs by creating a short film of 14 minutes.

All Too Well song originally has a 5 minutes version and it was released in 2012 in Taylor Swift’s Album “Red”, but in 2021 the singer announced the re-recording of her fourth album in the studio due to her project to reclaim her master recordings. The album included a bonus track of a long version of 10 minutes from All Too Well and a music video (short film) of 14 minutes to this song.

All Too Well: The Short Film was written and directed by Taylor Swift, and had in the main roles the actors Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) and Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf). The song held the record for the longest song that reached on the Billboard Hot 100, has 79 million views on YouTube, and was nominated for nine awards, including Grammy Awards for best music video.

This case study is an example of how the formats have adapted to new platforms, but at the same time, the music videos still are divided between the artistic cinematic aspect and the celebrity promotion. As it is explained in The Persistence of the Music Video Form from MTV to Twenty-First-Century Social Media, Music/Video: Histories Aesthetics, Media, the music videos are in the middle of capitalism with celebrities’ studies and art. (Arnold, Cookney, Fairclough, Goddard, 2017).

To understand the format of video and the way it is presented on digital platforms, the analysis will focus on four main aspects: Visual Style, Editing Strategies, Narrative, and Sound – Image relations.

Visual Style: The All Too Well Short Film was filmed in 35 mm, given to the video a cinematic style inspired by the 70s, the colors that stand out are brown, orange, and red, alluding to autumn, the season in which the story takes place. Also, the camera sometimes acts as an intruder in the story, at times simulating home videos.

Editing Strategies: The Short Film is divided into chapters, which are displayed on the screen as the story progresses. Likewise, when the song increases the rhythm, a sequence of shots is shown that go by faster.

Narrative:  The story is developed in seven chapters, showing the breakup of a relationship. The short film tells the story sequentially, including in some parts a few flashbacks, all according to the lyrics of the song All Too Well. Most of the time the audience can’t hear the dialogue between the characters of the film, but there’s one fight scene when the music stops, and the public can see and hear the discussion of the couple, giving a big understanding of what is the main conflict in the story.

Sound – Image relations: Despite being a short film, All Too Well preserves the characteristics of music videos, where the rhythm of the music goes following the images. Similarly, the lyrics of the song almost exactly exemplify what is seen on the screen and what happens to the characters. It is very characteristic of Taylor Swift’s style, giving her fans specific details that they know like a red scarf or celebrating a 21st birthday, messages that are in her songs.

In conclusion, with the example of Taylor Swift’s short film, it can be seen how digital platforms also open the doors to different content in the music industry, which probably could not be fully shown on television. Likewise, the closeness between music videos, cinema, and art is evident. All Too Well: The Short Film, had a screening in June 2022 at the Tribeca Film Festival and also, was exhibited in its 35mm format at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

However, the short film was also a great marketing strategy for the song All Too Well, managing to position it on important music charts such as Billboard.

By: Tianna Montes Murillo

Student ID: 33700373

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