The central image of Britney Spears has been cropped to a medium long shot. This provides a balanced focus towards her body and her face since the distance is far enough to give a good view of Britney’s body, however its close enough for the viewer to be able to analyse Britney’s facial expression. Analysing her pose this shot appears to be typical of the lad’s magazine covers and the fact that this shot of Britney has been taken from a high angle gives the audience an impression that they are on top of her.
Britney is wearing what appears to be a school shirt which is wide open and under it she is wearing a black bra. The shirt is white and this represents her purity and childhood since the shirt is a part of her school uniform. However the black bra under it suggests her hidden scandalous characteristics that are breaking through her innocence and purity. Furthermore, her outfit partially reveals her body and this could be a metaphor to Britney’s openness towards the public in a psychological context hence foregrounding her character.However this type of ‘costume’ generally appeals to the male population since the pose and the outfit mimics the cover of the lad magazines.
There have been few props that were used in this photo- the teletubbie toy, and the telephone. These are intertextual references since the teletubbie is the character from the children’s TV show and the phone is generally used by teenage girls to have a chat with their boyfriend. Therefore the teletubbie implies that she is still young, on the contrary the phone suggests her maturity and the fact that she is growing up. Furthermore Britney’s shirt wide open school shirt cannotates the fact that she is loosening up physically and mentally.
The setting of this image is a bedroom, Britney is lying on the bed and this contains sexual connotations. On the other hand given that it is meant to be Britney’s bedroom, it represents her private life hence the fact that the image has been set in her bedroom might imply that she allows the public to invade her personal life. This magazine cover was produced just at the major increase in Britney’s fame. She was a rapidly growing pop star back then, therefore everything she did and said was made public in the press such as magazines such as the “Rolling Stone”, and hence she had no private life to herself. So the fact that we see Britney in her bedroom revealing herself on top of her bed suggests the public invasion of her private life.
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This is a medium long shot, which has been shot at eye level. This creates a sense of distance and allows the viewer to concentrate on her body as well as her face. Direct mode of address has been used to capture the audience’s attention and to make them feel like Britney is making an intense eye contact with them. This creates an illusion of intimate relationship between the reader and the pop star, however since its a medium long shot the sense of distance has been created advocating the fact that the reader cannot get close to her.
In the previous image Britney had the shirt on, regardless the fact that it was wide open it still suggested restrictions. However in this image, Britney’s shirt is completely off, she is just holding it against her chest. This suggests the fact that she has completely broken all the boundaries and is free to do whatever she wants. On the contrary the setting suggests restrictions in her life.
The setting appears to be indoors where Britney is trapped between two walls. In the previous magazine the setting gives her space and freedom. However this setting makes her appear contained and restricted. Furthermore she is curving her body outwards trying to fill up all the space between the walls leaving no room for anyone else. This refers to the cover line ‘that kiss and being alone’ where Britney talks about Justin. So the narrow setting suggests that she is on her own now and there is no space for anyone else in her life.
The lighting in the image is rather intense; this creates a bright background which contrasts with Britney’s tan skin tone. Therefore her body is the focal point of the photograph which means the full attention is fixed on her and her body parts. The white background also helps to outline Britney’s body and this emphasizes her curvy shape.
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This image is different from the previous ones. The other images are medium long shots; they are more distant and portray Britney’s body as one of the main focus points of the image. However this is a big close up and this enforces the audience to concentrate on her face as well as her feelings. This also creates a more intense, or rather intimate eye contact with the reader. The big close up with the direct mode of address suggests Britney’s attempt to form an honest relationship with the reader instead of creating a sexual intrigue as we have seen in the previous images.
The black and white effect makes the image more subtle, the viewer is not distracted by different colour tones, and this helps them to concentrate on Britney’s facial expression. Although the lack of colour creates a depressing and gloomy atmosphere and suggests something dreadful might have happened in her life.
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