Inez & Vinoodh Explains Applause Music Video *UPDATED with more scenes

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

Inez van Lamsweerde, co-director of Lady Gaga’s Applause music video spilled some details of the meaning behind the singers music video. Read below:

 

So, while fans might find their own meanings in the visual, MTV News spoke to Inez van Lamsweerde, one half of the directing duo Inez & Vinoodh, about the video. “She’ll do anything in this video to make her audience happy and give them inspiration,†Inez said on the phone, hours after the premiere, noting that she and Vinoodh were inspired by silent movies and early horror films. “We wanted to bring it back to a very basic element.â€

She added, “There were all these kinds of, let’s say, tricks in there, but then the big idea was really to have her symbolize this moment of her hip breaking. That’s why she’s sort of holding up her right leg as a trophy and this idea that no matter what it takes, she’ll get back onstage.â€

 

Inez broke down the video’s key scenes for MTV News.

 

WEARING WINGS – FLYING FASHION SHOW

 

Gaga’s video opens showing her wearing wings above a giant catwalk. Inez revealed "She always had it in her head that she wanted to do a fashion show, where she would be flying instead of walking. She always been incredibly inspired by fashion and its energy, so it felt extremely

to have that part of her life represented." There might also be a reference to the Greek mythology of Icarus... someone who flew too close to the sun (or in Gaga's case The Fame) and got burnt.

 

NO MAKEUP

 

This section of the video shows Gaga at her most stripped back, with barely any makeup, and a tight strong close up on her face. We think maybe Gaga was trying to show the person behind the ‘Applause’ cover artwork facepaint (costume # 7)… the person who doesn’t live for the fame or the Applause.

 

KNIFE IN MOUTH – SCARY FACE

 

We don’t have a real explanation of this snippet of the music video, but it kind of reminds us of the early German Expressionist film noir movies, like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920. The geometric background paired with the scary face Lady Gaga is making seems to all fit that era.

 

IN TOP HAT

 

Could Lady Gaga be paying homage to Disney films with this section? She looks like Cruella DeVille in the green coat with smoke all around her, and the top hat she's sitting in could be referencing The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.

 

Later a tail emerges from Lady Gaga in this costume, possibly making note of all the centaurs used in fantasy films, including Disney’s Fantasia.

 

MARILYN MONROE

 

We think Gaga is referencing someone who was ultimately destroyed by the ‘Applause’, because while Marilyn outwardly adored the adoration, the dishevelled version of Marilyn presented here shows it’s what destroyed her in the end.

 

APPLAUSE COVER

 

This is the opposite of costume #3, showing perhaps Gaga after The Applause… the person she presents to the media. It is of course, also the cover art for her single ‘Applause.’ Others have also likened it to David Bowie imagery, and that time Homer Simpson used a makeup gun on Marge... although we doubt the latter was an actual influence.

 

PAINTED FACES

 

Lady Gaga looks like a mime artist here, trying to express herself without speaking. Others have said she looks like Andy Warhol’s early paintings… perhaps the Marilyn Monroe one?

 

CORPSE BRIDE

 

This is the last costume of the video, showing Gaga walking through a lazer tower, and as Inez revealed “(We wanted to explore) this idea that she goes through this struggle to go back onstage, which is in that pink laser tower. And she's sort of dragging that leg as a trophy and making it back on stage as a fully-realised, complete new person." Other visual interpretations include references from Tim Burton's 'The Corpse Bride' or the Lil Dagover's character in 'The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari' as mentioned above (pics below).

 

The Clam Bikini

She explained that “we were extremely inspired by Botticelli’s painting,†for that look where Gaga appears in a clam shell bikini, her curls cascading around her shoulders. She added “[We were also inspired by] having this idea that she goes through this struggle to go back onstage, which is in that pink laser tower. And she’s sort of dragging that leg as a trophy and making it back on stage as a fully-realized, complete new person and that’s why the Botticelli came to mind.â€

 

The Black Swan

The scene where Gaga’s head appears on a black swan was not inspired by the Darren Aronofsky film, but instead more by Gaga’s fascination with eggs. “She’s always had the egg reference in her work and since this video is kind of about a rebirth and at the end there’s the Botticelli ‘Birth of Venus’ reference, so we said, ‘OK, an egg… a fur egg and what comes out of a fur egg?‘ In our minds, a black swan with her face on it,†Inez said.

 

That Other Bikini

For a song like “Applause,†the directors knew they needed a way to get hands in there so they found the most unexpected way to do it. She said, “The glove-kini! That’s Brandon Maxwell, her fashion director that had that made. The song’s called ‘Applause.’ There had to be hands.â€

 

Cat Walk

Inez explained the fashion show was all Gaga’s idea. “She always had it in her head that she wanted to do a fashion show, where she would be flying instead of walking. She always been incredibly inspired by fashion and its energy, so it felt extremely

to have that part of her life represented

 

Bed Bug

While much of the video verges on the wacky, it’s held together by scenes where Gaga writhes around on her bed.

“Originally it was meant to be a tiny vignette in the video that would look back at a past time in her life when she was fresh out of school and living in the Lower East Side and dreamt of whatever her future would be,†Inez explained. “And that was there to represent that. She used to have that kind of hair when she was 18, 19, so we said that’s that past moment. When we started shooting it, it felt so great we said ‘Let’s do the whole song on this mattress and do the choreography laying down.’ And she performed so incredibly it felt [like] such a real, raw feeling. It made it as the thread through the whole video. That’s the real and the rest is sort of the dreams she had.â€

 

thanks to Gagamedia.net

,†she said, noting the crew knew they wanted her in Galliano for that scene.

[AlienFugitive 1]

Can you please bold some of it?

[PoshLife 16,839]

Thanks so much for posting this!

 

I don't remember the catwalk part though...

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

Can you please bold some of it?

 

Finished

[Robinladen 1,474]

Can't believe we got a good and official explanation on a Gaga video.

Gaga herself would never spill the beans like this.

[blubrryxkisses 15]

[Allison M 357]

Omg I wanna be in Gaga's head. All the interest dreams and ideas :flutter:

[cometoogg 0]

everything makes sense !! :clap:

[MEDONER 1,668]

I want to see the whole stefanionmatress video  inb4 another betrayal  :P

[lauramonster 267]

Thanks so much for posting this!

 

I don't remember the catwalk part though...

 

in the first "applause applause applause" part (sorry I don't remember the word to say it in english  )  I think :)

[Design 860]

Amazing

[Red 87,384]

Good to know that great part of it is random :flop:

[HausOfMiklaus 1,803]

Can't believe we got a good and official explanation on a Gaga video.

Gaga herself would never spill the beans like this.

 

That's so true, she always leaves us to REACH and grasp for straws, but I always thought that was great of her. Having some help is okay too. 

[AlienFugitive 1]

Finished

Thanks!

[PoshLife 16,839]

in the first "applause applause applause" part (sorry I don't remember the word to say it in english  )  I think :)

 

Ah yes you're right, I just watched it again and was like "d'oh how did I miss that" XD I think we just call it the pre-chorus.