Halsey

“Ghost”
Electro-Pop Conventions Analysis
GC1: Lyrics and Visual Narrative
• The video is a mixture of performance and narrative
• The narrative is elliptical (Vernallis), but it represents a
past relationship between the singer and her ex-girlfriend
(the “ghost”) leaving her
• The video innovatively mixes pastel colours and neon
lights
• A sense of voyeurism (Goodwin) is present through the
use of mirrors
• The singer differentiates between her past self and
current self by the length of her wig, and between the
characters through the colours
• The video is set and shot in Tokyo (Japan), which is
denoted through the Japanese text, the neon signs, and
the skyline
• The diegetic intro is in Japanese
GC2: Genre Characteristics
• The genre of the song is electro-pop
• The neon colouring and lighting, as
well as the low-key lighting are
characteristics of the genre
• The protagonist is presented as the
“victim”
• Vibrant costumes, and a lot of changes
 • The video intertextually references (Kristeva) the films
GC3: “Chungking Express” (1994) and “Lost in Translation”
Intertextuality (2003)
• The narrative is elliptical (Vernallis) and encourages
and rewatching
Postmodernism • The narrative is non-linear and switches back and forth
GC4: Representations
• The music video depicts a homosexual narrative,
which is unconventional
• There is a hint of Proppian archetypes
(hero/villain)
• Japan is represented through the mise-en-scene
and the neon lights, which could be seen as a
limiting stereotype
• There are shots clearly objectifying the women,
with close-ups of them kissing, as well as their
body, which appeals to the male gaze (Mulvey)
and the homosexual female gaze
• The race of the love interest is ambiguous, but
appears to be Asian
 • The camera uses a lot of dutch angles or rotating shots
when revealing exposition of the area
• At the start, there is fast paced and dark shots as an
GC5: intertextual reference to “Chungking Express”
Cinematography • The editing matches the beat and slows/quickens
• There are a lot of CU of the women and MCU so that the
and Editing facial expressions and details can be seen
• The lighting is high-key, and neon/coloured
• Mirrors and reflections are recurring
Notable Marketing
• This is the third video for the song, and it was re-released for her debut
album in 2015, although it was from her 2014 EP
• Along with three other songs from her EP, the original video was
released as part of a larger concept narrative, and the similar pretense
of the original and re-released video but with different characters is
recognizable for her fans
Notable Shots
Possible Influences
• The neon/pastel colors and lighting
• The use of projections over the singer
• Using two characters
• In tertextually referencing films
• A small set and building the mise-en-scene