Language

• Waterfalls blends three music video genres: performative, narrative and conceptual.
• There are two clear narratives with characters and situations directly relating to lyrics, the young boy dying in a drug deal and the adult males contraction of HIV following unprotected sex
• There is some clear illustration of the lyrics (where images show literal meaning of words) for example, a mother is gazing out the window at her son and a man not recognising his reflection.
• Intercut with the narrative sections are shots of the members of TLC performing the song and dancing in sync, demonstrating typical codes of the music video form. These sections use multiple formal conventions : close-ups of faces, direct address and with editing, dance moves cut to the rhythm of the music.
• There are also abstract elements in the video. The band members appear as water spirits, liquid versions of themselves (an intertextual reference to the 'liquid metal' T1000 in Terminator 2)
• Abstract elements also include; bookending each section there is a montage of flying imagery, with natural and urban landscapes zooming past. Special effects are used to portray the ghostly characters of mother and son and the symptoms of the man's disease. This CGI adds a supernatural element to a song about real social issues.
• Typically, inner-city sets and llocations (brownstone house, stoop and street corner) have connotations of a 'ghetto' and the costumes (baggy tracksuit, baseball cap, dark glasses) connote a dangerous urban environment. These elements of mise-en-scene could demonstrate intertextual links to films of the 1990s like Boyz 'N The Hood
• Mise-en-scene in each narrative section suits the different theme: in the HIV narrative, the iconography of the romance genre is used (attractive semi-naked actors, tangled sheets, silk stockings etc), yet these become threatening and horrific to show symptoms of disease (the over-exposed image of man's face and glowing eyes resemble transformation scene from a horror movie)
• Symbolism is used to create meanings through connotation. Drugs aren't explicitly shown and neither is a HIV diagnosis- instead drugs are symbolised through brown paper bags, and AIDS by skin deterioration and montage of photos of female's previous partners
• Special effects are used to battle the gritty realism of the narratives with something almost magical. The opening shot appears as if we are falling from space (possibly connoting an angel) and TLC members appear first as beings made from water. This explicitly links to title and metaphors of the song.
• Special effects are used when the mother appears as a 'ghost' trying to prevent her son from approaching the gang and the son later appears as a 'real' ghost that the mother can't see
• In the HIV narrative, special effects make the disease seem more like a magical curse than an STI. This alters the tone of the song and makes it more expressionistic than naturalistic.