Directed by Jake Nava, the video is shot entirely in black and white.
The 'R&B, dance-pop' single is transformed by Nava into a performance based video.
The video certainly corresponds to Goodwins theory, as there is a strong link between the lyrics and the visuals, for example, Nava directs the pointing to the hand in connection with the words 'put a ring on it' and so forth. In this way the choreography continues to echo the lyrics thus amplifying and complimenting the link. There are few intertextual references and seemingly less of an obvious R and B genre feel to the video. However the three women depicted, despite their 'empowering' message, are portrayed in tandom with Goodwins 'notion of looking' and the objectification of women. This leads us onto look back at Laura Mulveys 'Male gaze theory' in the represntation of the dancers. The direct gaze of the artist and use of close ups also matches Goodwins principle in the demands of the record label as well as exploring the concept of voyerism.
Nava has been nominated for several awards, including MOBO Awards for Best Video, an MTV Video Music Award for Best Director, as well as a BET award. Nava also won a MVPA honor for his 2003 music video for Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" in the category of Best R&B Video.
IT was this video along with 'single ladies' that really boosted Navas reputation as a director when they both reached the top position of most downloaded music video on itunes.
The incredible choreography was in fact based on a routine by bob Fosse from 'The ed sullivan show'. Even in this situation, we see the impact of the internet on concepts such as that of the single ladies video as knowles claims;
"I saw a video on YouTube... [There was] a plain background and it was shot on the crane; it was 360 degrees, [the dancers] could move around. And I said, 'This is genius.' We kept a lot of the Fosse choreography and added the down-south thing — it's called J-Setting, where one person does something and the next person follows. So it was a strange mixture... like the most urban choreography, mixed with Fosse — very modern and very vintage."
It was Knowles who decided she wanted to keep the video 'simple' without changes in costume or hair or makeup. Yet the 'roboglove' knowles wears is in reference to her alter-ego 'sasha fierce' and this contrast is echoed in the lighting and costume. The low key lighting changes to harsh directional fill lighting repeatedly throughout.
'Nava said that on the day the video was shot, the song was divided into three parts and he deliberately let the shots be long so that viewers would connect with the "human endeavor of Knowles' awe-inspiring dance". '
In this way we recognise how the video was attempting to reach out to a wide audience in the focus on performance and dance as an inspiring and possibly reproducable activity.
This aim seems achieved by the sheer number of parodies/amatuer reproductions on youtube and the like even today. Celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and even Barack Obama accompanied those attempting to acknowledge the impact the video has made on viewers.
'The music video achieved fame for its intricate choreography, which has been credited as having started the "first major dance craze of both the new millennium and the Internet". This eventually triggered a number of Knowles' imitators to parody the dance choreography. Billy Johnson of Yahoo!Music said that the video of "Single Ladies" was "the top music related viral hit" of 2009. MTV News James Montgomery wrote that "it appears like [the music video] was custom-made for the YouTube generation'
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