Nowadays special effects in the filmmaking industry are ubiquitous. Almost any idea that can be thought up can turn to a reality on set. Special effects are used to convey an overarching theme to the viewer, or make them feel a certain way while watching the video. In Beyoncé’s “Hold Up” music video, the special effect of water is incorporated throughout. The use of water as a special effect in the video evokes certain feelings from the viewer to emphasize the music video’s common theme. Water is a huge part of life on earth. As we know it, water makes up about seventy-one percent of the earth, and we as humans, rely on water for survival. Water, however, has both good and bad connotations. It relieves us as it hits the back of our throat after a long workout, it frustrates us as we sit stopped on the highway while rain pours from the sky, but it also wonders us as we only know what lies in about five percent of our oceans. Because water is so prevalent in people’s lives, it is the perfect motif as it provides the viewer with something to relate to. In the music video “hold Up” the use of water is meant to evoke feelings of suffocation and drowning, which are common fears. Beyoncé and her directors use this visual motif of water in the music video “Hold Up” to contrast imprisonment and freedom.

One of Beyoncé’s many famous songs, “Hold Up” was released earlier this year along with her album Lemonade. “Hold up” was given particular attention by listeners because of the allegations that Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, had cheated on her. The lyrics in “Hold Up” talk about the feeling of suspecting your spouse of cheating on you, and how that can make you go crazy. 

The first scene of the music video is set in a grand master bedroom. This master bedroom, however, is underwater. As Beyoncé is talking about suspecting someone of cheating, viewers see the oxygen bubbles escape her mouth and nostrils. Close up shots narrow in on Beyoncé’s eyes which look dull and lifeless. As the scene moves along, viewers become more and more agitated because Beyoncé never comes up for air. The special effect of water, is used as a motif to make viewers feel as though they themselves are drowning while watching. This agitation comes from the common fear of drowning, or being stuck underwater with nowhere to come up to get air. The directors use the motif of water to evoke this feeling within viewers in order to parallel it with the feeling of being cheated on by one’s spouse. In this first scene, the water symbolizes being trapped and being left with nothing else to do but drown in one’s own thoughts. 

The second scene of the music video, however, is a complete contrast to the first. Beyoncé swings open the doors to the apartment that she was in, and the water inside comes rushing out onto the street. The colors on the screen change from dull to bright and viewers eyes are immediately drawn to Beyoncé’s bright yellow dress. The camera zooms in to show close up shots of Beyoncé’s face where she is now smiling and seems to be full of life. This change from Beyoncé being stuck underwater to strutting through the streets symbolizes wondering if someone is cheating and then finally finding out the truth. Water can be seen as providing a cleanse and making people pure, as it does in baptism. Here, Beyoncé has been cleansed of Jay-Z’s sins and comes out of the house pure from all of the things that had been dragging her down before. Finding out the truth, in this case that she had been cheated on, is what set Beyoncé free. As the doors to the apartment swing open, viewers almost feel obligated to take in a deep breath of air as if they were the ones stuck underwater. The fact that Beyoncé is no longer trapped underwater, emphasizes not only her new freedom, but her self-power as well.

Even though Beyoncé had just found out that she had been cheated on, she continues to hold a strong and demanding presence throughout the video. This mood conveyed by Beyoncé further develops the idea that the motif of water creates. It is not the context of the truth that provides one freedom, but merely holding the knowledge of what they had been longing to know. With prior knowledge to the cheating allegations between Beyoncé and Jay-Z, viewers would expect for Beyoncé to become even more desperate and lifeless in the second scene than she had been in the first scene. Instead, she does a complete one-eighty and shows strength. The new mood that encompasses the video represents the power of holding knowledge no matter what that knowledge actually is.

The contrast between the first two scenes of the music video “Hold Up” is due to the motif of water. The water symbolizes entrapment which leads to lifelessness. However, the water rushing out onto the street symbolizes newfound freedom and power as well as purity and a new chance at life. The directors of the music video use the special effect of water to help viewers relate to how Beyoncé felt about suspecting Jay-Z of cheating on her; she transformed from drowning in her own thoughts and speculations to being reborn as strong and full of life. The water also emphasizes the common theme of the video, which is that when you suspect someone of cheating on you, you are trapped and go crazy from your own thoughts, but when you find out the truth (good or bad) you are set free.
