Music Videos Set Texts

Formation - Beyonce (2016)

Representation: Re-presentation of something (social groups, individuals, issues and events) encoded by the producer. Used to construct a world and aspects in it.

Binary oppositions (conflict) encoded in the video:
Seems to be anti-police - Binary oppositions between the police and african-americans
The opening shot is of her sitting on a police car which links to the conflict. They are also in a poor environment which contrasts to some of the clothes that they are wearing. It also contrasts to the large mansion house. The fact that the police car is in the water portrays the police negatively because they allowed that to happen. Police shows control and authority the fact that the car is in the water and nobody is in the car shows lack of police in the time of crisis.
Conflict at the beginning of the video because it warns the audience about explicit lyrics. Long shot of a police officer near a small child showing vulnerability.

Functions/purposes of the video:
The purposes of this video could have been to empower african-americans and particularly african-american women.
The establishing shot portraying her sitting on a police car in the middle of a flood links to the natural disaster in New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina).

How and what groups are represented? (message):
African-americans, no white people in the video.
reference of periods of slavery - there is a large house with black people outside looking like they are there to serve. We assume white people own the house.

Are representations subversive or typical?:
Subversive representation of african-americans. Symbolic annihilation says that coloured people are often underrepresented.
The fact that the video references the effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans is subversive because it becomes a source of controversy


Formation, lead single for the album Lemonade, was released the day before she performed at the Super Bowl final in February 2016. the music video, directed by Melina Matsoukas, was released with the song.
The music video received multiple awards including a Clio Awards for Innovation and Creative Excellence in a Music Video at the 2016 awards, and has been nominated in the music video category at the 59th Grammy Awards.
The video is set against the backdrop of the flooding in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and the associated racial tension in America, and also draws historical parallels with reference to racism and slavery.

She appears to be supporting people involved in this disaster but she could have been using the disaster and the Super Bowl for publicity and a way of advertising.


How can we make comparisons/contrasts between the two texts? (That B.E.A.T documentary/Formation)

Comparisons:
Setting/environment
Both quite empowering for their community and specifically african-american people.
Embraces Southern American culture

Contrasts:
That BEAT - embracing/open to all people/inclusive. This is different to Formation because it was focusing more on black women. Formation has a more aggressive ideology. Appropriation of culture - Formation doesn't represent LGBT community.

Vance Joy - Riptide 

Micro element	Examples	Analysis- why is it used?	Effect on audience
Camera angles	Low angle long shot of someone standing in a bush focusing on a woman on a balcony.	Could have been used to show the objectification of women in music videos.	Audience would originally be shocked as most people would agree that spying on someone from a bush is wrong, however, the shot is demonstrating that most media shows women in a similar way to this and people think it's okay.
Editing	The video has been edited so that the lyrics match up with the shot e.g: Lyric: "Taken away to the dark side" is played whilst the woman is being dragged into darkness.	This could have been used to demonstrate the collapse of their relationship because it once was happy and light but now it has been moved into darkness.	Again, the audience reaction would be shock because of the fact that the music seems so upbeat the scenes depicted the woman being dragged away is unexpected and created hermeneutic codes as the audience begins to ask questions.
Mise-en-scene: lighting	Lyric: "Taken away to the dark side" is played whilst the woman is being dragged into darkness. There is also contrast to the dark scenes and the brightness of people in the beach.	The lighting accompanies the lyrics. This could have been used to demonstrate the collapse of their relationship because it once was happy and light but now it has been moved into darkness. The reason for the contrast in lighting could have been used to show how there are is light in the darkness and there are often good times amongst the bad times.
Mise-en-scene : props and costume/Performance	The costumes in the video help to depict the deteriorating relationship. This is because the woman singing on the mic's costume is deteriorating throughout the video as her make-up is getting increasingly more smeared.	The reason for this could be to show the deterioration the relationship visually rather than verbally because most people don't voice their feelings in a relationship because they often feel trapped.
Semiotics	The video is polysemic because of the fact that there are multiple meanings reflected in it. For example,
Binary oppositions	Song sounds upbeat but the video is dark. E.g the video shows women being dragged across the floor while an upbeat song is playing.	This could have been used to show that some relationships could seem okay and fine but underneath there could be some issues.	The audience would be confused as the video doesn't appear to match the tone of the song which is effective because this links to how people would be confused to find out someone had a bad relationship that appeared good on the outside.

Consider how the combination of elements of media language influences meaning and intertextuality. (Exam question)

Montage editing: Used in an overt way - a wide range of contrasting shots juxtaposed (often through hard jump cuts) to convey a large amount of information. Close up of various props and objects are throughout.

The editing together of seemingly disparate images invites audience interpretation - we are given the opportunity to make our own judgements and infer a variety of meanings (Polysemic, hermeneutic codes etc).

The music video mostly rejects a clearly defined narrative. There are some short coherent narrative sequences )such as the scene where the girl goes missing in the graveyard) but for the most part the sequences deliberately lack narrative coherence (non-linear).

Mise-en-scene shows the contrast between the summer themed costumes that people are wearing in contrast the the violence and darkness that occurs as the video progresses.

Horror iconography heavily referencing the horror genre subverting music video convention.