P block 'perfect shots'

T block 'perfect shots'

Easy shots that (almost) always work in a music video

Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) is pretty much my favourite film, and a film you absolutely must see straight away. It uses a recurring motif of an extreme close-up of various character's eyes. These shots have many symbolic connotations. For example, it communicates with the audience themes of humanity and identity. However, these shots also work because they look really, really cool. Despite all the film's incredible special effects, many agree that the standout shot is the repetition of the eye motif, which can be easily emulated with a tripod and a little patience! 

You have complete and total freedom in the music video project, which is daunting and a little scary. You can do absolutely anything you want, and you will doubtless have taken inspiration from other, professional music videos. 

But, some techniques that you've seen will be frankly very hard to emulate. This shouldn't stop you from making a colourful and psychedelic video like ASAP Rocky's L.S.D, but you must accept how long it's going to take tweaking colours and saturation and key framing...

But you don't NEED to do something crazy to get an A* for the music video project. 

Here are some examples of straightforward shots that (almost) ALWAYS look good in (almost) ANY music video!

• Extreme close up of lips lip syncing
• Extreme close up of an eye
• Sunlight playing through leaves
• Out of focus lights, snapping back in to focus
• Mid Shot of performer in eccentric makeup
• Performer performing in front of projector
• Performer in front of graffitied wall on a bright, sunny day
• Performer in pitch black room with single LED light on/under/above face
• A bee crawling in to a flower
• Flowers in general
• A establishing shot of a block of flats
• Bright, neon makeup
• Black, gothy makeup
• Weird, random mise en scene 

Shots that generally DON'T work well...

• Following the performer around a city
• Mid shot followed by mid shot followed by mid shot
• Wobbly shot of people walking down the street
• Gig footage
• Cluttered settings (eg a normal bedroom or classroom)

Michael's second year revision lesson no. 2

 

You have a choice of two questions for this revision lesson! But what I recommend is completing one in class, and then completing the other for revision at home. Either Riptide or Formation will 'come up' in the second assessment (26th/27th April), so make sure you're prepared for both!

I would also recommend completing the Formation question in class, because it would benefit more from discussion with your classmates!

And remember you can find an index of all the Media Focus YouTube videos by clicking here!

Wait, what am I doing?

Pick one question (if in doubt, pick the representation question, it's better for in-class discussion) and plan and begin to write a response using underline, knee-jerk, plan, DAC and PEA. 

Representation

Watch the trailer to the third series of the gangster/crime drama Top Boy (click here for link)

Compare how media language constructs representations in the trailer to series three of Top Boy and the video to Formation by Beyoncé 

Make reference to

• How representations make claims about reality
• The role of stereotypes (positive and negative)
• How representations may position audiences

BIG HINT: Hopefully you've got that you'll be talking about the representation of working class black people, and stereotypes are important here! But even if a media product draws attention to big issues, what is the effect of cultivating negative stereotypes?  

Media language

Watch the first two minutes of the video to Everlong by Foo Fighters (click here for link)

Compare how media language creates meaning in the first two minutes to the video to Everlong by Foo Fighters, and the video to Riptide by Vance Joy. 

Make reference to 

• How intertextuality constructs meaning
• The use of polysemy
• How media language positions audiences

BIG HINT: If you write 'both videos are proper weird' then you will get zero marks. So instead pick out the elements which make these videos weird, using the textual analysis toolkit. Then have a little think. What is the purpose of a music video? What is the purpose of any media product? Can Curran and Seaton help you...?

Riptide - structuralist readings and initial analysis

 Why binary oppositions?

Binary oppositions help us to make sense of our reality. It provides a structure which unifies all things, and helps us to understand what something is through what it is not. It also allows producers to communicate clear messages to the target audience, even in a short space of time.

What binary oppositions are encoded in the video to Riptide?

T block

• Blue skies/night-time
• Interiors/exteriors
• Bright clothes/drab backdrops
• Fire/water
• Summer/winter
• Men/women
• Staying/going
• Relaxed/stressed
• Calm/anxious
• Makeup/no makeup
• Modern/past
• Peace/violence
• Dry/wet
• Left/right
• Safe/unsafe
• Dead/alive
• Good/bad
• Single/couple
• Land/sky
• Light/dark

P block

• Light/dark
• White/black
• Happy/miserable (contrapuntal sound)
• South/North
• Away/towards
• In/out
• Good/evil
• Expectations/reality
• Desaturated/neon
• Youth/age
• Sinister/innocent
• Left/right
• Wet/dry
• Ocean/land
• Life/death 

Themes, concepts and ideologies - general discussion

Highly polysemic with a range of possible interpretations

T block 

• Themes of obsession, and in particular men being obsessed with women. This is reinforced through the lexis of the lyrics, which encourage an unknown woman to "stay"
• Dishonest relationships and insecurity. "made for the screen". An unequal relationship. A range of hegemonically attractive women are cycled throughout the video
• Themes of stalking and voyeurism: running away shot, looking on to ocean in swimming costume, and looking up at the woman on the balcony. We are positioned consistently in a voyeuristic mode of address
• Themes of fame and celebrity/ The master shot of the 'singer' becomes more and more distorted and dishevelled'. The close up shot is made even more uncomfortable through the mise en scene of her smudged and damaged makeup, and avoided eye contact.
• Torture. Is the woman in the master shot forced to perform the same song over and over again, until she literally dies? The aloe vera plant is symbolic of healing wounds and removing pain! M/S of woman tied to tree. C/u of 'dentist' shot, dragging shot, knife shot...
• Psychosis and psychotic behaviour. Themes of mental illness or a drug overdose? Obsessively neatly packed suitcase, dancing on beach by firelight
• Themes of evil and possession. The ouji board is an intertextual reference to horror movies. Gun, connotative of violence, tarot cards, the setting of the graveyard, gushing blood from neck, which magically dissapears

P block

• The video doesn't mean anything, and is completely open, to allow any audience to come up with any interpretation
• The murder of innocence and youth. Throughout the video, the imagery medicine, for example aloe vera is contrasted with images of death and destruction, for example the image of limp, female hands being dragged into the darkness
• Mortality and we live our lives. Choices are made, for example taking images of women are compared with images of women being killed
• Fear and freedom. Nightmarish imagery is used throughout (dragged away) is compared to images connoting freedom, eg the plane ticket. Is this a video about conquering our fears and living a life free of fear
• Torture and murder of women. Shots of the woman's makeup being smudged seem to suggest humiliation (master shot: main performance shot). Other torture shots include a woman tied to a tree, the hand being stabbed in close up, the dental torture
• For every good in the world, there is bad, there is balance. To harvest aloe vera we must kill a plant, and the tarot cards are equally good and bad
• Black magic and the supernatural. Some bizarre, satanic ritual, a sacrifice
• The representation of women. 'Weak and vulnerable' women are positioned in perilous situations for the pleasure of a heterosexual male audience

 How do the representations in Formation reflect the ideology of the producer?

Knee jerk reaction: Representations of working class black people to draw attention to underrepresented issues

Plan

MES kid dancing, binary opposition

The police killing black people

MES of graffiti: stop shooting us

Gesture hands up don't shoot

Martin Luther King justice and power black people civil rights

Sexualisation

Woman empowerment

Black settings: wig shop

Natural black hairstyles cornrows

Dancing and lip syncing

Conventional music video

Beyonce's kid

Images from hurricane aftermath

Juxtaposition between modern and historical 

Bricolage: mixture of different styles

Non-linear narrative 

Subverts racist stereotypes: 'Givenchy dress'

Antebellum dresses - re appropriation 

Takes away the power from white people

Master shot: performance shot on police car

Paul Gilroy: postcolonial theory

Atypical and subversive song for Beyoncé 

Binary opposition between old VHS effect and modern high quality cinematography

Binary oppositions make meansing clear

Representation of black women

Working class settings

Establishing montage of New Orleans

MES of slave owner costume: reappropriation of power!

Gospel church setting

Wig shop

News footage of hurricane katrina 

Proairetic code of violence against black people: binary opposition of riot police vs little child

Choreography associated w/ afro culture, eg twerking

Community and empowerment

MES of beyonce sinking in to water on top of police car

Bricolage: a comnination of different forms of media

Content

Sample paragraph

"One powerful representation of working class black women is seen in the master shot of Beyonce sitting on a police car. The mise-en-scene of Beyonce on the sinking police car reinforces her status as both a criminal and as an outsider. In a manner totally unconventional for Beyonce, her dress is plain and unglamorous, emphasising the seriousness of message that she is portraying. But even more importantly, Beyonce resembles a stereotypical 1970's black housewife. This forms a binary opposition between a positive representation of black women, and the aggressive connotations of the US police force. It also reinforces the ability for the target young black female audience to be able to relate to Beyonce, and to be able to emphasises with the controversial issues that this video contains. The final high angled shot of Beyonce sinking in to the water demonstrates her vulnerability, and her inability to confront the police. This is a highly conventional and typical representation of the issues black women face in society today

Of course, Beyonce also represents a number of other clear representations of black identity..."

 Further content 

 The setting of the abandonned swimming pool is symbolic of the black community drowing under the nfluence of poverty and racism

Mid shot of MES of a graphitit reading "stop shooting us", drawinging the audiences attention to a significant issue faced by the black community in A,merioca. Additionally, graphitit is also symbolic of black culture

Proiretic code of riot shields, signifies violence, aggression and conflict

MES of hoodie is symbolic of the steretypical way in which young african american boys are rperesented as troublemakers and criminals. 

Paul gilroy and postcolonial theory

The Weeknd - Blinding Lights - textual analysis

Here's a quick and straightforward example of textual analysis to get the ball rolling before we move on to the final wave of assessments (if you're in 2nd year, though remember 1st years: the final exam comes round surprisingly quickly!)

Remember why we do this: media language is the most important part of media studies. It's through media language that you can make whatever excellent point you wish to make, and the more comfortable you get with it the better!

Click here to watch the video

How does media language and intertextuality create meaning in this video?

• Opening/establishing shot, a closeup of the performers face, covered in blood, with a complete lack of non-diegetic sound, reinforcing and emphasizing the shocking mise-en-scene. This constructs a powerful enigma code for the target audience
• Shock cut to the mise-en-scene of a luxurious car speeding through the setting of the Las Vegas strip, with connotations of luxury
• A clear example of a non-linear narrative, providing the target audience with the pleasure and gratification of solving an enigma
• MES of film grain, providing a binary opposition to the harsh, neon digital shots elsewhere in video. Film grain here is connotative of a classic crime dramas and Hollywood cinema, and reinforces the notion that the song is classic and noteworthy
• Soundtrack utilizes a synth-heavy instrumentation, drawing intertextual reference to 80's synth pop and modern synthwave music. A hybrid genre of R&B and synthpop here allows the song to appeal to multiple audiences
• East Asian performer is established and represented through an establishing montage of close-up and mysterious mid shots, emphasizing her beautiful and exotic status to the audience. Presented as spectacle for a heterosexual male gaze, her mysterious 'power' is made evident through her ability to cause the performer to literally levitate off the ground. This digital special effect is also a clear intertextual reference to cartoons from the 1940's and further reinforces hegemonic gender stereotypes 

Music video comparison - Beyonce and Stormzy

Before you go any further, please make sure you have completed all the 'lockdown lessons'. You can find an index of all the lessons set by clicking here.

If you have completed everything up to date, for today's task you will be completing another music video comparison. Just a little reminder: in the real exam, you may well be asked to compare a music video to another form of media. For example, in the 2018 exam, the question asked for a comparison between Formation and a Guinness Beer advert. However, no matter what you'll be asked to compare, there will be definite similarities.

Comparing representations

Task: Watch the video to Vossi Bop by Stormzy three times

Please note that the video has very strong language!

Task: As you watch it for the second and third time, make notes for this music video under the following headings:

• Codes and conventions – performance/narrative/experimental features
• Camera work (framing – shot types, angle, position, movement)
• Editing – beat-matched?
• Elements of continuity/montage
• How does the video interpret the music and/or lyrics?
• Structure/narrative
• Intertextuality
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/makeup 

Exam question: Compare the ideologies conveyed through the representations in the music video to Vossi Bop by Stormzy and Formation by Beyonce.
In your answer, you must

• consider how representations convey ideologies

• consider the similarities and differences in the ideologies conveyed

• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far social and cultural contexts affect the representations.

Task: compare the representations of black people and setting in the videos to Formation and Vossi Bop

Just like the last lesson, you have two options here:

Option one: answer the above exam question under timed conditions (you can give yourself 45 minutes)

or

Option two: answer the following questions briefly, perhaps using screenshots to draw comparisons between the videos

• What messages about black people are encoded in to the setting and mise-en-scene?
• How do the two videos use setting in similar ways to convey ideological and political messages?
• How do these music videos use binary oppositions?
• How can these music videos be seen as a response to postcolonial identity? (Check out the theories and theorists section!)
• How do these two music videos reflect the social and cultural context of America in 2016 and the UK in 2019?

Make sure to publish your work to your blog after you have finished!

Music video comparison - Vance Joy and Dua Lipa

First things first: complete the previous lessons

Before you complete today's task, please make sure you work through the previous seven sessions. This is clearly a lot of work, and we would prefer it if you work through it slowly and steadily. Take your time on each session, complete all the tasks you are able, and please do not rush! Make sure all work is published on your blog.

If you have any questions about the remote learning process, your question is probably answered here.  And if you have any questions about how to respond to particular activities, your question could be answered here. 

Please let your teacher know if you have any additional questions.

If music videos come up in the component one exam, they will come up in component one section A. In component one section A, you will compare an unseen media product to one you have already studied. There will be a question on print based media, and a question on audiovisual (video) media.

If this sounds a little confusing, don't worry. You will have plenty of time in the exam to watch and rewatch the video, and because it's undeen, everyone will be in the same boat across the country.

If you want a taste of the kind of questions you'll be looking at, you can check out the past papers section of this blog. It's important to point out that if you are asked to discuss one of the case study music videos, you might be asked to compare it to a media product which is not a music video! For example, you might be asked to compare Formation to a news broadcast or Riptide to a beer advert. For today's activity, though, you'll be comparing a music video with another music video.

Comparing music videos

If you have completed everything and are all up to date, you can move on to the next task.

Exam question: compare and contrast how media language is used in the music videos to Break My Heart by Dua Lipa and Riptide by Vance Joy. 

Make reference to:

• Cinematography and editing
• Music video conventions 
• How visual elements create meaning for the audience

In the real exam, you will not have access to the Riptide video, but for today there's no need to limit yourself.

Task: Watch the video to Break My Heart three times in a row, making brief notes under the following headings:

• Codes and conventions – performance/narrative/experimental features
• Camera work (framing – shot types, angle, position, movement)
• Editing – beat-matched?
• Elements of continuity/montage
• How does the video interpret the music and/or lyrics?
• Structure/narrative
• Intertextuality
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 

In the real exam, you will be permitted to watch the unseen text three times, making notes the second and third time you watch it. This is a good habit to get in to. Repetition will allow you to notice things you would never see after a single viewing. I hope you like the song...

Task: Analyse and compare the music videos to Break My Heart by Dua Lipa and Riptide by Vance Joy. 

You have two options here:

Option one: answer the above exam question under timed conditions (you can give yourself 45 minutes)

Option two: answer the following questions briefly, perhaps using screenshots to draw comparisons between the videos

• What key differences are there in style between the two videos?
• In what ways do the two videos visually match the lyrics of the song?
• What is the preferred reading of each music video/ And who is is the target audience?
• Both music videos rely heavily on costume and mise-en-scene as symbolic codes. What deeper meanings do these two videos hold?
• How do these music videos use binary oppositions?
• One video is conventional, the other unconventional. Why do music videos differ so wildly?
• What messages do these videos encode about young women?

Analysis of a music video

There's been a lot of work set over the past two weeks, and I thank you for taking it so seriously! I have marked some excellent responses, and many students are making excellent points and observations. Well done!

To allow everyone to catch up on the previous six lessons, which can be found by clicking here, today we will be working on an extension task.

Catching up

Task: use today's lesson time to complete the work set over the last two weeks. You can find an index of tasks by clicking here.

Please make sure you publish each lesson as a separate blog post, and work through the lessons in order. Don't skip any!

Analysis of a music video

Extension - only complete this task once you have completed all other work set over the past two weeks!

For this task, you will analyse a music video. It can be any genre, from any era, be in any style, and be any length. It cannot simply be live footage from a gig, though many music incorporate live footage.

Watch the music video you have selected twice in a row. This will help you to make detailed textual analysis.

Now go through this list, and briefly answer the following questions (remember: you can copy paste these questions to your blog post)

Name of video:
Year released:
Record label:
Album:
Style of music video (narrative, performance or abstract):

• What group of people (if any) are predominantly represented in this music video? What message about this group of people is presented?
• Who is the target audience for this promotional video? How do you know?
• Outline three striking aspects of mise-en-scene
• Give one example of a hermeneutic code from this video
• Is this video conventional or subversive? How do you know? Give one example
• Does the music video make use of intertextuality? If so, how? And why?
• How does the editing of the video fit the nature of the song it accompanies? 
• What aspects of this music video could you steal and use in your own music video?

Remember to publish your work after you complete it!

Formation, Beyonce, and representation

In today's lesson, we shall be exploring how black identity is constructed and represented in the music video to Formation. We shall also be exploring the purpose of Formation, and its political messages.

The conclusion we shall make is that Formation resists stereotypical representations of black people by presenting black identity as complex and challenging

Top tip - in your own essay responses, point out your conclusion in the introduction. Remember, in media studies, you are making an argument

Task - watch What Beyonce Taught Me About Race | Brittany Barron

In this video, Brittany Barron discusses how Beyonce has moved from straightforward pop songs to scathing political commentary about race and ethnicity. This discussion nicely sets up the themes and ideas used in this lesson, so watch this before you go any further!

Formation as a reaction to historical racism

In the last session, we explored the Antebellum South and slavery. Slavery was finally abolished in North America in 1865, following the collapse of the Confederacy and the American Civil War. However, despite being illegal for a relatively long time, there still exists great discrepancies in the rights and lives of black and white people in America (and many other countries).

The act of owning another human being seems bizarre now. So how was it ever justified in the first place? One answer is that it was justified by flawed, racist scientific assumptions.

Task - study the above image from Types of Mankind (1854), and answer the questions below:

• What assumptions are made here about black people and white people? 
• What purpose does this image serve?
• Consider the sociohistorical context of the time this image was created. What is this image attempting to justify?

Formation as reappropriation 

Reappropriation is the process of taking an offensive word, concept or idea, and then changing the meaning of it.

An excellent example of reappropriation is the use of the word 'queer' by LGBTQ communities.  Queer, originally meaning 'odd', was repurposed to be an offensive slur against gay people. However, many gay people now use this term to refer to themselves. We may now talk of queer cinema, queer culture, or queer people. Through it's reappropriation, the term 'queer' can now refer to somebody who identifies as outside of the heteronormative, traditional gender and sexuality categorisations. 

However, don't go around calling people queer, especially if you are straight. The word still has homophobic connotations. This demonstrates and underlines the power of language, and exactly how important  semiotics and signification can be. 

Task - analyse the above image using the textual analysis toolkit, and answer the following questions:

• What ethnicity/ethnicities are being represented in this image?
• What media language is being used to represent these ethnicities?
• What ideological message is being constructed about ethnicity here? Is it simple and straightforward, or challenging and complicated?
• What impact does this image have on the young, black, female target audience?
• How can we apply the concept of reappropriation to this image?

Formation as a criticism of the response of the US government to the Hurricane Katrina disaster and its aftermath 

Last time you researched the US government's response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Since this is already in the bag, you will want to have a little more context, so as part of your widner reading, watch this documentary on the government response to Hurricane Katrina. 

Formation as a celebration of black culture

So all my red bones get on the floor
And all my yellow bones get on the floor
And all my brown bones get on the floor
Then you mix it up and you call it Creole

Task - read Beyoncé, Creoles, and Modern Blackness by Tyina Steptoe

In this article, Steptoe argues that Beyonce has rejected "monolithic", as in simple and straightforward representations of black identity, and instead presents a range of disparate and complex black identities for the audience to engage with and to identify with. 

Task - analysis of black identity

Find three different images of Beyonce in different outfits/scenes from the music video to Formation. Alternatively, just save and insert these three:

Now, answer these questions for each image

• How is black female identity encoded in this image? Make reference to hair, costume and mise-en-scene in particular
• What ideological message is presented to the young black female target audience?
• What impact does this have on the young, black female target audience?

Formation - context

It's clear from watching Formation that there is a lot going on. Formation makes use of a range of different techniques in order to create meaning for its audience. However, unlike Riptide which can possibly be described as being 'weird for the sake of weird', Formation has a clear and savage political message to present to its audience.

To do so, Formation makes intense use of the concepts of intertextuality/referential codes and bricolage

The use of bricolage

Key term - intertextuality - Where a media product or text makes reference to another media product or text.

Key term - Bricolage - Where a media product is constructed with iconography and conventions from many other texts, creating entirely new meanings. Often used when discussing postmodern media products. An example of a media product  that uses bricolage is a 'mashup'. For an excellent example of bricolage, check out Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (2003)

Task - If possible, go through Formation and make screenshots of each of the different aesthetic and visual styles that the video demonstrates, including from different eras, settings and situations. Why is this video not just a dance routine in a studio? Why combine so many styles and themes?

New Orleans and bounce music

Task -  watch That B.E.A.T (2014) 

It's a fascinating, multi-award winning documentary, so make sure you check out the whole thing (it's only ten minutes long). The answer the following questions:

• What specific elements of iconography did the producers of Formation use from That B.E.A.T?
• What literal pieces of footage did the producers of Formation take from That B.E.A.T?
• Bounce music has a big LGBT following, and is fundamental to the LGBT scene in New Orleans. How many LGBT themes come through in That B.E.A.T? Why?
• Beyonce is a millionaire. Why is she using the themes and iconography of That B.E.A.T? Think carefully about this last one.

The antebellum era and slavery in the American south

The Antebellum era refers to a period of time of economic growth in the American South in the 19th Century, largely due to heavy industrialisation made possible by utilising black slave labour. 

Task - Read this Wikipedia article, and make notes on the era. 

The era was characterised not only by slavery, but also by the distinctive costumes owned by the slave owners, which you can read more about here. It is important to note that while these dresses are elaborate and beautiful, they have symbolic connotations of racism and the advocation of slavery, due to being worn by those who owned slaves.

Perhaps the most famous media product set in the Antebellum South is Viktor Flemming's 1939 historical epic Gone With The Wind, which is still the highest grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. A riches to rags to riches story, the film charts the collapse of the American South during its four hour running time, and explores the relationship between slave owners and slaves in a way that is guaranteed to make modern audiences uncomfortable.

The most prominent black character in Gone With The Wind is Mammy, played by Hattie McDaniel. She represents a black stereotype that many of us will be completely unfamiliar with. Brash, rough round the edges, uncultured, and unwaveringly loyal to the people who bought her and own her like a piece of property. 

Task - watch this clip, where Mammy attempts to get Scarlett O'Hara, the protagonist of the film to eat something before a lavish party. In what ways are black people and white people represented in this scene?

Then check out this scene. In what ways are black people and white people represented? What binary oppositions are encoded through the iconography? 

This era is directly referenced in formation. By how? And more importantly, Why?

Task - find as many images in Formation that make reference to the Antebellum era as possible, and answer the following question below.

Why does Beyonce, a black woman, dress in a costume associated with white slave owners? Consider as many reasons as possible. Here's a big hint.

Hurricane Katrina,  media coverage and black lives matter

Task - research hurricane Katrina, and make as many notes as possible about the incident, including dates, and facts including the number of deaths and the economic impact.

Task - watch this compilation of media footage from hurricane Katrina. In what ways does Formation utilise the iconography of hurricane Katrina?  

And, more importantly, why?

Task - read this article. In what ways was the response to hurricane Katrina so important to the black lives matter movement? Why was this disaster so associated with black people? And in what ways did the response to the disaster draw attention to fundamental issues in the United States?

Formation - textual anaysis

Note - please make sure each of these lessons is completed as a separate blog post, with the same title as the lesson, So this one should be called 'Formation - analysis, themes and representation'. This helps your own organisation and it helps me to mark them.

This week in media studies, we will be exploring the video to Formation by Beyonce. Along with Riptide, Formation is a key case study that you may be asked to explicitly refer to in the exam, so it's essential that you know it like the back of your hand.

Top tip - repetition is an excellent learning technique. Music videos are designed to be watched over and over again, and with their short running time, it makes them excellent candidates for close textual analysis. So make sure you watch these two videos in particular again and again and again...

Context

Formation, lead single for the album Lemonade, was released the day before Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl final in February 2016. The Formation music video, directed by Melina Matsoukas, was released with the song.
This music video has won numerous awards including a Clio Award 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 references to racism and slavery.

Context paragraph provided by Eduqas

Task - copy and paste the above information in to your blog. We will look at the context of this video in WAY more detail next lesson

Initial analysis - themes of conflict

Firstly, watch the music video to Formation. You'll be watching it loads, just like Riptide last week, and for the first time you watch it, switch your brain off and just let it wash over you.

There's lots to take in here! For now, we are going to be focussing on the theme of conflict. 

Task - Watch the video again, and make notes under the following questions/headings. Make sure you have the textual analysis toolkit open (and it should have been open already...)

• In what ways are the themes of conflict encoded in this video? What media language is used to show conflict? 
• What are the functions and purposes of this music video? What is it trying to get its audience to do? How do you know?
• What groups are represented in this music video? Are these representations typical or subversive?
• Is this a typical music video? How do you know?

Here are a few visual hints for what you could/should be focusing on:

Detailed textual analysis

Task - using the textual analysis toolkit, analyse how the video to Formation creates meaning for its audience

'How does this media product create meaning for its audience?' This, and variations of it, is the most common single question that could come up in the exam. In fact, this question is pretty much the focus for every media lesson. 

However, rather than simply pointing things out, you must make explicit reference to media language in every single paragraph you write, and explain how it encodes meaning. 

You have a few ways of completing this task

• Use the table above, or create a new one in PowerPoint (or anything else)
• If you have the tools, create a poster, take a picture of it, and upload it to your blog
• Simply create a series of headings (camera angles, editing, lighting etc) and give examples, analysis and audience effect under each
• Make screenshots from the video, and use these as headings. Here are a couple of examples you can use: