BEYONCE - FORMATION (2016)

Themes of violence and conflict

• repeated mise en scene of police car in flood - connotes crime and rebellion, anchored by carefree and powerful facial expressions
• intertextual conflict requires existing knowledge - police persecution of black people
• hanging out of car - conflicts with calm facial expressions
• contrast between poor, dilapidated neighbourhood and rich, antebellum house - connotation of antebellum house is slavery, as house was owned by white man
• Beyonce is mixed race (BME) but is wearing antebellum dress (owned - by slave master's wife) - binary opposition, cultural appropriation, demonstrates strength and power over the past
• high key spotlight in empty swimming pool, shorts, crop tops, librarian glasses, and 70's loose afros 

Formation is the lead single for the album Lemonade. The song was released the day before Beyonce performed at the Super Bowl, Feb 2016. The music video was directed by Melina Matsoukas. 

The video has won various awards, such as a Clio Award for Innovation.

The video is set against the backdrop of the flooding in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina and the associated racial tension in America. Draws historical parallels with references to racism and slavery.

How does movement encode meaning?

• females are united - strength 
• 70's afros bouncing as they dance - embracing their culture 
• foot stomp - aggression, making a stand 
• quick and blunt movements 

• high energy - confident 
• zooming in and direct address - leading character, recognised as a powerful figure within black lives movement 
• females dancing in front and behind - females supporting each other 

• importance of hair emphasized throughout - embracing your roots
• mid shot and direct address - focus on her movement and appreciate deeper meaning
• calm and blank facial expression - carefree or resignation (polysemic)

HYPERREALITY  refers to the idea that representations within media texts are more real than reality (SIMULACRUM  representation of something that no longer exists, or something that never exists)

BRICOLAGE  a media product which combines lots of different elements from different time periods and styles

• Formation ideology may be that not much has changed, in over 100 years there is still discrimination of black people 

JEAN BAUDRILLARD

POSTMODERNISM

"It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting signs of the real for the real" (representation is the new reality)

PAUL GILROY

THEORIES AROUND ETHNICITY AND POST-COLONIAL THEORY

COLONISATION  when one country takes over another country and forces their culture on them

Colonisation creates a hierarchy, where the colonisers believe they are better than the other country

• another method of establishing hegemonic control

VANCE JOY - RIPTIDE

POSTMODERNISM 
cannot be defined, shouldn't be a theory

• 'style of substance' - valuing the looks of something over the depth of it
• emphasises surface meaning over deeper analysis - shouldn't be analysed
• distrust of form and established conventions - break rules on purpose 
• e.g. 'breaking the fourth wall' - character turning to talk to the audience in a film

VANCE JOY - RIPTIDE (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_1HMAGb4k

Vance Joy is an Australian singer-songwriter signed to Atlantic Records (subsidiary of major label, Warner). His music can be categorised as fitting into indie folk-pop genre. Riptide was Vance Joy's first single to be released in the USA, it became a platinum selling single. The video was directed by Dimitri Basil and Laura Gorun and has had nearly 210 million youtube views

OBJECTIFICATION  the process by which a human is represented as an object
MALE GAZE  the assumption that every media product is created for the heterosexual male audience, therefore, the function of any woman we see is for their pleasure, Lizbet Van Zoonen
SEXUALISATION  the process of only valuing someone for their sexual appeal
VOYEURISM  taking pleasure of watching someone whilst they're undetected 
SCOPOPHILLIA  the love of watching (voyeurism)

• general theme and narrative - montage of shots suggests themes of drowning and death ("sank", makeup coming off, "lump in my throat")
• alternative theme and narrative - unpredictable and deliberately misleading montage of shots
• deliberately invites polysemic interpretations 
• montage consistently matches the themes of the lyrics - "cowboy running" in a long, cantered shot, symbolic of dual personality, afraid of what he has become
• intertextuality of old western film - mise en scene of costume, referential code to create audience appeal
• intertextuality of horror film - mid shot of ouija board, "dark side", referential of 70's horror cinema
• date on letter is "August 1974" - mid shot, anchors audience into a particular time period, picked 70's because it was considered cool 
• mid shot of feet being dragged under a bed, low angle shot, low-key purple lighting- purple lighting connotes evil and darkness, specific reference to 1970's Italian horror films
• denies the audience of a definite meaning
• voyeuristic, high angle long shot of young, blonde woman removing swimsuit, zooms in - high angle shot is demeaning towards woman because we look down on her, makes reference to lyrics "pretty girls", voyeuristic aspect is creepy, positions audience to a perverted perspective, Van Zoonen's 'Female Gaze' theory
• "techniques of photographing girls" - female, manicured hand pushes book into the centre of the frame, seems rehearsed and non-consensual

• high angle shot - voyeuristic intent (positioning)
• looking out into the ocean, symbolic of adventure 
• mise en scene of costume - exotic 
• framed in centre of shot - emphasizes her importance to heterosexual male audience (male gaze)
• shallow depth of field shot - she is in focus, background is blurred, importance
• shot with zoom lens - voyeuristic 
• stereotypically attractive - blonde hair
• mid shot of her back - implies she isn't aware that the audience is watching
• mise en scene of beach - adventure, luxury 

Representation of women

• women are vulnerable - stereotypical in films/ intertextuality, damsels in distress, voyeuristic angles 
• powerful and independent - smoking, stereotypical of men
• often close to men or being comforted by men - dependant 
• various shots of feet and hands - objectify women, audience can't see their emotions 
• subverts and conforms to stereotypical representations of women
• no explicit anchorage of ideology in music video 

How does thus video to Riptide encode feminist ideology?

• almost mocking sexism in music videos - book of "how to photograph girls", connotes that women are purely present to be looked at by male heterosexual audience 
• mise en scene of masculine clothing 
• low angle mid shot of woman holding arms in air - gesture connotes power
• mid shot of blonde woman bound in tightrope - connotes the restrictions that females face in society, critical of the notion of woman as a 'weaker sex' , women are being 'tied down' with maternal responsibilities etc
• video lacks anchorage - forces audience to make their own assumptions, highly polysemic
• ironic representation of patriarchal hegemony 

'SUSPIRIA' (1979) re-release trailer

Italian horror film

Paradigmatic features

• props - knives, noose, gloved hands, barbed wire
• weak and vulnerable female protagonist - damsel in distress archetype
• colour scheme - vibrant primary colours, red and blue filters, typical of 70's European horror
• soundtrack - use of suspenseful non-diegetic sounds, diegetic female screaming
• iconographic features such as cherry-red blood

The iconography in Riptide heavily references the horror genre ('dentist' looks like a torture device, dull and unsaturated colour, vibrant use of reds on lips and nails)

SURREALISM  an artistic movement that originated in France, a text which follows the logic of dreams

"Un Chien Andalou" - French surrealist film

"Riptide" and "Un Chien Andalou" both lack continuity (subversive of regular films and music videos that use eye-line matches and a match on action)

Surrealism allows a larger audience, gratification of intertextuality and social interaction (will go away and talk about it)

MUSIC VIDEOS

• video that accompanies a song
• visual aspect of the song
• often includes performance
• another level of entertainment 
• promotes the song
• looks how a song sounds

POLYSEMY  multiple meaning

CULTURAL/SOCIAL CONTEXT  whats going on in the world at the time

Audience can identify the most with music over any other music product - personal

• SCOPITONE  video jukebox - popular in France, beginning of music videos

France Gall - Baby Pop (1965)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vczO-PqhDis

• binary opposition between music video and lyrics - dancing in the video but lyrics translate as "alone and abandoned"
• setting is unconventional and boring - (e.g. office and bleak building) , this architecture in 1960's was considered cool
• long shot of her looking away from camera - awkward, first music videos
• conventional costumes - chic and fashionable in 1960's

Rebecca - Vanity Angel (1989)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SN&hl=fr&v=EtdkgVMBbNQ

• mid shot, looking into camera, direct mode of address - conventional , performance 
• colourful and fast-paced editing - Japanese style music video
• young woman, aspirational - targets audience of teenage girls
• low angle shot of building with neon lights - lights make it exciting, stereotypical American apartment, exotic appeal for Japanese audience (escapism) 

Pulp - Babies (1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38by00DGid0

• the diegesis of sound is complicated  
• use of text/ graphics/ inter title - communicates explicit meaning to the audience
• long shot at the beginning introduces band - slowly coming into focus
• mise en scene is typical of socio-political context - bedroom is working class (small), aiming for working class audience 
• suit without a shirt and miserable-looking keyboard player - doesn't conform to hegemonic codes

CONVERGENCE  the 'coming together' of 2 previously separate media industries (film and music)

Why do music videos exists?

• completely new
• another way to earn money 
• another form of entertainment - targets more audiences
• a different way to listen to music
• an advert for the song and artist

SYNGERGY  where the interconnectedness of media products leads to a result of more of the sum of its parts (the benefits of convergence) - easily shared

MTV - used to only play music videos, 1980's, music videos became really popular, American channel 

Music video Vs Cinema 

MV

• beat matching 
• shorter (average 3-4 minutes)
• less elaborate narrative
• no expectation of trailer
• video isn't the product, it's the advert 
• hyper-energetic 
• fast-paced editing
• a lot of direct address
• younger target demographic
• free

C

• music is just played over the top
• longer (average 1.5-2 hours)
• elaborated narrative
• expectation of trailer
• the product
• realistic, less energy 
• slower- paced editing (other than action scenes)
• less direct address 
• older target demographic
• expectation to pay

CELEBRITY  "the attribution of glamorous or notorious status to an individual in the public sphere"

Lady GaGa - Applause (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pco91kroVgQ

• mid shot, mise en scene of eye mask - secrecy
• lack of clothing symbolises boldness of personality - celebrity is encoded by breaking hegemonic rules of society
• mise en scene of cauldron symbolises thats she's a witch - potentially a difficult and unpleasant person
• long shot, audience's eyes go towards her even though she's in a group - key-light id shone on her
• close up shot with highkey-lighting - importance 
• mise en scene of large bouquet of flowers - polysemic meanings of funeral or a winner, funeral meaning symbolises she's making a comeback because the old her is 'dead'
• binary opposition between revealing and covered up costumes - subversive of celebrities (making her a celeb)
• consistent use of close-ups of her face - encodes she is a celebrity 

METANARRATIVE  (aka GRAND NARRATIVE) refers to an overarching narrative or system of beliefs that helps us to make sense of the world (e.g. religion, science, marriage, marxism)