Exam

Ethnicity

Formation- Beyonce

In my opinion I think that this music video has a combination of both, performance and narrative genre, due to the fact that there is dancing amongst the narrative video. The video firstly starts off with Beyonce standing on top of a drowning police car, in what seems to be a flood. On the police car it says "New Orleans Police", this could be connoting the flood that happened in New Orleans due to the Hurricane Katrina. From this, the audience can tell that this music video, will be mostly based on the Hurricane Katrina, as well as the flood that it has caused on August 20th 2005. The music video starts off with a very intimidating audio, this could be suggesting that Beyonce wants to come across as intimidating towards the Government due to the fact that they did not help with after effects on the Hurricane and the flood. 

The producer first shows the scenes of where he wants the audiences to be, when showing the scenes it gives off the impression of the News. As Beyonce is sitting on the Police car it shows her being very relaxed, like she doesn't care about the fact that she is sitting on a drowning police car, as normally people would not do that as the police is presented as an intimidating group of people. This could be suggesting that Beyonce wants to be intimidating to the police as well as the government. The lighting at the start is very dark, this could be reflecting how dark she thinks the people in the higher ups were being not helping the people in need. Then it suddenly changes to an old 19th Century, Beyonce is presented a glamour girl, yet again there is more dark lighting than light, this could be connoting how there is more dark than light in the world linking back to the fact that America's history against the black race is not a healthy relationship. Beyonce is placed in the dark and the fact that she is alone could be connoting how she is in the dark along with the other people, this could furthermore be evoking the fact that Beyonce is representing the black people. When she is dancing in a Victorian looking hallway, she is wearing contemporary clothes along with vintage clothes, and the clothes that she is wearing revealing clothes hence linking back the representation of women. The next time the audience sees Beyonce on the police car, it has gone down more into the water, this could be the symbolism of her fighting again the police. The music video moves on from the old era, to a more contemporary scene, as she rides a vintage car linking back to the pop/ r&b genre she normally sings in. As she has her extensions as well as the big fluffy coat which is the trend now. There is a cool blue colour filter which add into the r&b genre. Furthermore, the audience goes on a car journey along a street, this is at first presented as a modern look, then later on its presented as a old vintage scene, as the colour looks very dried out, compared to the first car journey. There is then a scene where three black women are in a hair shop, this could reflect the fact that black women are stereotypically known to have wigs, weave etc...When performing, in what seems to be an empty indoor swimming pool, it is surrounded by darkness with only one light shining on the dancers. 

Out of all of the scenes, this is only scene that links to the modern music videos, due to the fact that it's a performance and what they are wearing are modern, and still revealing linking back to the representation of women, that they reveal a lot of their skin. The lighting then gets more lighter as the other dancers join in, this could link to the fact that if they come together it will be more better, rather than staying in the dark. In other words, making others coming out of the dark, hence linking back to the fact that Beyonce is presented as the presenter of all the black people. Throughout the music video, Beyonce gives eye contact to the camera, however when she is the servants all dressed in black, we don't see her eyes at all. She could be highlighting this scene over all, due to the fact that slavery was a big change in America's history. Beyonce does the opposite of what all artist does, she doesn't put herself in the victims' place, she seems to be the one in control amongst the others, due to the fact that she is wearing jewellery that looks expensive, as well as the dressing and her composure. This is furthermore shown when she is sitting in a room with other women, dressed in the Victorian era what is to be expensive, she looks like the one in control not white people, she could be giving the audience an alternative history, like this is what it would look like if slavery did not happen. The producer then places, a child dressed up like a Native America. There's then a shot with Beyonce standing on top the police car, which could be the symbol of defeat, almost like she has defeated the issue/ the police. 

Glory- Common and John Legend

This music video is based on the movie called Selma, as historical/ drama movie that came out in 2014. Throughout this movie, there are parts from the movie that are interoperated into the music video. Although this would be seen as narrative music video, there are the artists present in the video showing them singing and John Legend playing the piano. The music video starts off with John Legend playing the piano in a dark setting with rays of lights, this could be suggesting that the glory comes from the light and that light could be connoting the 'glory' they've gained among the darkness, which is the slavery era, and racism the harsh treatment towards the black community. And the glory they have gained is how they have fought back. 

issues

groups 

narrative

historical context

technical codes- camera angles, editing, light= colour

visual- mis - enscene- objects- costume- expression

audio- language

intertextuality

Theory- Hall 

Guill.....