Music Video Essay

 “Music videos reflect the social and cultural context in which they were made” Discuss this statement through a comparison of the two music videos you have studied. One mv from list A (CBR) and one from list B (DG)

Music videos in general often reflect some social and cultural aspects to them, trying to promote a message or convey an opinion they strongly believe. Both David Guetta’s ‘Titanium’ and Corrine Bailey Rae’s ‘Stop Where you are’ communicate strong opinions and messages about bullying and individuality. 
In ‘Stop Where you are’,written by Corrine Bailey Rae and released in 2016, addresses the idea of Carpe Diem or seize the day and to not judge a book by its cover. This is all a popular social topic in todays society as in a world with a lot of technology people can often hide behind screens and not make the most of their life
The video starts with a medium close up of Corrine Bailey Rae herself singing to the camera and looking very angelic, due to light from behind her purposing that she is almost ‘God-like’ and is watching over all the hate in the world and trying to make things right. Contradicting this point, the camera angle being slightly lower than her face and therefore looking up at her. This conveys the idea of her being a more upper class persona and looking down on people. Additionally,  she is wearing a bright orange/red dress which typically has connotations of Desire, love, danger and passion, suggesting that she feels strongly about conveying this message and therefore is feeling strongly about it resulting in wearing a red dress.
After that is almost a montage of all the different types of people that get judged and discriminated even down to a dog (due to being a pit bull which is considered a controversial breed). We see a tattooed man with his hands on his head clearly stressed out about something as well as a homeless woman and a un identifiable person (presumably a child). All of these people have their own stories and consequently feel isolated because of what’s happened to them. The main person that sticks out is the homeless woman, the lighting is darker and the camera is looking down on her. Furthermore, creating the idea of judgement as we being the audience are judging her just by assuming she’s homeless. Overall, in ‘Stop Where You are’ There are many cultural and social messages conveyed and how Corrine Bailey Rae is trying to help by sending the message in a song.
Like ‘Stop Where You are’, ‘Titanium’ (written by David Guetta Feat Sia, released in 2011) also promotes a lot of social and cultural context and ideas. The lyrics suggest the idea of  not letting bullying get to you. “You shoot me down, burg I won’t fall, i am titanium”. However, the music video suggests that people do not want to accept individuality and people who are more ‘diverse’ feel that they have to hide. This is mainly shown when the boy (Ryan Lee) i walking through the woods and being hunted by the polices almost like an animal. The lighting is very day due to being in night time and therefore is more scary and frightening consequently making us feel a lot of sympathy for him.

Ultimately, both music videos have a lot of social and cultural context and messages which are addressed in their own different ways. ‘Stop Where you are’ uses a lot of different camera angles to show different hierarchy’s where as ‘Titanium’ uses different concepts and lighting in order to convey their messages.

Titanium - David Guetta ft. Sia

Context -

Written and released by Sia, David Guetta, Giorgio Tuinfort and Afrokack in 2011

It’s a ballad which draws from the genres of house and urban-dance

The songs lyrics are about inner strength and not being knocked down by everyday things

The songs accompanying music video premiered in December 21, 2011 but does not feature David Guetta or Sia. Instead, the video focuses.on a young body, played by Ryan Lee, with supernatural powers

Directed by David Wilson. 

Exam -

10 mark question = 15 minutes

25 mark question = 30 minutes writing

Themes - 

Supernatural

Special powers

Puberty affecting body and mind

Inner strength

Standing up for what is right/what you believe in

Adults vs children 

D: describe - 

S:  setting - schools hallway, sub-urban town, a house, the forest. Looks like North America or Canada during winter

T:  themes - supernatural, special powers, puberty, inner strength, standing up for what is right/ what you believe in, adult vs children, isolation

I: icons or props - teddy bear, papers, backpack, papers, guns, keys 

N:  narrative -

C:  characters - Police, teacher, The boy (Ryan Lee)

T:  textual analysis - 

Editing
S: screen time - Boy (Ryan Lee) whole film
T: transitions - short and quick. Realistic  
O: order of narrative - chronological, through the day
P: pace - slow motions shots (walking through doors, teacher yelling, ladies running, door opening), fast forward bike ride 
S: specials effects - explosion at the end, flying toys, keys

Music 
G: genre - Sc-fi, Action 
I: instruments - percussion, synth, vocals
L: lyrics - 
E: emotions - 

Stop Where You Are - Corinne Bailey Rae

Came out April 2016 and was part of her album ‘The Heart Speaks in whispers’

Background Knowledge - 
She was a bright and young artist such as Emily Sande
Her music was a hybrid genre of soul/pop, with a strong British presence 
In 2008, her husband died of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol. It took her a long time to emerge from greiving process
She channeled he emotions into her music, and much of her music is influenced by her experience

What she said about her song - “Stop Where You Are” Is about being present, stopping and celebrating what’s happening right at this very moment. 

D - disability: none
R - regionalism: open to interpretation 
C - class: working class
A - age: majority younger age
G - gender: majority females but males are also included. Andgroionous genders. Ambiguous 
E - ethnicity: multiple ethnicities
S - sexuality: un-explicit 
The dogs breed (Pitball) is considered to be a dangerous and violent breed so even including that breed and then him and his owner hugging shows that you cant judge a book by his character. All the characters have a bad stereotype about them, making them seem intimidating or scary when actuall they are all people 

The artist: very angelic and god-like. Could be considered patronising for the other people in the video.
The setting: bland, dull and gray. Open to interpretation.
The themes: stereotypes, appearance vs reality, judgement, Carpe Diem 

Camera - 
F: lots of long shots
A: low angels  on here (looking up on here) looking down on the homeless woman 
M: slow motion shot when chorus starts to go worth the meaning of the song i.e seize the day

Mise En Scene - 
C: Red (love or danger), flowing, angelic 
L: natural lighting 
A:
M: simple and natural
P:
S:

Sound - 
M
C
D
O
V
E
D

Music Videos - This is America

Camera:
F - frame: slow and smooth panning, following him
A - angle: lots of wide angels to capture full background
M - movement: smooth movements 

Mise en scene:
C - costume: 
L - lighting:
A - actors:
M - makeup:
P - props:
S - setting:

Editing:
S - screen time
T - transitions
O - order of narrative
P - pace
S - special effects

1. How is this video commenting on historical, social, cultural, and political issues? 
- references to general black history and culture i.e gospels and theif music. Violence has straightforward shock and is deliberate suggesting we should be outraged/disgusted by the heir=storical contemporary persecution of black people in America. There’s a juxtaposition between the mesmerising tension, shocking violence and the dancing.
2. What is the role of Glover in the video? 
- takes you from scene to scene. He represents all of America, he is not the one shooting people or trying to represent white people but just generally America and shows the racist history and how it affects us now.
3.  How does this promote him as an artist?
- its shows that he values equality and is a strong member in the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campeign
4. In the opening scenes Glover uses grotesque smiles and exaggerated poses, why?
- commenting on racism in the minstrel (entertainment) era.  He acts cartoonish and grotesque signifying the way black people were portrayed to white audiences in that time.
5. Guns VS black lives - what representation is constructed here?
- Black lives matter campeign. Guns are treated with more respected than black lives. The gun is taken carefully in a silver sheet and taken care of however, the corpse is dragged off and immediatly disregarded. 
6. What is the significance of the choir?
- brining the spirit and cultural aspects, shocking when they get shot. A direct reference to the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina massacre in which white supermacist Dylan roof opened fire on a black church.
7. Camera pan to black men on mobiles? What is the significance of this?
- recording everything, it refers to the case of Stephon Clark, shot dead just weeks ago (now 23rd April 2019) for supposedly having a gun on him when all he had was an iPhone. 
8. Why the white horse in the background of the fame?
- biblical reference, revelations 6:8 (KJV)
9. Juxtaposition of dancing and violence, why?
- stereotypical “american” dances mixed with tribal music. Several popular dances in America and African. Could suggest that people will happily adopt black culture but will ignore all the violence and destruction 
10. What is the empty cars and burning police car signify?
- amount of crime and riots 
11. What is the significance of 17 seconds silence?
- Showing respect to the 17 people died in a school shooting in Florida
12. What is the intertextual reference in the closing scene?
- refers to the movies ‘get oput’