Formation - Context

Formation - Context

The music video uses intertextuality, referential codes and bricolage.

Bricolage is where a media product is constructed using iconography and conventions of other texts to create a new meaning, mostly used in postmodern media products.

New Orleans and bounce music

In New Orleans, there is a music genre called bounce music, which compiles some beats together with rapping for the purpose of dancing or 'bouncing' to.

The multi-award winning documentary 'That B.E.A.T' (2014) is feautured in Formation.

• The specific elements of iconography the producers used in Formation is footage of the documentary, dancing includes some aspects of how people dance to bounce music and style of the beat in the music.
• The literal pieces of footage the producers used from 'That B.E.A.T' for the video Formation are scenes of some people dancing to it, scenes of flooding, neighbourhoods and New Orleans' life.
• Bounce music also has a large LGBT+ following and fundamental for the scenes in New Orleans, the themes you see in the documentary include gay rappers who could fufil those roles in places to sing, in these places they are inclusive as anyone can come and dance to the music, it is for everyone.
• Beyonce is a millionaire, she used the themes and iconography of 'That B.E.A.T' because it accurately represented New Orleans where her music video took place in.

Antebellum era snd slavery in the American south

The Antebellum era refers to period of economic growth in the south of America in the 19th Century from utilising black slave labour. This eventually ended till the start of the American Civil War in 1861 between supporters of slavery and abolitionists. This started when the industry of plantations of tabacco, sugar, rice and cotton in the Deep South, with the growth, the land owners needed labourers to do the work thus began the slave trade of cheap labour.

There are also costumes seen in the video of white dresses, with symbolic connotations of racism as those who wore the white hoop dresses with the parasols seen in the video worn by slave owners.

An example is the film 'Gone With The Wind', which is set in Antebellum South and exploring the relationship between slave owners and slaves in a way that will make modern audiences nowadays uncomftable. The prominent black character 'Mammy' played by Hattie McDaniel. The binary oppositions of the iconography of in the representation of black people and white people seen in the scenes between 'Mammy' and 'Scarlett' (slave owner) as 'Mammy' is seen as having less formal and structured language compared with 'Scarlett' and also dress, 'Mammy' is wearing a maid's dress whereas 'Scarlett' is wearing a 'beautiful' white dress.

This era is directly referenced in Formation from the dress and setting (mise-en-scene), the previously racist white dress has been used in the music video as a reappropration, an act of reclaiming something that was previously used against that group in this case, the dresses. 

Hurricane Katrina, media coverage and black lives matter

• Hurricane Katrina occured on 23 August.
• Category 5.
• 1833 people died, 1245-1836 injured.
• Millions were left homeless.
• Total cost of damage was $125 billion.
• The economic impacts of the hurricane disrupted oil supply and cotton distrubutions, a study found estimated $150 billion econimic impact on Mississippi and Louisiana. 100,0000s of unemployment in south Mississppi and Louisiana - especially New Orleans. Gambling and entertainment such as casinos were disrupted, agriculture and forestry were affected and therefore affecting jobs, New Orleans filed for bankruptcy protection.

Formation utilises the compilation of media footage from Hurricane Katrina from the iconography of the flooding of houses.

The response to Hurricane Katrina was important to the Black Live Matter movement as many black Americans found that racial pessisism still happens, this disaster was associated with black people as many were left homeless and unemployed in New Orleans as many were low-income. The reponse to the disaster draws attention to the fundamental issues in the United States as the gap between white and black Americans is still wide, with indifferences of livelihoods.

Formation - Media Set Product 10

Formation - Analysis, themes and representation

Context

• Released in February 2016 and is the lead single for the album Lemonade. 
• The video was directed by Melina Matsoukas.
• The video has also received many awards such as Clio Award for Innovation and Creative Excellence 2016 and nominated for a Grammy.
• The video is set at the New Orleans' flooding after Hurricane Katrina and racial tension in America, using historical context and references to racism and slavery.

Music Video

We first see Beyonce standing on top of a police car in a flood, referencing the New Orleans flooding, it is a long shot so we see her and the extent of the flooding behind her. We first hear a man asking 'What happened at the New Orleans?'
We then as an audience see what presumably New Orleans life is like.

We then see a shot of a house flooded.
It then goes back to Beyonce, sat on top of the car and starts to sing. This is a mid-shot of her as we can still see her and the flooding in the background. Lyrics - 'Ya''ll haters corny with that illuminati mess', a conspiracy theory then lead people to believe many celebrities were part of the illuminatti, known to be a secret society. Lyrics - 'Paparazzi', shows a paparazzi of people taking photos but with old-fashioned flash cameras. The starting lyrics refers to the rumors about her.

The audience then sees Beyonce wearing an old-fashioned dress, the lighting is also natural and the style of the house is old fashioned (mise-en-scene) suggesting the time period suggested is when the slave-trade happened in the south, a part of history never forgotten by black Americans. 
We also see children also running around in white dresses in the same house, connoting childhood innocence that could of been ruined by slavery.

Beyonce and her dancers are wearing red, the style looks historical, the setting is in the house. 
Lyrics - 'My daddy Alabama, momma Louisiana'. She sings about her heritage and where she is from, she is proud of her culture.
We also see that it is one of her daughters as one of the children. Lyrics - 'I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros' with a reference to Jackson Five 'Jackson Five nostrils'. Beyonce is proud of her black feautures.
We see her again in the white dress. Lyrics - 'I got a hot sauce in my bag, swag' - she is still humble after fame and slang 'swag'. (lexis).

Before, the audience sees Beyonce in a car, cars are considered a luxury item and in society if you have a car it means that you have made it in your success, her costume (mise-en-scene) is a luxurious white coat, she is a successful woman. The next scene, the camera movement suggests we're in a car looking at a typical street in New Orleans, we can tell that it isn't a very rich neighbourhood, most black communities in New Orleans are working-class or unemployed. We then see Beyonce wearing all black standing near men also in all black, her jewelry and the men's suits connotes power and wealth, they are standing in front of a (plantation) house, suggesting that black people are now powerful and not just white people. We see a man wearing a Fez hat, the black community especially in New Orleans - it is a symbol of solidarity after the Civil War in the south, if black families needed a loan many would turn to mutual aid societies such as the Zulu Social Aid Society and Pleasure Club, all known as 'krewes' and dressed like Ottoman royalty, overal representing early wealth of blacks.

The audience can hear a man talking 'I came to slay bitch', slang common of black Americans and also those in the LGBT+ community, Beyonce may also be representing those members. We a girl wearing slides with 'uh huh honey', also a common phrase used in the black community and LGBT+ community. We see the dress style of the girls could be following the common dress style of young black women, they are also standing in a wig shop, common for black women to wear wigs - important part of black culture and identity.

Beyonce and her background dancers are wearing a similar style to swimming costumes in an empty swimming pool, this represents the stereotypes and racial divide in the sport of swimming, with the stereotype of black people not being able to swim. This is because in the past of the segregation of white and black people, there were no public pools open for blacks which has lead to the misconception however the statistics of unintentional drowning is higher than those who are white. The dancers' hair is styled in an afro, showing their pride of their identity. 

We then see black men in a basketball team, contrasts with the swimming pool as black people are seen to be good at playing basketball.

The setting takes place in the house again, (plantation house) with an intertextual reference and historical context of the Antebellum era and slavery, they are wearing white dresses referencing to white women who would wear these dresses as a symbol of owning a slave, with connotations of racism.They are reappropriating the dresses. https://mediastudiesnh.blogspot.com/2020/03/formation-context.html

The editing is similar to an old video camera, perhaps to referencing to the past. The outfit Beyonce and her dancers are wearing are of a jean material to reference back to slavery, when black people would wear jean overals when working to contrast them against the suits and white dresses the slave owners would wear.

Intertextual reference to Mardis Gras, a carnival in New Orleans that takes place on Shrove Tuesday seen from the costumes (mise-en-scene). The use of low-angle shot makes Beyonce appear powerful, she is also wearing her hair in afro, an important part of black identity and culture, she is a powerful black woman.

There's a man holding a newspaper with Martin Luther King Jr., a black activist and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in the 50s and 60s till he was assassined. He is an important figure in history of trying to fight against racial inequality in America, 'More than a dreamer' references a famous speech 'I have a dream' which took place at Lincon Memorial in Washington D.C in 1963. The name of the newspaper, 'The Truth'. 

The audience then sees an African-American cowboy, part of American history in the south however hardly heard of as in the media we only see white American cowboys in western films.

We see people dancing and singing in a church, a black culture reference as it is a common activity of black church-goers and for many African-Americans they believe in the Christian faith.

We see a boy dancing in front of armed-police, he then holds his arms up and so do the police, this is a refernce to police brutality especially against black Americans, we also see a wall with grafiti, 'Stop shooting us' further suggesting this.

We then see her lying on the police car and going down into the water, we then see the last clips of all the previous scenes. Lyrics - 'You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation', this suggests Beyonce knows that her song and music video will make people start talking especially about racism in America, she then sings, 'Always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper', she is saying that you need to stay kind and act civil when it comes to racism this especially speaks to black Americans and black female Americans as she tells them that 'paper' - money and success is your best revenge against racism. We then hear someone talking at the end, 'Girl, I hear some thunder', 'Golly, look at that water, boy, oh Lord', this refernces to the New Orleans flood.

In what ways are the themes of conflict encoded in this video? What media language is used to show conflict? 

• The themes of conflict are encoded in this video is about race, particularly race in New Orleans and the flooding after Hurricane Katrina as well as in general in America. This is seen from the beginning of the video when we hear a man asking 'What happened in New Orleans?', the setting of the house and clothes suggests the time period of slavery which caused an American Civil War and the conflict of black rights still continues against racism as well as near the end when a boy is dancing in front of heavily armed police, he then raises his arms and lastly we also see grafitti on the wall, 'Stop shooting us' - seen after the scene with police, suggesting the police brutality of black people.

What are the functions and purposes of this music video? What is it trying to get its audience to do? How do you know?

• The function and purpose of this music video is perhaps raise awareness and start a conversation, making the audience think or telling audiences particularly black audiences to be proud of themselves, this is seen from mise-en-scene and lyrics.

What groups are represented in this music video? Are these representations typical or subversive?

• The groups represented in the video are mostly black women, seen as being powerful and strong as well as representing the culture of black people from the southern states of America and identites found in New Orleans - some reprsentations might be seen as typical such as sexualisation of women's bodies such as clothing being revealing which feminist theory by Zoonen and hooks says is seen in media however it could be seen as subversive as it could be seen as body positivity.

Is this a typical music video? How do you know?

• This could be seen as a typical video as it follows the conventions of showing the artist in the video and having a performance (dancing) but can go against the conventions as it features a strong message of politics from mise-en-scene and lyrics.

Riptide - Media Set Product 9

Riptide - Media Set Product 9

Differences between music videos and films

• Music videos are approximately three minutes long whereas films are 90 minutes long.
• Music videos typically feature only one song whereas films use multiple songs.
• Music videos are shorter so will typically have a low budget compared with films.

Music videos and celebrities

• Most focus on a performer, the artist of the song, as a celebrity.
• Celebrity - 'The attribution of glamorous or notorious status to somebody in the public sphere'. 
• Celebrities are people who have gained popularity from the media, usually known for a talent.

Example, 'Stupid Love' - Lady Gaga

She is constructed as a celebrity by:

• Codes and conventions - It is structured by her doing a performance by dancing and singing, which shows that she is the celebrity.
• Camera work - Lady Gaga is usually in the centre of the shot, making her the focus of the video, constructing her as a celebrity.
• Editing - The beat of the song matches with the dancing and choreography.
• Elements of continuity/montage - We see Lady Gaga in the centre and we see familar dancers around.
• How does the video interpret the music and/or lyrics?- The lyrics, 'look at me now', this makes the audience looks at her and giver her attention giving the impression that she is the celebrity.
• Intertextuality - Power Rangers, Divatox, Sailor Moon.
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up - The costumes and make-up is different from the rest of the dancers making her stand out, she isn't like the rest making her appear as a celebrity.

Riptide - Music Video - Analysis, themes and contexts - Symbolic readings and representation of women

• 2013.
• Sang by Vance Joy, an austrailian artist.
• Indie pop.
• Unconventional as it doesn't feature the artist in the music video.

We first see a woman with a dental brace, close up to see her expression of being shocked and scared, with a contrast of lighting; this makes it seem like a horror.
Imagery of fear.

Lyrics - 'I was scared of dentists and the dark'.

The next thing you see is the dim swinging light, it looks like there is a storm outside (wind moving the light), which further follows the conventions of horror.

You then see a woman on the beach, juxtaposing the last scene. 
The next thing the audience sees is a book and a hand, perhaps the same woman or another; the book is called 'Techniques of photographing girls', this could link to the beach scene that she might be a model.
Feminist theory - Zoonen - hooks - women are objects to be looked at.

There are two more characters introduced, a man and a woman, who turn their heads.

After this, we see money, suggests that they are only interested in money.

Lyrics- 'all my friends are turning green'.

A man (could be the man from before) wearing a brown coat, holding a queen of spades, which appears into his hand, and waving his hand around it.
The camera shifts to a woman wearing a brown coat similar to the man's coat, and she is raising her arms over her head, looking like she is posing, maybe the man controls her and is under his spell (magician).

See her again, wearing a white coat, standing in a cementery in the dark holding a fire torch, contrasting with the previous day images. She looks like she is looking for something and turns and makes a 'come here' motion.
The camera shifts to the left to see another man and a woman also holding a torch looking shocked and confused, the camera shifts back and she has disappeared. 

The woman is then seen tied onto a tree and trying to untie herself, she then escapes.
This further follows the generic conventions of horror of being in a cementery then in a forest tied up. 
The lighting is quite dark but then lights up when she is running away.
Then there is a scene of crashing waves, suggesting everything is coming crashing down for the woman.

The audience then sees a woman sleeping in the night suggested by the lighting. She is then pulled away screaming suggested by her facial expression and her body language of her hand holding out - generic convention of horror.
It then goes pitch black.

Lyrics - 'taken to the darkside'.

Then we see a woman holding a microphone with her left hand and the word 'left' flashing on the screen with the lyrics 'be your left hand man'. She then appears singing into the microphone with a black background and stage lighting. She looks glamourous, and that she should be looked at.

The audience then sees someone holding a VHS tape of a film called 'Velocite', translated into 'Velocity' which is a MotoGP film.
Lyrics - 'this movie that I think you'll like'.And then we see someone lifting up a letter of resignation in the 'Australian Space Research Institute' in 1974.
Lyrics - 'guy decideds to quit his job'.
Next, a one-way plane ticket and a plane flying. Lyrics - 'move to New York City'.

We then see a man dressed as a cowboy in a desert. Who was seen earlier in the cementery scene - could link to Western films. Lyrics- 'this cowboy's been running from himself'. We see a woman, again on a balcony looking through binoculars, looking directly at the camera - direct address. Semiotic codes - engima codes - the audience will wonder what she is looking at or for. it also looks like we are spying on her behind bushes.

The audience then sees someone walking in the dark with a torch, could also possibly be looking for something?
Next, the audience sees someone pulling two ice-lollies apart. Binary oppositions, with a symbolic code of a relationship broken and is a polysemic reading.
Lyrics- 'and they come unstuck'.
Next, the woman running, we only see her feet, the lyrics - 'running down'.
Waves crashing, lyrics -  'riptide'.

The audience sees a woman's hands, suggested that she is lying on the floor and being dragged away. Suggested that it was suicide or perhaps meant to, with a plug and it looks like a bathroom floor. Lyrics 'dark side', as she is pulled away into the dark.
Next, we see the flashing 'left' text and a man holding scissors in his left hand cutting an aloe vera plant (connotations of healing).

We then see the woman again and she has smeared lipstick. Ironic lyrics, 'you gone and sang the words wrong' the lyrics on the screen 'you gone and sank the worlds wolf', shows she might be scared, a victim.

We then see the film, we saw previously, starting to play on the T.V.

Lyrics - 'I just wanna, I just wanna know'.
What the audience sees are tarot cards usually used to predict one's future.

The Fool - Joyful beginning.Eight of Swords - Trapped (could link to previous scene, of the woman tied up).
The Moon - Confusion and uncertainty.
The Hanged Man - Sacrifices are needed to move on.
This suggests the song could connote about the artist's break-up.

Lyrics - 'If you're gonna, if you're gonna stay'.
A man packing his suitcase. Enigma code - where is he going?Lyrics - 'I just gotta, I just gotta know'.Someone using books and writing notes, finding information.

We then see a man looking through binoculars looking over to the woman, the video moves we see men looking trough a camera and filming her, then another with a gun pointing at her. The woman is being objectified and becoming vulnerable.
We see woman's legs, she is 'running down to the riptide'.

Lyrics - 'taken away to the darkside'.
It looks like the woman is being hypnotised, the visuals/ligthing is dark and purple with conventions of horror, perhaps an intertextual reference to Suspiria.
The audience then sees a man grabbing a lime out of a tree (connotations of bitterness) with his left hand, flashing text 'left'. Lyrics - 'left hand man'.

Lyrics are wrong again, but the woman looks more scared and her make-up is even more smudged from crying. The audience may fear for her. 
Lyrics - 'running down to the riptide'.
We see a woman walking in the dark with a shot of her feet in high heels (intertextual reference to Suspiria), and then crashing waves.

We then see people playing with an ouiji board - conventions of horror - same lighting as before, referencing Suspiria. We then see a woman with her eyes rolled back, perhaps 'possessed'.

We then see a left hand again, but he is holding a gun with a red background connoting danger, 'left' flashing.

We see the woman again, she is holding her neck, dripping with blood. The woman has been a victim and is distressed.

Then we sse a woman 'running down to' the beach, crashing waves, 'riptide'.

Lyrics - 'taken down to the darkside'.
We see a woman's feet and she is being dragged from under the bed to the 'darkside', intertextual reference to Suspiria, such as lighting and horror conventions.
Suspiria is a surrealist horror film from the 70s.

Throughout the video we see disjointed cuts, no continuity, without a very clear narrative making it postmodern.

'Left' then flashes on the screen, and it shows a woman's hand holding a knife and stabs her left hand, making it appaear sureal.Then, we see the woman singing again, with smudged make-up, holding her neck with her left hand. Singing the wrong lyrics, showing that she is still scared. However the scenes with her singing are jumbled up as previously her eye make-up wasn't smudged, making it a postmodern music video with a broken narrative.

Goodwin - music videos - illustrative.

Representation of women

• Women are represented to be sexualised and vulnerable, in the videos we only see women being tortured such as the dental brace, tied up by a tree, dragged to the 'darkside' and cut neck. We see them being sexualised from the start such as the woman pulling down her swimming costume, only seeing women's legs and men, even the audience, spying on women.

The symbolism of the mise-en-scene of the rope and the dental brace

• The rope is a symbol for being trapped, the setting of the woman being tied up in the woods by a tree, follows the generic conventions of horror. The dental brace is a symbol of fear, we see the woman having a scared expression, she is vulnerable.

The position of the audience

• The position of the audience is a witness to the scenes, in one scene the position changes when it appears that we are spying on a woman standing on the balcony.

The link between all the women

• All the women are objectified or tortured in some way, in the scene with ouiji board, perhaps it's all the women in the video.

The message and construction of women and the hegemonic expectations that is reinforced

• The hegemonic expectations of women, which the video reinforces is the ideology of women being weak and objectified, however it is left to the audience's interpretation of whether the video is raising awareness or creating this message.

Postmodernism

• The music video uses a range of images associated to the genre of horror, with symbolic images of violence and sexuality.
• The video uses a range of mixed visuals that are interesting to the audeince but can also creates enigma codes.
• It breaks the rules of narrative and uses intertextuality to other media texts such as Suspiria.

Key Assessment 3

Key Assessment 3 - Class Magazine Project

Final Magazine pages:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QFTdW5BTekmOBYbbyMXdEMXxpKozqEjF

My work:

I contributed to the magazine by creating a double-page spread article.

The magazine is meant to be an unconventional, women's magazine, which we named 'Wo(man)'. We aimed to create a similar approach as to Adbusters which we studied as they are an unconventional magazine.

I wrote an article about 'Working Women' including brackets around 'Wo(men)' like the magazine's name and also 'Wor(king)', which creates a division between general words and words associated with men. For my article, I aimed to follow a similar tone to Adbusters about women at work and the history of it. For the design I used two images, one of women protesting and the other working during WW1, I then added a ripped effect to show women working in modern times, to represent what it is like now.

Music Videos

Music Videos

Music videos are used for promotional purposes of a song and artist, it is a digital convergence of music and film, it can be a synergy of two separate audiences that are targeted.

Chantal Goya - Si tu gagnes au flipper - 1966

• The video differs from modern music videos as it isn't high production compared with modern videos. The generic fluidity found is that music videos have changed over time with technology and becoming more popular over time.

REBBECA - VANITY ANGEL - 1989

• The video uses elaborate mise-en-scene by using a green screen and creating pattern backgrounds, as well as creating various scenes such as performing in a room and in a room with mirrors. The music video also uses bricolage such as the green screen background and contrasting with the woman with an umbrella and dress from another period, creating different contexts.

Kylie Monogue - Hand On Your Heart - 1989

• The representation of women in the music video is that it follows the stereotypes of women caring about their looks, the setting and mise-en-scene anchor this by featuring her wearing dresses, with hearts everywhere and she is looking at herself in the mirror.

Pulp - This Is Hardcore - 1998

• The video uses many scenes, mostly including scenes you would typically see in movies as a symbolic code about pornography through the use of mise-en-scene. This perhaps suggests what the man thought what sex was like based on what he has seen.

Benni Benassi - Satisfaction - 2001

• This video includes hyper-sexualisation of women, the symbolic codes used are representative of sexualisation of women.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - PONPONPON - 2011

• The producer has contructed the artist as a 'star' rather than human, from the use of costume and the way she performs.

BLACKPINK - 뚜두뚜두 - 2018

• This video constructs and subverts the representation of women by showing them to be powerful such as one member sitting high up on a chess board, on top of a queen chess piece - mise-en-scene.