One will be 9 Marks and may ask you about one music video.
One will be 20 Marks and may ask you to refer to both.
Time yourself accordingly.
Roughly one minute per mark.
No Matter what the question is YOU KNOW what the marker is looking for:
Media Language and Media Representations.
Reference to a theorist or two.
So, what are we trying to prove?
That Media Producers make choices to REPRESENT an artist through MEDIA LANGUAGE.
That Media Producers make choices to REPRESENT an artist through MEDIA LANGUAGE.
Start by re watching Billie Jean.
Representations of Michael Jackson as a brand and performer created by the Billie Jean Music Video;
Representations of Michael Jackson as a brand and performer created by the Billie Jean Music Video;
1.) Smooth
3.) Untouchable
4.) Magical
5 5.)
6 6.)
7 7.)
Re watch Letter to the Free.
Representations of Common created by the Letter to the Free Music Video;
1.) Moral
2.) Cares about key issues
3.) Using his music to raise awareness
4.) Political
5.) Incarceration
6.)
7.)
Next you have to back it up with Media Language;
So take some notes...
Letter to the Free
Cinematography
|
Mise En Scene
|
Editing
|
Special Effects
Steady-cam
Long Shots - the artists highlight how the black people in general seem insignificant
There is slow movement e.g slow zooms in and out
Artists are usually with someone in the same room - implies that they won’t stand alone and it will be something that the whole community stand for
|
Costumes - they are dressed in posh clothing and contrasts the idea about the black being slaves - they are more than that.
There is only natural lighting - from the sun
The words written on the wall ’No Excessive Sound’ shows that everything is dictated
|
Black and white - connotes the separation of the black and white people.
The video cuts on every other beat we hear.
|
Billie Jean
Cinematography
|
Mise En Scene
|
Editing
|
Montage at the start and straight away shows the detective - whereas in the music video it takes 2 minutes for Michael to appear
Camera pans with him at the start
Takes inspiration from film noir
In a rundown urban area
|
Detective dressed in styling associated with characters from the crime genre
Stereotypical characters 'the paparazzi' or the 'nosy elderly neighbor'.
Invokes another genre of popular culture e.g he taps at one point in the video - this is popularised by stars such as Gene Kelly (Singing in the Rain)
|
Lighting is used to build up perception - his feet literally always lights up the floor and when he walks past or touches something it seems to give it life
Black and white at the start but as soon as he comes in the video everything changes to color
Building up to see his face - we go from his feet to his legs to then his face
|
What might they ask you about?
The social, political and historical context...
The social, political and historical context...
Go back to your notes on the documentary 13th….
1 in 17 white males vs 1 in 3 black males likely to be incarcerated in the US. What about ALEC and the media surrounding the SUPER PREDATOR. The CCA profiting from prisons…
Go through and underline any key words about Media Language or representation that might get you some marks…
The political context of Letter to the Freeexplores the mass incarceration of African-Americans. It focuses on the lack of freedom they have in prison, and the prejudice from stereotypes they receive for being put there in the first place. This context also represents the artist Common in a positive light as a campaigner for the issue that Black Americans were incarcerated in state prisons at an average rate of 5.1 times that of white Americans. This is reinforced through editing, cinematography and mise en scene.
Now have a go at writing your own example…
Go through and underline any key words about Media Language or representation that might get you some marks…
The topic of racism is presented as outdated through the use of cinematography since the whole music video is in black and white. This connotes how racism has been around for years, since before film and video footage even had colour. It also links to the times when the black civil rights movements were in an uprising in the 1960’s. Even today, things are still the same - black and white. This reinforces the idea that racism is alive and may continue to grow in the shadows of society.
Now write your own example try editing or mise en scene….
The costumes they are dressed in represent the posh clothing and contrasts the idea about the black being slaves - they are more than that. there is only natural lighting - from the sun and the words written on the wall ’No Excessive Sound’ shows that everything is dictated. Black and white - connotes the separation of the black and white people. The video has a cut on every other beat we hear.
The main visual effect in the 'Letter to the free' is a black, inanimate object which is floating around the prison. This highlights that idea of injustice as from that use of editing, it suggests that the prisoners are nameless and will forever be trapped in prison, floating around aimlessly. The artist being inside the prison suggests a consensus with the prisoners creating the idea that he is a victim of the system himself.
What was happening at the time?
Here is a timeline of the history of music videos…
Plot Billie Jeanand Letter to the Freeon the timeline…
You might be asked how the music video genre has changed over time.
A music video has always served as a promotional tool for an artist. (Media Representation)
Billie Jeanis promoting Michael Jackson as a brand and a performer (his dancing etc he is ‘untouchable’) whereas Letter to the Free promotes Common as caring for others (he is ‘of the people.’)
Some questions for you to practise on...
Practise Question 1;
Music Videos are a tool that use media language to create representations about artists. Discuss with reference to your two close study productsPractise Question 1;
Here’s how to answer this…
Music videos are seen as a promotion or advertisement of the artist. It creates a representation of an artist to market to an audience. This is reinforced through editing, cinematography and mise en scene.
1.) Letter to the Free promotes Common.
(back this up with evidence from cinematography, editing, mise en scene)
2.) Billie Jean is promoting Michael Jackson as an artist.
2.) Billie Jean is promoting Michael Jackson as an artist.
(back this up with evidence from cinematography, editing, mise en scene)
Can you get Steve Neale in there? Can you reference Roland Barthes? (What does the black box signify?)
Steve Neale – 'Genre are instances of Repetition and Difference': Genre is familiar to audiences through the repetition of conventions like a physically strong, dynamic, violent, male hero in Action Adventure Video Games but is challenged by a female lead character in Tomb Raider and Beyond.
Practise Question 2;
Steve Neal says Genre is instances of Repetition and difference. How does this apply to one of your Close Study Products?Here’s how to answer this…
Music videos are seen as a promotion or advertisement of the artist. It creates a representation of an artist to market to an audience. This is reinforced through editing, cinematography and mise en scene. Letter to the Free by Common Feat Bilaal effectively borrows conventions from other music videos to create a unique product.
Examples of how Billie Jean makes suggestions about the artist. (Reinforced through editing, mise en scene, cinematography.)
Examples of how Letter to the Freemakes suggestions about the artist. (Reinforced through editing, mise en scene, cinematography.)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now try these;
To what extent is Michael Jackson’s Billie Jeanan example of intertextuality?
Product: Music Video – Letter to the Free – Common ft Bilal
|
Media Language
Detailed study of Letter to the Free should help students to develop an understanding of how music video can serve a range of functions while communicating multiple meanings.
Analysis should include:
• Mise-en-scene analysis
• Cinematography
• Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings
• Aesthetics
Narrative
• How does Letter to the Free appeal to its target audience?
• How is the narrative being constructed by the song lyrics reinforced?
• How does the narrative position the audience?
• How can the narrative invite a range of responses?
• What pleasures does the narrative offer the audience?
• How is the narrative incorporating views and ideologies?
• What is the role of Common in the narrative?
Genre
• Identification of the conventions of the Performative music video.
• How music videos serve the needs of media producers
• How music videos meet the expectations of audiences
• Genre theory including Neale
Media Representations
Letter to the Free explicitly focuses on the history and contemporary experience of African Americans and allows for an exploration of the effect of social, cultural and political context on representations of ethnicity.
• Representation of ethnicity, with focus on how Common is a black man exploring black culture-specific issues.
• Use of specific historical and contemporary experience to construct a political narrative and argument
• The effect of social and cultural and historical contexts on representations of ethnicity • How representations invoke discourses and ideologies and position audiences
• Representation of gender within the video and in the context of wider representations of women in the music industry
• Representation of place
• Common as celebrity persona
• Theories of representation including Hall
• Theories of gender performativity including Butler
• Drawing on theories of Postcolonialism (Gilroy)
Social, political, economic and cultural contexts
Common is an Oscar and Grammy award winning hip/hop rap artist who wrote Letter to the Free as a soundtrack to The 13th – a documentary by Ava DuVernay named after the American 13th amendment (the abolition of slavery). His output is highly politicised, existing in the context of a variety of social and cultural movements aimed at raising awareness of racism and its effects in US society (e.g.: Black Lives Matter). The product can also be considered in an economic context through the consideration of if and how music videos make money (through, for example, advertising on YouTube).
Product: Music Video – Billie Jean– Michael Jackson
What needs to be studied? Key Questions and Issues
Media Language
Detailed study of Billie Jean should enable students to demonstrate appreciation and critical understanding of the historical development of music videos and allow for social, cultural and political comparison with contemporary CSPs.
Analysis should include:
• Mise-en-scene analysis
• Cinematography
• Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings
• Postmodernism
• How developing technologies affect media language
Narrative
• Construction of a narrative and links to song lyrics
• Narrative appeal and pleasures offered
• Audience positioning and invited responses
• Narratology including Todorov
Genre
• How the music video genre uses intertextuality and hybridity to establish meanings
• The historically relative and dynamic nature of genre.
• How music videos serve the needs of media producers
• How music videos meet the expectations of audiences
• Genre theory including Neale
Media Representations
The music video promoting the Michael Jackson song Billie Jean was the first to breakdown MTV’s racial barrier as the first video by a black artist to be aired in heavy rotation
• Analysis of Billie Jean can help develop an understanding of the processes of selection and combination which construct versions of reality • How representations invoke discourses and ideologies and position audiences
• Representation of gender within the video
• Representation of time and place
• Michael Jackson as celebrity persona including self representation
• Theories of representation including Hall
• Theories of gender performativity including Butler
• Drawing on theories of Postcolonialism (Gilroy)
Historical, social, political, economic and cultural contexts
Billie Jean is of historical significance in that it is most often referred to as the product which came to define the music video genre and the MTV generation. It was the first music video by a black artist to be featured on heavy rotation by MTV. It can be seen to reflect the changing social, cultural and political sentiments in relation to ethnicity in relation to music artists and society at large. The product can also be considered in an economic context through the consideration of if and how music videos make money (through, for example, advertising on YouTube) and how this has changed over time.
.
|
TO ADD-
GILROY-
