Music Video Analyses: Beyoce

Formation

Beyonce for many years was branded as a safe, influential figure within the music industry. However this text goes against that through tackling a controversial topic "Black lives matter".  At the same time as this empowering women.

The lyrics of the song help us to understand this idea. For exmple the male voice over at the start and featured throughout. The voice constantly refers to the singer as "Bitch" which is a vulgar reference for a women. This remark shows disrespect towards females and therefore the use of this within the song helps to portray the message. As it is at the very beginning of the track, it strikes the audience from the very start and as Beyonces fans are majority females it will be even more relatable.  In addition to this one line from Beyonce is "I might just be a Black Bill Gates in the making". Bill Gates is a very successful man who created Microsoft, although Beyonce is just as successful but within a different industry. However this allows us to link it to the idea of Black inequality due to the fact that although she is just as successful as Gates, he is more superior as he is a White male. Bill Gates also responded to this saying that is was strange that she did't speak these words at the SuperBowl performance, this could suggest that she understands that it is a very controversial idea or that she doesn't agree with it herself as it is an extreme statement. Although with in the music industry, any publicity is good publicity as it spreads the message that Beyonce wants as it allows the video to gain more views.

The costuming within the video also plays a key part in portraying the message. For example throughout it shows police uniform which at first may seem normal but when related to the context we can see that it points towards the idea that the police target black people because they're black. For example in America theres debate that police are more likely to shoot someone because they're black even if they may be innocent. This could be due to racism or in the most cases because of the false reputation that society has created for their race. Eg them being violent, aggressive and dangerous. Therefore Beyonces video opens up debate as to whether it is the polices fault, or societies fault for creating this false idea of this race. In addition to this theres a scene that shows spray paint saying 'stop shooting us'. This is a very blunt and obvious statement which hits both the black and white community strongly due to how forward the statement is. Not only because of the way we have to infer that 'us' is black people as a collective but also because this is in a Beyonce video. We are use to the innocent topics like 'Single ladies' and 'love on top', therefore serious and opinionated topics such as this strike us as an audience because we don't expect someone like Beyonce to address them.

Beyonce also dresses upper class throughout the video which goes against the idea of the time period its set in (1900's). This is because this was a time when Black people were completely below the white and were used as slaves and servants. Stereotypically they worked on Cotton fields, sugar cane fields and as house maids. They would wear what they were given as uniform and (if at home) what they could afford with the little pay given. This video goes against this idea, as if trying to show people what it would be like if it was the opposite way round and the Black community were more superior; almost as if she is mocking the white community and the idea of inequality.

Finally the mese en scene used in this video helps to portray the idea of black rights, for example the use of 'New Orleans' which is shown through the background of the flooded houses when she is sitting on the police car. This was a 2005 flood caused by Hurricane Catrina which swept through primarily the poorer part of the area destroying houses and as the poor were of black ethnicity then, those houses belonged to them. Therefore rather than fixing them, the community just left it leaving the people homeless which again shows inequality. However during the music video Beyonce uses this historical event to relate to the present day and how perhaps there hasn't been much change since then within this important topic or is used as a reminder of what actually happened as it has seemed to be overlooked and ignored. Similarly Beyonce is sitting on a police car which again symbolises the idea of police discriminating against the black community, at the end of the music video this sinks which is the use of symbolism. This could show the idea that this topic is also getting ignored and is 'drowning' and through the pop artist showing this to and extremely large audience it in some way reverses this by, again, bring the issue back to life

Music Video Message

Message;

The message of my music video will be about women empowerment, rights and equality. For this I have chosen to use the song "salute" by Little Mix as it's lyrics presents this idea very clearly.

In order to portray this message I am using characters that represent important women historical figures. For example:

Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910) British nurse. By serving in the Crimean war, Florence Nightingale was instrumental in changing the role and perception of the nursing profession. Her dedicated service won widespread admiration and led to a significant improvement in the treatment of wounded soldiers.

Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997) – Albanian nun/ charity work. Devoting her life to the service of the poor and dispossessed Mother Teresa became a global icon for selfless service to others. Through her Missionary of Charities organisation she personally cared for thousands of sick and dying people in Calcutta.

Margaret Thatcher (1925 – 2013) The first female Prime minister of Great Britain, she governed for over 10 years, putting emphasis on individual responsibility and a belief in free markets. (10 hidden)

Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962) American actress who became one of the most iconic film legends. Her films were moderately successful, but her lasting fame came through her photogenic good looks and aura of glamour and sophistication.

J.K.Rowling (1965 – ) British author of the phenomenal best selling Harry Potter series. The volume of sales was so high, it has been credited with leading a revival of reading by children. She wrote the first book as a single mother, struggling to make ends meet, but is now one of most successful self-made woman.

Malala Yousafzai (1997 – ) Pakistani schoolgirl who defied threats of the Taliban to campaign for the right to education. She survived being shot in the head by the Taliban and has become a global advocate for women’s rights, especially the right to education.

Short Films Analyses

A short film is the idea of a 'slice of life' usually exploring different topics such as equality, gender, age, class and different eras. The 2 short films I watched were 'Wasp' by Andrea Arnold and 'Gasman' by Lynne Ramsay. I particularly enjoyed Wasp as it explored a different way of life that I have never experienced and therefore it was interesting from my perspective. The short film explored the life of a young mother with 4 young and therefore vulnerable children, it showed how she coped with obstacles in life including love and relationships whilst still having to raise her infants. Gasman was less interesting for me as Ramsay didn't use as much dialogue as wasp and therefore it was harder to follow and understand what the plot was. However she did still explore an area of life i haven't experienced and therefore it did help to create a hook for a short period of time, after this i lost interest.


How is mise-en-scene used effectively to create meaning?

'GasMan':

The way the child is on her fathers back represents the fact she is reliant on him for safety and comfort. Therefore we can we can understand the father has a large amount of responsibility which can also be shown in this shot as the child on his back is symbolic of the responsibilities he has to carry with him through his life. The scene also shows a long train track that they have just walked down allowing us to realise that he has carried his child that distance and yet doesn't show any fatigue on his face, this also helps to create meaning as it shows that he doesn't want to show to his child any sign of weakness in order to sustain a caring, fatherly and therefore not make her feel as though she has to walk. This can again link to the idea of responsibility as he feels as though it is his duty to carry his daughter when she's tired regardless of if he is or not. 

'Wasp'- Andrea Arnold:

The Mise en scene used in the short film plays a key part in creating the main metaphor for it to have an impact on the audience. For example the wasp used in two scenes can be shown as a representation of the mother in the short film. We first see it in the kitchen trying to escape out of a closed window, this gives us the impression that its not very intelligent and attempting to do something impossible. This can be related to the mother in the way that she is trying to raise 4 children on her own and with very little money which can be seen as attempting to do the impossible. However we could also interpret this as if the wasp is trying to escape and is eventually let out the window which therefore translates to the idea that the mother wants to escape this life and will do one day much like the wasp. 

Which shots did you think were effective?

'Gasman':

                    

This mid shot of the 2 characters allows the audience to see them in a wide open space. This creates the idea that they are very small in comparison to the rest of the world, creating the idea of isolation and unimportance. Also in this scene we can see an extended idea of isolation through the character of the son who appears to be around 11/12. The director cuts this character out of most shots, including this one, allowing the audience to almost forget that he is there. Due to the era this is set in, 70s, we could infer that this is because boys were brought up to be independent and therefore got less attention. This can link to the idea of isolation in this shot as it ignores the son showing that perhaps the father only thinks he needs to focus on the daughter and her well being. This explains why the daughter reacts so violently to her unknown sister later on in the short film as she has gone from having her dads attention fully directed to her, to having to share this nurture.  

This wide angled shot of the family cast in "wasp" is effective to show the background of the family. Here we can see that all ages of the family are holding their middle fingers up to the woman the mother just argued with. In the scene this is done simultaneously as the mother counted down which presents it to be a practised and re occuring thing the family do together. This is effective because it allows us the see that the mother is teaching her children that this is the way to deal with confrontation, which although adds comedy to the short film does also make the audience question whether the age of the young mother has a negative effect on her parenting style.