Music Video: Theory

There are a range of important theories we need to learn as part of our Music Video unit.

Our first Music Video Close-Study Product will be Common's Letter to the Free which contains culturally significant representations of black Americans. We therefore need to study a range of theories that address the representation of black or minority ethnic people in the media.

Notes from the lesson

Paul Gilroy: The Black Atlantic

Paul Gilroy is a key theorist in A Level Media and has written about race in both the UK and USA.

In The Black Atlantic (1993), Gilroy explores influences on black culture. One review states: “Gilroy’s ‘black Atlantic’ delineates a distinctively modern, cultural-political space that is not specifically African, American, Caribbean, or British, but is, rather, a hybrid mix of all of these at once.”

Gilroy is particularly interested in the idea of black diasporic identity – the feeling of never quite belonging or being accepted in western societies even to this day.

For example, Gilroy points to the slave trade as having a huge cultural influence on modern America – as highlighted by Common’s Letter to the Free.

Diaspora: A term that originates from the Greek word meaning “dispersion,” diaspora refers to the community of people that migrated from their homeland. [Source: facinghistory.org]

Gilroy on black music

Gilroy suggests that black music articulates diasporic experiences of resistance to white capitalist culture. 

When writing about British diasporic identities, Gilroy discusses how many black Britons do not feel like they totally belong in Britain but are regarded as ‘English’ when they return to the country of their parents’ birth e.g. the Caribbean or Africa. This can create a sense of never truly belonging anywhere.

Additional theories on race representations and music

Stuart Hall: race representations in media

Stuart Hall suggests that audiences often blur race and class which leads to people associating particular races with certain social classes.

He suggests that western cultures are still white dominated and that ethnic minorities in the media are misinterpreted due to underlying racist tendencies. BAME people are often represented as ‘the other’.

Hall outlined three black characterisations in American media:

• The Slave figure: “the faithful fieldhand… attached and devoted to ‘his’ master.” (Hall 1995)
• The Native: primitive, cheating, savage, barbarian, criminal.
• The Clown/Entertainer: a performer – “implying an ‘innate’ humour in the black man.” (Hall 1995)

Additional theories

Although not specified on the A Level Media specification, there are some fantastic theorists that have written and spoken brilliantly on black America and hip hop music. The following are bonus theorists that we think you'll find interesting and relevant when studying Common's Letter to the Free:

Tricia Rose: Black Noise (1994)



Tricia Rose was one of the first academics to study the cultural impact of the hip hop genre in her influential book Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (1994).

Rose suggested that hip hop initially gave audiences an insight into the lives of young, black, urban Americans and also gave them a voice (including empowering female artists). However, Rose has since criticised commercial hip hop and suggests black culture has been appropriated and exploited by capitalism.

Michael Eric Dyson: Know What I Mean (2007)

Georgetown University Professor of Sociology Michael Eric Dyson has passionately defended both hip hop and black culture – Jay-Z describes him as “the hip hop intellectual”.



Dyson suggests that political hip hop in the 1990s didn’t get the credit (or commercial success) it deserved and this led to the rap music of today – which can be flashy, sexualised and glamorising criminal behaviour.

Dyson states: “Hip hop music is important precisely because it sheds light on contemporary politics, history and race. At its best, hip hop gives voice to marginal black youth we are not used to hearing from on such critics. Sadly, the enlightened aspects of hip hop are overlooked by critics who are out to satisfy a grudge against black youth culture…” Michael Eric Dyson, Know What I Mean (2007)


Hip hop debate - full video
We've previously had requests in class for more on this hip hop debate - this appears to be the full Google debate on hip hop if you want to watch more from where those extracts came from.



Music Video theory - Childish Gambino blog task

Childish Gambino, the musical stage name of writer and performer Donald Glover, released an incredible critique of American culture and Donald Trump with This Is America in 2018.

The music video is a satirical comment on American culture, racism and gun violence. Racking up 10m views in the first 24 hours, it now stands at over half a billion views and has been dubbed ‘genius’ and ‘a masterpiece’. 

Create a blogpost called 'Music video: theory', watch the video again then answer the questions below:




1) How does the This Is America video meet the key conventions of a music video? Look back at last week's introduction to music video if you're not sure.

2) What comment is the video making on American culture, racism and gun violence?

3) Write an analysis of the video applying the theories we have learned: Gilroy, Hall, Rose and Dyson. Write a short paragraph for each theory.

Now read this Guardian feature on This Is America - including the comments below.

4) What are the three interpretations suggested in the article?

5) What alternative interpretations of the video are offered in the comments 'below the line'? Choose two and explain what the comments are suggesting.

Extension task: 

Media Magazine - This Is America: Music, Politics and Protest

Read This Is America: Music, Politics and Protest in MM65 (p14). You can find this in our Media Magazine archive. Answer the following questions:

1) The article offers an excellent textual analysis of the opening of the video. What are some of the suggested meanings and references the writer discusses? Can you link this analysis to any of the theorists we have studied?

2) What does the writer suggest are the main political themes in the video - and why is the message unclear?

3) What meanings and suggestions does the writer highlight in Beyonce's video for Formation?

4) What is notable about Glover's comedy drama TV show Atlanta? 

5) What examples does the writer provide of hip hop as a political genre? What theorist can we link this to?

Due date on Google Classroom

Music Video: Introduction

Our next topic is Music Video - with two brilliant Close-Study Products.

Music video is a targeted CSP which means we need to focus on media language and representation. The CSPs are Common's Letter to the Free and Ghost Town by The Specials. We'll be looking at a range of representations across the videos including race, ethnicity, social class and also incorporating post-colonial theory.

An introduction to Music Video: notes

Music videos typically feature movement – often fast paced either in terms of actors, camerawork or editing. Many contain a performance element or narrative. Music videos can also feature visual effects and intertextuality.

Music videos were originally designed as a promotional device to sell the band or artist’s music but have developed over time to become a recognised artform or product in their own right. Modern music videos no longer have the huge budgets of the 1980s and 1990s but digital media means they are now more accessible than ever. Videos such as Psy’s Gangnam Style have received over 3 billion views on YouTube.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is when one media text references another media text – through genre, conventions, mise-en-scene or specific cultural references.

Music videos often use intertextual references – often to classic films but also to television, popular culture, news, videogames or even other music videos.

Notable examples of intertextual music videos:

Music Video introduction blog task

This week's work requires Media Factsheet #69: Music Video. You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following 10 questions:

1) What is the purpose of a music video?

2) How has the digital age changed the production and distribution of music videos?

3) Which three major record labels are behind VEVO? What is VEVO and why was it created?

4) What are the key conventions of a music video?

5) How can narrative be used in music video? Give an example of a music video that uses a narrative.

6) What examples are provided in the factsheet for intertextuality in music videos?

7) Why do audiences enjoy intertextual references in media products?

8) Read the music video example analysis on page 3 of the factsheet. Select a music video of your own choice and write a short analysis using the following headings:

• Conventions (movement/narrative/artist)
• Intertextuality
• Representation
• Audience
• Institution

9) Watch the video for Ice Cube's It Was A Good Day (1993). How did this video set the conventions for later hip-hop music videos?



10) How important do you think music videos are in the marketing and promotion of music artists in 2021? Are music videos still essential to a band or artist's success? You need to form your own opinion here.

Due date on Google Classroom

Magazines: Front cover practical task

The best way to learn the conventions of a media product is to create one! Your first task for the Magazines unit is to create an original front cover for an existing magazine.

This will also help to prepare you for the cross-media coursework starting with your coursework teacher in June.

Task: Choose an existing magazine and create a front cover for a new, original edition of your chosen publication.

Example: student version of Vogue magazine...

Magazine practical production: tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Magazine practical task research and planning' and complete the following tasks:

Research

1) Use Google to research potential magazines that you could use as your brand/design for this project. Create a shortlist of three potential magazines and embed an example front cover from each one. We recommend looking at lifestyle magazines or a similar genre as these are more achievable to re-create.

2) Choose one of the three magazine brands to use for your project. Then find three different front covers for your chosen magazine and embed them in your blogpost. Analyse the fonts, colours and typical design. What is the language or writing style? How are the cover lines written? You need to become an expert in the design and construction of this magazine and its branding.

Planning

1) On a Word or Google document, plan your main cover line (also called the 'main flash') - this is the main cover story that links to your central image.

2) Briefly plan the image you will need for the cover - model, costume, make-up, lighting etc. At this point, simply describe the image you need to capture.

3) Write the cover lines and any additional text you need for your magazine cover.

4) Sketch out your cover on plain A4 paper using your written planning. Take a photo of your sketch and upload it to your blogpost.

Photoshoot

You will need to arrange a photoshoot for your cover image in your own time - you can use your phone or your own camera to take an image. If you don't have a phone or camera that is suitable, you can sign out a camera from the Media department.

1) On your planning document, write the date, time and location of your photoshoot and the name of the model or photographer you will use (you can choose anyone to be your cover model or you can be the cover model yourself).

Photoshop design

You will have one Media lesson to create your magazine cover on Photoshop but you will probably need more time than this. In order to complete this work, you will need to work in DF06 on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday when you don't have other lessons or use Photoshop at home. We will give you details on this in class as we are very lucky to have FREE access to Adobe Creative Cloud worth around £25/month. 

Photoshop tutorials

The best way to learn Photoshop is simply to start creating your magazine cover and learn as you go. There are thousands of tutorials on YouTube to help you - here are just a couple of examples: 

Publication to blog and evaluation

1) Once you have completed your design in Photoshop, go to 'File > Save as' and save your finished Photoshop magazine cover as a JPEG image. Then, upload it to your blogpost.

2) Write a short evaluation of your work: have you succeeded in your brief to create a new, original edition of an existing magazine? Would your cover stand up alongside a couple of genuine covers of your chosen magazine? How professional is your work alongside those genuine examples?

3) Finally, what would you do differently if you completed this assignment again?

Deadline: end of lesson Monday 10 May

Advertising: End of unit index

We have completed some excellent work on our Advertising and Marketing CSPs. We now need to create an index to ensure we haven't missed any vital notes or tasks.  

As you know, keeping an index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. This keeps the vital CSP information fresh in your mind and also highlights if you've missed anything for any reason. It's particularly important this year as it gives you a chance to check your work, revise or go back and extend your answers following the time in lockdown.

Advertising and Marketing index

Your Advertising and Marketing index should include the following:

1) Advertising: Introduction - narrative in advertising
2) Advertising: persuasive techniques
3) Advertising: the representation of women in advertising
4) Advertising: Gauntlett - Media, Gender and Identity reading and questions
5) Advertising: Score case study and wider reading
6) Advertising: Maybelline case study and wider reading

For your index, it needs to link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work and revision notes quickly and easily. This also means if you have missed anything you can now catch up with the work/notes and won't underperform in future assessments/exams due to gaps in your knowledge.

Due date: on Google Classroom

Advertising: Maybelline CSP case study

Our second Advertising and Marketing CSP is the 2017 Maybelline 'That Boss Life Pt 1' mascara video advert.

This gives us an opportunity to explore the idea of gender fluidity in society and the media - plus compare the changing representation of masculinity in advertising. Notes from the lesson are here:

Gender fluidity

Gender fluidity is when gender expression shifts between masculine and feminine. Indeed, gender identity has become a major media and social issue in the last 10 years. 

Young (and some older) people are increasingly identifying as gender fluid – and some have credited the internet for this change. They suggest that millennials grew up with the internet so can easily find information on topics like gender expression.

You can read more on this view and gender fluidity in this CNN article here.

Maybelline 'That Boss Life Pt 1'

The Maybelline ‘That Boss Life’ advert was part of a digital campaign for their ‘Big Shot Mascara’ product. It has been removed from YouTube officially but is available for Greenford students at this link (you'll need to sign in with your Greenford username and password) and below on YouTube at the time of publishing:

The campaign was significant as it was the first time Maybelline used a male brand ambassador and digital influencers. The use of YouTube stars Manny Gutierrez and Shayla Mitchell meant the brand could reach their combined (at the time) 5.1 million Instagram followers and 2.5 million YouTube subscribers. 

In addition, Gutierrez (‘MannyMua’) is Mexican-Spanish-American and openly gay, offering a very different representation of masculinity and sexuality to the 1967 Score hair cream advert.

Blog task: Maybelline 'That Boss Life' case study and wider reading

Work through the following tasks to make sure you're an expert on the Maybelline CSP and particularly the wider social and cultural context.

'That Boss Life' Media Language and Representation analysis

Use your notes from watching the video to write about the connotations and representations created by the following technical and audio codes. Write at least a paragraph or bullet points for each:

1) Narrative & genre: narrative theory and genre theory/sub-genre

2) Cinematography: camera shots and movement

3) Mise-en-scene: costume & props

4) Mise-en-scene: actors, setting, lighting and colour

5) Editing: pace, transitions and visual effects

6) Graphics: text/graphics on screen

7) Sound: dialogue, music and sound effects

Maybelline 'That Boss Life': wider reading

Read the following articles on this campaign:

Glamour: Manny Gutierrez Is the First Man to Star in a Maybelline Campaign, and It’s a Huge Deal
Your Story: Cosmetics giant breaks gender stereotypes by choosing male model as a face of the brand

Complete the following questions/tasks:

1) Why was this campaign such a landmark for beauty product advertising?

2) What do the articles suggest regarding the changing representation of sexuality and masculinity?

Now read this WWD article: Maybelline Taps Digital Makeup Influencers for New Mascara Campaign. 

3) Why might 'digital influencers' be so attractive to companies?

4) Why do you think Maybelline chose to use MannyMUA and MakeUpShayla in particular?

5) What does the WWD article suggest is the crucial factor for brands regardless of whether they use influencers or more traditional celebrities?


Media Magazine: The Changing Face of Masculinity

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature 'The Changing Face of Masculinity' in MM63 (page 15). This will allow us to compare our two advertising CSPs - the Score hair cream advert and the Maybelline digital campaign. Answer the following questions:

1) What message does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert is trying to communicate to the 1967 audience?

2) How does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert uses narrative to sell the product?

3) What 1967 stereotypes does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert reinforces?

4) Applying Stuart Hall's reception theory, what does the article suggest the preferred and oppositional readings could be for the Score hair cream advert?

5) Moving on to the Maybelline advert, why is the background of Manny Gutierrez and Shayla Mitchell significant?

6) What is the narrative of the Maybelline advert?

7) What does the article suggest the Maybelline advert's message is?

8) The final section of the article focuses on masculinity. What do the Score advert and the Maybelline advert suggest regarding the changes in society and media between 1967 and 2017?


Due date on Google Classroom.

TV: The impact of new/digital media on television

New and digital media - the internet - has had a huge impact on the television industry in the last 10 years.

Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have fundamentally changed the way we watch television. In just 15 years, Netflix has gone from a mail-order DVD company to a giant in the television industry. Next year, Netflix plans to spend $8 billion making original TV programmes.

Watch Newsweek magazine's short video on how Netflix changed TV:



TV Drama

One of the key genres for Netflix and Amazon Prime is TV drama. Many of these dramas now have the budgets and production values of Hollywood movies and many top actors are choosing to work in television rather than film.

In addition, the increase in streaming services has created a worldwide distribution network for acclaimed foreign-language TV dramas such as Deutschland 83.

Streaming services and audience

For audiences, streaming has changed the way we watch television. 

'Event TV' (also known as 'appointment-to-view') is far less common now. This is when millions of people around the country would tune in to watch the latest episode of a drama at a set day and time. Many people now 'binge-watch' TV dramas by watching multiple episodes back-to-back.

The impact of new/digital media on TV: blog tasks

Media Magazine - Netflix and the Cultural Industries 

Go to our Media Magazine archive and read the article on Netflix and the Cultural Industries (MM63 - page 45). Create a blogpost called 'The impact of new/digital media on TV' and answer the following questions:

1) What does the 'industry' concept in A Level Media Studies refer to?

2) What does David Hesmondhalgh argue with regards to how the creative industries have changed since the 1980s?

3) Choose the three most significant points Hesmondhalgh makes regarding the changing cultural industries. Why are these the most significant in your view?

4) What is technological convergence? 

5) How are technology companies challenging traditional broadcasters in the TV industry?

6) What budgets will Netflix, Amazon and Apple spend on original programming next year according to the article?

7) How many countries are Netflix and Amazon available in?

8) The global nature of modern television means producers are having to consider international audiences when creating content. What example from Netflix does the article use to explain this?

9) Do you think technology companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon will increase their interest in the television industry?

10) How do changes in technology influence the creation of TV dramas such as Capital or Deutschland 83? Try and make specific references to the two TV CSPs in your answer.

The Guardian: How tech is changing television

Finally, read this Guardian feature on how tech is changing television. This has some particularly useful aspects from an industry perspective - how TV is made, the different formats of TV drama and more. Answer the following questions:

1) What are the traditional lengths for TV drama and what dictated these programme formats?

2) How have streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime changed the way TV drama narratives are constructed?

3) Why has the rise in streaming led to more complex storylines and an increase in cliffhangers?

4) How have the "economics of production" kept TV drama largely sticking to the 45- or 60-minute episode format?

5) How has "permanent 24/7 connectivity" changed both the production and consumption of TV drama?

Due date: on Google Classroom.

TV: End of unit index

We have completed excellent in-depth studies of Capital and Deutschland 83. We now need to create an index to ensure we haven't missed any vital notes or tasks.  

As you know, keeping an index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. This keeps the vital CSP information fresh in your mind and also highlights if you've missed anything for any reason. 

TV index: Capital & Deutschland 83

Your TV index should include the following:

1) Introduction to TV Drama
2) Capital: Case study and analysis
3) Capital: Marxism and Hegemony
4) Deutschland 83: Case study and analysis
5) Postmodernism and Deutschland 83
6) Industries: The rise of foreign-language TV dramas
7) Industries: The impact of new/digital media on television

For your index, it needs to link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work and revision notes quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can now catch up with the work/notes and won't underperform in the upcoming assessment and end of Year 12 exam due to gaps in your knowledge.

Due date: on Google Classroom