Music Video: Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

1.
The budget for Billie Jean was 50,000 dollars which was incredibly small compared to his later budgets on music videos such as Thriller or Smooth Criminal.

2.
They stated that the music video was not fit for the audience of MTV but in reality, they did not want to star a black artist on mainstream television.

3.
Billie Jean includes the conventions of performance seen through Michael Jackson lip syncing as well as dancing. The music video also has a strong and obvious storyline to it.

4.
Some of the shots taken were to reflect the lyrics. An example of this would be the line 'her eyes were like mine' where the screen would show a freeze frame of Michael Jacksons eyes.

5.
Michael Jackson's main feature from his music videos were not his face or his voice but his dancing. Instead of constant close ups of the audience, long or mid shots were taken in order to show the dance routine.

6.

• The lamp post scene is a reference to Singing In The Rain
• The actual set gave it a Hollywood musical style to it.

7.

By using the notion of looking as a reccurring motif, it implies that the detective almost is a surveillance camera directed at Michael Jackson.

8.

Michael Jackson is seen to have some holy powers where everything he touches or steps on seems to light him. This makes him be seen like a superior being compared to someone like the detective.

Close textual analysis of the MV:

1.

• Film Noir
• Lots of performance shots
• Set on the streets
• Detective wearing his costume
• The floor lights reflect the 1970's disco floors

2.

Equilibrium - Michael Jackson appears and walks

Disequilibrium - Detective shows up and starts following Michael Jackson

New equilibrium - Detective is arrested and Michael Jackson escapes and disappears again

3.

The characters highlight and show the binary opposition between hero and villain or dark vs light or good vs bad etc.

4.

A lot of the freeze frames and split screens are to reflect on the actual meaning of the lyrics therefor it creates pace for the editor to go by.

5.

This creates a film noir atmosphere to the music video which includes typical conventions of film noir films.

6.

Michael Jacksons video broke and subverted stereotypes. Being a black male to perform, film and distribute a MV to MTV who have up till now only featured white artists. This was major at a time of great racism in the society. To feature a white person as a villain role and a black person as a hero role was unseen before.

7.

This music video does not reflect the theory of 'repetition and difference' since it was one of the first music videos with an incredibly successful outcome which opened up a path for a lot of the key conventions that we see in modern day music videos.

8.

The 'picture in picture' is an example of bricolage in the music video which links to Bauldrillard's theory of hyperreality. 

Music Video: end of unit index

Music Video: Introduction and fact sheet questions

Music Video Theory and This is America analysis

Common - Letter to The Free context and analysis

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean Context, analysis and mm article.

Music video: Common - Letter to the free

1.
For the film 'Selena', he was in change of sound tracking it and ended up using the song 'glory' featuring John Legend. He also appeared in the film 'The Hate U Give'.

2.
The 13th amendment allows unpaid labour to be used if the person is incarcerated therefore it creates loopholes for slavery to still occur through the mass imprisonment of Black citizens within the US.

3.
A set of laws that were passed by southern states which enabled police to arrest black people for petty crimes to them basically treat them as slaves for 'punishment'.

4.
Even though it was abolished by the 13th amendment, the way America sets its justice system is very anti black people.

5.
She wanted to get her point that black people are still getting discriminated against compared to other races.

6.
The most significant time period for the rise in political hip hop was around the late 80s to the early 90s. This was when people started to see a rise in political hip hop music.

7.

• Tupac
• Kanye West
• Kendrick Lamar
• Chance

8.

Taken from the album 'Black America Again' which got a lot of critical acclaims. It received high ratings and praise for its message during that year.

Close Textual analysis:

1.

• Camera movement is slow
• Camera is always moving
• No close up shots
• Emphasis on the black square
• A lot of straight cuts
• Not much focus on the main artist
• Most shots are either long or mid shots

2.

It could act as a sign of message that the issues stated in the song are ongoing even in today's society.

3.

The use of black and white filters may be a reflection of the good ad bad times for the black community.

4.

The prison - The constant discrimination against black people through time.
Costume - The casual clothes signifies equality between the artist and the audience.

5.

• "Black bodies being lost in the American dream"

• "Slavery's still alive, check amendment 13"

• "Instead of n**** they use the word 'criminal'"

• "Now whips and chains are subliminal"

6.

The black square is supposed to show the audience how black people feel at loss of their identity. Making it appear in different parts of the music video.

7.

• The black square that was shown in the prison cell and other areas of the prison.
• 'No excessive noise' on the walls of the prison while the artists are shouting 'freedom' from within the walls.
• The final shot that may be a reference to cotton fields from the past when slavery was in place which affected the black race entirely.

8.

The black square never seems fitting in any of the places within the prison which could reflect how black people never really feels a sense of belonging.

9.

Hall - The atmosphere that is shown in the music video could suggest the blurring of races and loss of identity and the need to fit in to a social class.

10.

• Police brutality in the US towards black people
• Extended sentences for black people for petty crimes

BFI study day: follow-up work

1.
Constructing and performing gender:

Bell Hooks:

What are her main theories about gender?
Intersectionality between race/ ethnicity, gender and social class and its relation to power in the media.

Your own example that shows her theories in action?
Music Videos
Some films and dramas

Example: 'Samaritans' by Idles
How does this music video link to hooks' theories?

• Males must be sporty/ physically strong/ like to fight
• patriarchy society
• Me are also victims of the patriarchy society
• Only see trauma when they are a child
• "gender becomes a set of connotations that have become naturalised"
• "normalised trauma"
• Patriarchy = male-dominant society

Lizbert Van Zoonen

What are her main theories?

• Built on Butler
• Gender is a performance
• Objectifying women in the media
• 'Liberal Feminist' 
• Equality of opportunity
• Economy representations
• Both men and women are sexualised in the media
• Wrote feminist media studies
• Female - passive, submission (men opposite)
• A force for change
• More sexual and gender diversity in media industries would offer more voices

Your own example that shows her theories in action?

Will Jay - Gangster

Example: 'Stay Where You Are' by Corine Bailey Rae

How does this music video link to Van Zoonen's theories?

• Women fighting - subverts feminine stereotypes
• Pitbull stereotypes subverted
• White male in suit supports homeless man
• Appearance
• Perceptions of sex - appropriate behaviour
• Self Perceptions

Judith Butler:

What are her main theories about gender?

• Gender is a performance - series of gestures, actions, behavioural and dress codes that construct an imaginary 'man' or 'woman'
• Constructed by the media
• 'Gender is the repeated stylisation of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly vivid regulatory frame that congeals over lie to produce the appearance of substances

Your own examples that show her theories in action?

• St Trillian's
• Hairspray
• Will Jay - Gangster

Example: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

How does this film link to Butler's theories?

• Masculine action - weight lifting
• Female wearing make up (has to look good stereotype)
• Female submissive acting
• Hijab - patriarchy

Semiotics - the language of signs:

Saussure and Barthes:

What did Saussure say about how we make meaning from signs and what is the difference between them?

Denotation and connotation. Denotation is the direct or obvious meaning that is explicit. Connotation is the symbolic meaning that is implicit.

What did Barthes say about denotation ad connotation?

• Suspicious of denotation - suspected there was more ideologies involved than people think
• Denotation is actually just a 'dominant connotation'
• Meaning is 'naturalised' so we accept it without question

Example: 'Burn The Witch' by Radiohead

In the first half of the video what images seem to denote a peaceful, harmonious community?

There was a large group of people together as a unified group.

What are the connotations of using animated wooden puppets?

'Burn the witch' - relates to death. 'Creepy innocence'

Why were the 'naturalised' denotations at the start actually part of a more sinister ideology?

Bloody meat on the table.

Stuart Hall - Encoding/ decoding:
What did Stuart Hall say about the way audiences make meaning from the media?

• Reception Theory
• Different readings
• Dominant, oppositions and preferred

Example: Captain Fantastic

What might be some different ways of responding to this scene?

Preferred/ Negotiated/ Oppositional meanings

Preferred - father teachings - want his kids to be socially aware

Negotiated - accept some elements of the meaning but reject others

Oppositional - Insane - giving weapons like knives, bow and arrows etc to kids.



Pulp Fiction and Postmodern Narrative:

What are some key postmodern ideas?

• Hyper reality
• pastiche
• Bricolage
• Intertextuality
• Historical deafness 
• There is no objective 'reality'
• There is no essential 'truth'. Instead there is a multiplicity of 'truths', each equally valid.
• 'Truth' is just a 'discourse' or 'narrative' - a belief that helps us make sense of things
• There is no 'real you': you are just a bunch of experiences infused into a body.
• Nothing is 'original'

Jean Francois-Lyotard and Mentaarratives:

What did Lyotard mean by the term 'meta-narrative'?

• A totalising cultural narrative, that organises thought and experiences into a grand 'story' that makes sense of our lives.
• An ideology but with the features of an ongoing story.
• 'Everything makes sense' - in the contact of this ongoing story.
• 3 key beliefs were - History is progressive/ Knowledge, insight can liberate us/ knowledge has a secret unity.

Pulp fiction is an unconventional narrative:
Who are the 'hero's'? Why do they not seem conventionally heroic?

• Two police officers - dressed like hitmen
• talking about off topic stuff

What do we know about the? What is their quest?

• Justice on the guy has speech impediment

What do the character do (including what they talk about? Does this contribute to their quest ot does it distract them, divert them?

• They talk about foot massages
• Diverts - full debate about whether to wait at the door or not

Jean Baudrillard:

What did Baudrillard mean by the term 'simulacra'?

The imitation that seems more real than the thing it is imitating.

What is hyper reality?

Intensity and resonance that surpass creativity for their audiences. The blur between reality and imagination which makes audiences confused between the two.

Music Video: Theory

1.

• There is an element of performance is several areas of the video. We can see some dance routines and some lip syncing.
• Camera is always moving throughout the music video.
• There is a narrative in this music video and a message.

2.

The message from the video tells us that there will always be racism and discrimination to the black. The media may say that this is not true but people who live in American experience this first hand yet there is nothing they can do about it.

3.

Gilroy - In the video, there are different groups of people (choirs, dancers etc). This could be a link to Gilroy's word about the liquidity of culture.

Hall - The Music video doesn't have a set social class determination or anything in specific detail to mean that this applies to not only a certain group but over a large group.

Rose - Rose said that new hip hop reinforces the stereotypes of young black (normally males) conducting violence and criminal actions. 

4.

• Donald Clover uses dance to mislead/ misdirect the audience
• Donald Clover is going to stand up and take on the police force
• He is 'Jim Corw'

5.

Comments are made about the danger it is for a black person to live in America because of things like the media who reinforce the idea that black people are all criminals that conduct violence and other illegal activities. Most of this news has been twisted to make it sound as if black people are to blame for every incident.

Music Video introduction blog task

1.
They were originally used in order to promote an artist or a band but as time went on, the meaning changed and now it has become an artform that is used in order to communicate with audiences.

2.
The digital age has grown so much that people are now able to post their music on all sorts of platforms to get views, likes and subs. Platforms like YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify have done very well with this where it allows people to create their own content and publish for the public to see worldwide.

3.
VEVO is a video hosting site mainly focusing on music videos.
The three major record labels are:

• Sony Music
• Universal Music
• Abu Dhabi Media

4.

The key conventions of a music video contain movement (of an object or from camerawork), Narrative (a storyline within the music video), some sort of performance clip (by the artist or band) and intertextuality (references to something).

5.

Majority of music contains lyrics. Music videos tend to reflect the lyrics to create a visual narrative for audiences while they listen to the matching audio narrative. It makes it almost feel as if it was a very short movie without dialogue but with meaning.

6.

The Blink 182 video had references to pop videos by using clips from music videos by groups and artists such as back street boys and Christina Aguilera.

7.

Audiences are able to recognise the references which enhance the viewing experience and make the audience members gratified.

8.

Music Video: Taeyeon - I

Conventions:

Narrative - There is definitely a narrative within this music video since there second shot of the main character working in a café of sorts is the beginning of the narrative. At 2 minutes 28 seconds, there is a scene of her looking into the distance followed by a facial expression that looks like realisation. Then at 2:50, we see the character then quit her job. Without the other clips, there is clearly a narrative of some sort.

Movement - Movement is seen throughout the music video. In the very first shot we see a drone pan shot by the seaside with the view of the sea and some of the mountains as in introduction to the song. Throughout the narrative above, there is camera movement while the character is working. Besides the narrative, every other shot has either camera movement or movement from the character' characters.

9.

The video consists of a more modern view of what hip hop is therefore including things like sports, street wear and gag related actions/ This video was also one of the very first hip hop videos that point out political problems and views.

10.

I think that music videos have lost the meaning to them as time went on. Modern music videos almost have no real meaning to them and their only purpose is to act as a collage of moving images for the pleasure of an audience. I don't think that music videos are majorly essential to an artists success as even now, if a song is released and not liked, it doesn't matter how good the MV is, it would have been classified negatively.

Film & TV assessment learner response

1.
WWW:

• Q3 is impressive: good focus on question with an extended response showing knowledge of both CSPs. The challenge now is to reach that level consistently then build on it.

EBI:

• Q1 + Q2 are weaker: revise the terminology and CSP
• Basic errors: spelling promotion wrong even though it is in the question; saying D83 is 1960 even though the year is in the title.
• More social/cultural context required for top levels in Q3

2.

Q1 - The distinction between actors and characters is arguably breaking down as films allude to stars previous roles or reputations or deliberately plat an actor against type.

Q2 - Film festival awards include Edinburgh, Busan, New Hampshire, Palm Beach and Julien.

Q3 - There is explicit reference to recent events and social contexts (global financial crash, increased fear of terrorism, free movement of people, debates about immigration, London house price inflation).

3.

Bricolage - The juxtaposition between old and ew texts, images, ideas and narratives to create new meanings.

Pastiche - Media products that imitate a style of a different text, artist or time period presented in a positive light unlike parodies which take on a more negative side to it.

Intertextuality - References to other media texts within a media text.

4.

Film festival awards include Edinburgh, Busan, New Hampshire, Palm Beach and Julien.

Small cinema release in arthouse cinemas appropriate distribution for the film - a British social realist drama.

5.

Question - to what extent do the representations in your selected TV drama Close-Study products reflect the social and cultural context in which they were produced?

Introduction - I think that Capital did a good job at representing the social and cultural contexts of its production time whereas D83 although not accurate of the production time context, was still very successful at representing the social and cultural context of the 1980s.

First paragraph -

• Focus on Capital
• Accurate views of modern London
• Skyscrapers of London like the Gherkin is shown
• The very distinctive red London busses
• Familiar sight of the busy mornings on the tube
• The problems shown within Capital still exist in today's world

Second paragraph -

• Focus on D83
• It did not reflect and represent the production time period of 2016 but did represent the time period of when it was set in the drama (the 1980s)
• The uniforms, the setting and the props were all fairly or very accurate.
• The supermarket scene is accurate in terms of what a supermarket back then would have looked like
• The supermarket also references the pop art era of 1960s
• The documents that Martin takes pictures of the confidential files are said to be the actual copies if not extremely good fakes.

Conclusion - 

• Capital was successfully represented the production time period of the drama but D83 did not. However, D83 successfully represented the time period of 1980s in which the drama was set in.