Media studies 3AB Task 2 
Choose one of the above and analyse the use of camerawork, miss-en-scene, sound and editing.
My moving media example: Childish Gambino, “this is America” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY

In this moving media example, a artist sings about politics, the evils of life and the state of America. It is his personal perspective of America, and he tells us what it represents through his lyrics and the music video itself, using camerawork, mise-en-scene, sound and editing. In this video, the artist is a representation of America itself, he represents entertainment, violence and death, as well as happiness and misery. At the start of the music video, a black screen jump cuts to an establishing shot (a shot that shows the environment in which the actions take place) is used to set the scene for the audience. As soon the establishing shot is seen, the non-diegetic sound in the form of a choir starts playing. The cameraman slowly walks forward with the camera positioned at his waist (handheld camera) using a tracking like movement to pan around to the singer. From there, they use a long shot showing the entire human figure from above the head to below the feet, with the plain warehouse style background in-front of him. The use of these camera shots and sound sets the scene for audiences, letting the audience know where the action is going to take place, and also starting the song off. By having a 5 second black out at the start and then using a jump cut to start the music video creates suspense, the audience consequently prepare for the incoming beat and are therefore excited. Additionally the music sequence used at the start is incidental music and is used to set the tone of the video, in this case its presented as happy and normal, leading audiences to believe that it will be a upbeat song. 

After this, a long shot is used to show the singer holding a gun to a mans head on a chair. The man sits on the chair with no shoes or socks, only tacky looking clothes, this tells the audience a story or his possible financial struggle, or may be a reference to the slave trade of America. The non-diegetic sound of the choir immediately cuts out and is replaced by the synchronous sound of the gunshot to the mans head. This gunshot can be described as diegetic sound as the actors would have been able to hear it on the scene. Next the heavy beat switches up from upbeat to bass heavy, and sets the tone of the video as negative, contrast to the start of the song. Additionally the cameraman uses a medium shot to show the character walking but to also keep the face of the singer in the shot too. The singer also raps about having “guns in his area”, rapping about a negative thing but uses mine-en- scene such as other actors to dance with, making them look happy contrasting to the sinister things he is rapping about, this makes audiences confused and interested in the lyrics he is saying, however audiences are actually being distracted by the dancing, instead of focusing on what he is rapping about. This may be a message from the singer showing that entertainment serves as a distraction to things happening in real life. Additionally low key lighting is used to show the sinister tone of the video in this scene. However, some artificial light is able to break through some of the set. Moreover, the singer is dancing in trousers with no top, however these trousers are actually trousers worn from the ages of the confederate states of America. This is a reference to the history of America without telling the audience, intising audiences to look out for other hidden messages. 
The cameraman then pans to the right, where a new scene is linked using a “wipe” edit. Then diegetic sound of a choir is used to show their happiness, this is further reinforced by the use of a close up of the choir peoples faces, showing how happy they are. This is accompanied by asynchronous sound as the singer gets out a AK47, but the choir continues to sing. Furthermore the singer then proceeds to shoot the choir with the AK47 before being presented with a red cloth as a prop, held by a presumed to be school boy. This was done earlier in the video as well, after shooting the black man in the head with his pistol, the singer was presented with a red cloth for his gun and slowly and nicely placed it in there. In contrast to this, the dead body of the black ban was dragged away on the floor by two men, with a blood stain following him. This may be a reference to the second amendment, and shows how Americans value their guns over the value of innocent life. Additionally the shooting of the all black choir may be a reference to the Charleston massacre, a church shooting of black people, by a white teenage boy, that was racially motivated. Audiences that watch the scene of the choir being shot down by the singer are taken aback by how they treat the gun compared to the victims, and this sends a powerful message, leading viewers to possibly reconsider their view on guns over life. Furthermore, the singer is presented as funny, happy but in contrast to this he also murders innocent people, making people confused to wether he Is good or evil. 
In the next scene bridges (sound) is used to bride two scenes together through sound. Although the scene changes, the words to the song link and carry on over to the next scene. Additionally another wipe is used to show how life goes on and on - continuity editing is also used to show the linear style of life and how it progresses from good to evil. Moreover, in this scene, a over the shoulder shot is used of the back of the singer, while in front of him are people running around in chaos, looking panicked. This may show how America only looks on at peoples suffering instead of helping. The camera then pans around to see the face of the singer and shows him with multiple school children, we can see this from the skirts or trousers and shirts that they wear, similar to the ones in Africa. They are simplistic and are only worn by black students in the video. Additionally, we can tell that the school children are good characters as they are always happy and do nothing wrong. They are also never hurt, they don’t have any makeup on, they have no bruises or injuries throughout the performance, and also wear a yellow shirt. They may wear this yellow shirt as yellow represents happiness, positivity, optimism and enlightenment. On the other hand the boys and girls (as well as the singer) wear grey bottoms, grey represents loss and depression, emotionless and dirtiness, showing the contrast of the colours and life itself. Additionally the singer does not use any makeup, this is because he represents America and wants to be seen for what he really is, instead of masking it. Moreover the schoolchildren are always happy and seem unable to see the chaos around them, it is as though there  is a wall separating them from seeing the things that both the audience and the singer sees. However the singer sees but chooses to ignore whats going on around him. This is the same for this scene as while they are dancing and singing about “Gucci” a man can be seen jumping off the bridge, however this can be seen only briefly and means audiences have to look out for it. This relates to real life, as suicide like this is common, but we sometimes miss the signs. Additionally it may show to some audiences now America ignores suicide and mental health problems. 
The whole of this music video is based in a run down, bare warehouse, with mainly white beams that stand as its support structure. Some audiences may relate the beams of the building as the foundations of the country, and relate the white beams to white people, this may be a reference to black oppression and white supremacy around America. Moreover as the warehouse is so large this may be a reference to the large scale of America itself. 
In one of the scenes nearing the end, a long shot show a scene of the dancing singer and children having fun, with many things going on around them. For instance, there is a car on fire, and a police car in the background, as well as distressed people running around. Moreover there is people directly behind the singer that look like they are mugging someone. They are wearing hoodies and black clothes suggesting to audiences that they are evil. The singer has also used natural light in this scene, it is high key and is seen through the windows, this may be a referee to the world looking in on whats happening in America. 
In the background of the children and singer, rides a white stallion, with a man riding it Audiences may perceive this white horse to represent the apocalypse, this is due to biblical references of a “pale horse”. A specific passage from the bibles book of revelation states “and I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him”. From this reference the audience can gather the deeper meaning of the horse and rider, upon second look. However, audiences may feel that the rider is bad on first glance as he wears a black hoodie, a black face mask and blue jeans. Black represents death, fear, mystery, power and evil, and blue represents faith. 

A cut is used in the second to last scene, with a non-diegetic voiceover in the background. This is followed by tens of cars in the empty warehouse, this may be a reference to traffic stop killings in America and police violence. The scene then ends with a long shot and then a fade upwards to a black screen. No variation in camera angles are used as they stay at waist level at all times.  The music slowly fades and the music video with a close up shot of the singer running away from many people, showing his face of terror, and how people are out to get America

Comments

Popular posts from this blog