Practice exam on music videos

Practise Exam

‘Music Videos are a tool that use media language to create representations about artists. Discuss with reference to your two close study products’

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.  

The Letter to the Free music video is talking about how the black community are treated like an object and a criminal. We can see this through the use of editing as they have a black floating object that just lingers around the prison. This can show that that they are seen a a thing that floats around causing mayhem. we can use strut halls theory of race representations in media. This is because the music video shows that their is a blur between race and social class and people associate the black community with lower class. It also talks about the three black characterisations in media which are the slave figure, the native and the clown. We can see this when it says in the song "Southern leaves, southern trees we hung from". This is talking about when they were slaves in the 1800's and how they were hanged for not following to the rules that they were even or running away. We can also see this in the lighting that they use as they don't really see the singers faces other than the natural lights. This shows that they are being cast away in the shadows as they are not important and have done so many things wrong that they should not get the same treatment as others. Finally, establishing shots show where they are and that their is nowhere to run or hide from the situation also that they can't change anyone decisions no matter what they do.

2.)      How is Billie Jean promoting Micheal Jackson?

(back this up with evidence from cinematography, editing, mise en scene) 

Billie Jean is talking about the issues with black celebrities in the medias eye and how they are treated different than normal celebrities. in the lyrics it talks about a girl named billie Jean that has said some things about having a child with him even though she is faking it.There never was a real Billie Jean. The girl in the song is a composite of people his brothers have been plagued with over the years. He could never understand how these girls could say they were carrying someone’s child when it wasn’t true. we can use intertextuality to show that he is like a god and he can't be touched when it comes to people making things up about him or his brothers.

Conclusion… (Reword the introduction)

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)