Music videos paper 1 section b

Objective: To understand the course and have a brief introduction to the music industry.

Media Messages (01) written
examination (65 marks in total or
32.5%)
• The exam paper is made out of
5 questions.
• Q4 & Q5 are section B of the
exam.
• Q5 will always be about music
videos.
Content Overview:
Q5 is worth 15 marks
You will have studied TWO
music videos in-depth in
preparation for this question.
We will be studying…
Objective: To understand the course and a brief introduction to the music industry.

• An in-depth study of TWO music videos
-Beyoncé ‘Sandcastles’
-Bob Dylan ‘Like a Rolling Stone’

“Music videos reflect the cultural context in which they were made”
Discuss this statement through a comparison of the two music videos
you have studied: one music video from list A (Beyonce) and one music
video from list B (Bob Dylan).
The sort of question you might be asked…

The music industry?
Discussion: What do you know about…
Who makes money and
how?

What does a record label do?
• A record label is essentially a brand or trademark.
• They are often responsible for the production, manufacture, distribution,
marketing and promotion of albums.
• The enforce copyright laws.
• They conduct scouting and development of artists.
• They maintain contracts with recording artists and their managers.
The 4 major record labels are:
They are the parent companies of
many small labels, including:
• SyCo Music
• Island Records
• Atlantic
• Epic
• Aftermath
• Cash money Billionaire
and many more…

Media Ownership
Universal is the largest media owner of the
music industry.
Independent labels are smaller and often
focused on more alternative genres.
An example:
Gingerbread Man Records,
Ed Sheeran’s record label.
Owned by bigger brand
Atlantis.

What do A&R people do?
The role of A&R has three main responsibilities:
• Finding talent
• Overseeing the recording process
• Assisting with marketing and promotion
As you can imagine, going to clubs, scouting new talent,
chatting regularly with recording studios, superstar
producers, and major stars, makes this one of the most
sought after jobs in the recording industry.
A&R stands for Artists and Repertoire. This is the division of a record label that is
responsible for talent scouting and the artistic and commercial development of
the recording artist. It also acts as a liaison between the artist and the record
label.
I love my job.

The song production process:
• A&R scouts find an artist
• A contract is signed
• An album producer is at the centre of the process
• Marketing may begin well in advance
• Team of songwriters produce songs
• Backing vocal artists are sourced and recorded
• Label heads oversee production and manage budgets
• Session musicians are employed, samples recorded
• The star records their vocals
• Music videos are produced
• The album is streamed or tracks given away
• The album is marketed and distributed globally

Who makes money?
The contract will dictate the percentage of ownership of any profit made from a
single song or album sale.
• Typically a superstar royalty rate is 20%
• Apple will take 30% of an album sale through Apple music
• Songwriters earn royalties when a song is played on the radio/adverts etc
• Artists earn money from touring ticket sales and album sales
Discuss:
Who actually OWNS a song?
Who is responsible for any issues that might arise?
Is the star to blame?

Independent Research
• History of the label
• Artists that they’ve signed
• Any other record labels that they own
Produce a fact sheet on each of the 4 major record labels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBBi8j3KlYM
Watch: Watch this BBC doc all about EMI

Objective: To understand Richard Dyer’s Star theory

Star Theory
How does an artist become
‘famous’?
Richard Dyer’s Star theory
Richard Dyer states that
celebrities are mere
commodities. Created by
larger corporations to target
a specific group of people to
make money.
The theory goes on to state that celebrities not only sell
a ‘brand’ or image to make money but that they can also
directly alter hegemonic beliefs and values. He argues
that true celebrities have a long lasting legacy if they
make a significant cultural or sociological impact.

Star Theory
How has music influenced
the ages?

Star Theory
Cultural impact:
The Beatles' story is inextricably linked with drugs. From their early pre-fame days on Benzedrine
and Preludin, to the flower-power era of cannabis and LSD, then onto harder drugs such as
heroin as the 1960s ended.
“I never felt any responsibility, being a so-called idol. It's wrong of people to expect it. What they
are doing is putting their responsibilities on us, as Paul said to the newspapers when he admitted
taking LSD. If they were worried about him being responsible, they should have been responsible
enough and not printed it, if they were genuinely worried about people copying.”
John Lennon, 1967

Star Theory
Richard Dyer’s
Star theory
Cultural impact:
Madonna has spent most of her career inspiring women (and men)
to push the boundaries of fashion and style. The most defining image
of her career arguably remains the wedding dress worn on the cover
of second album Like a Virgin, with its white bustier, long lace gloves,
crucifix jewellery and Boy Toy belt. Madonna’s long-time personal
stylist, Arianne Phillips, described the bright-white bridal
juxtaposition as “one of the most shocking, liberating and influential
moments in pop culture/fashion history”, adding that “fashion has
never been the same”.
Her famous hit: Material Girl was evocative of a time when women
were rivalling that of their male counterparts in the business world,
and having their own careers and disposable income.

Star Theory
Richard Dyer’s
Star theory
Cultural impact:
The term ‘Girl Power’ has become synonymous with the Spice Girls
and the 1990s. In fact, the US punk band Bikini Kill created the
phrase when they published a feminist zine called Girl Power in 1991.
The band's lead singer, Kathleen Hanna, said she was inspired by the
‘Black Power’ slogan. The term became popular in the early and mid
90s punk culture. "In their feminist fanzine Bikini Kill they articulated
an agenda for young women in and outside of music; the band put
those ideas to practice. Bikini Kill earned a reputation in the punk
underground for confronting certain standards of that genre; for
example, asking people to slam (‘mosh’) at the side of the stage, so
that women would not get pushed out of the front, and inviting
women to take the mike and talk about sexual abuse."

Star Theory
Richard Dyer’s
Star theory
Modern Day
Working in pairs or small groups create a music
timeline which includes modern day. Discuss
some of the bands or artists of today and the
cultural impact they have had on society.
Feedback?

Objective: To understand how music videos have evolved.

Today we will be
learning about the
history of music videos.
When do you think music videos
started?

When do you think music videos started?
Objective: To explore the history of music videos

Music Video Timeline
1929: Bessie Smith an American blues
singer made the first motion picture to
one of her songs which we recognise
today as the first music video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpVCqXRlXx4

The Panoram
machine was an
early video
jukebox that
played Soundies,
popular in the
1940s.

The Beatles produced a feature length film, “A
Hard Day’s Night”, featuring their own music in
1964.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGxjIBEZvx0
Bob Dylan created one of the first televised
music videos to his 1966 TRACK, “Subterranean
Homesick Blues”. It has become a cult classic
and has been parodied many times.

Advances in technology such as
chroma key (green screen) during
the 1970s, meant that music
videos became more visually
dramatic and impressive.
Suddenly, higher budgets were
spent on creating unique and
memorable music videos.

Producers started to realise the
power of the music video and
harnessed its advertising potential
by creating television platforms
such as Top of The Pops.

Michael Jackson championed new CGI
technology throughout the 1980s,
harnessing the advertising potential of
the music video with great success.
Other artists were quick to follow suit.
For the first time, budgets similar to
that of Hollywood movies were being
spent on music videos. Watch Michael
Jackson’s, “Can You Feel It?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nP4WE_-uqE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBf0yJVMSzI&list=PL11dd
5QkcdJDH4W1c3SQVwXSbgwmM2BBm
MTV changed everything! The best
thing to happen to music videos…
Watch the very moment this channel
began in 1981!!!!!

Modern Day…
Discuss and make notes on modern day music videos…
• How are they consumed and interacted with?
• How do they reflect society?
• What are some of the concerns or issues with music videos?

Modern Day Music Videos
Henry Jenkins calls this,
‘technological convergence’. He
has lectured about our new
technological age where lots of
media platforms are condensing
into one. It makes the spread of
information incredibly fast and
prolific.

Over to you…
Create your own
presentation entitled:
TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS OF
ALL TIME!
For each selection you must
explain why it has made your
list and how the video has
impacted the industry.
Watch this
countdown video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQoPx7v74f0

Objective: Learn how to analyse music videos

Analysing Music Videos
The audience expects music videos to follow set codes and conventions. We are often sold an image of luxury,
glamour and sexuality in the locations, beautiful celebrities and expensive objects.
Mise-en-scene
Glamorous locations
Lavish lifestyles (cars, houses)
High fashion / Designer clothes
High production values
Good looking men and women

Signs and Signifiers
Roland Barthes theory of signs suggests
that certain images, words or icons
come with predetermined connotations
which the audience decode according
to their cultural understanding.
Music videos are loaded with signs and
signifiers to connote certain ideas and
messages to the audience.
Sports car:
Wealth, success,
power, masculine
Lion:
Aggression, power
strength, masculine

Camera
Establishing shot of exotic locations
Close ups of the ‘star’
Pans and tracking shots
‘Dutch tilt’ angles
Experimental techniques

Lighting
High key lighting of the ‘star’
Naturalistic light to match the mood
Strobe/stage lighting effects

Editing
Fast paced editing throughout
Cutting in time with the music
Slow mo – typically of women
Sound
Little to no use of diegetic sound

Each group will be responsible for making notes on a different aspect of the video.
Feedback…

Objective: To explore music videos as postmodern texts

Postmodernism in music videos
What is your understanding of the term, ‘postmodernism’?

What postmodern factors feature in music videos?
Irony Playing with conventions
Black/dark humour
Intertextuality
Pastiche (pasting
together and
commenting on
things of the past)
Magic realism
(exaggeration)
Different perspectives
(excusing all values of
judgement)
Bricolage (construction or
creation from a diverse
range of available things)
Cultural flattening (weakening and
devaluation of cultural identities,
symbols, icons and traditions)
Knowingness
(cynicism)
Hybridization (swap purity for new
combos of genres, styles and media)
Eclecticism

Postmodern Theory
Baudrillard: Hyperreality
A condition by which
‘reality’ has been
replaced by simulacra.
When a sign loses its
relation to reality, it
then begins to
simulate a simulation.
The process in which a representation of
something comes to replace the thing which
is actually being represented.
The representation then becomes more
important than ‘the real thing’
Division between "real" and
simulation has collapsed,
therefore an illusion of an
object is no longer possible
because the real object is no
longer there.
Celebrities who reach a point at which every aspect of their lives is taken care of
by someone else are said to live in a hyperreal world.
They lose the ability to interact with people on a normal level and are cocooned
in Hyperreality.
Normal people often try to copy this, for example a fan of Snoop Dogg believes
their life relates to his, they genuinely believe that they live in the same world
as her. This is a common case in which someone has become more engaged in
the hyperreal world than the actual real world.

Postmodern Theory
Discuss: How do music videos construct VERSIONS of reality?

Postmodern Theory
Lyotard Narrative theory:
Lyotard rejected what he called the “grand narratives” or
universal “meta-narratives.”
Principally, the grand narratives refer to the great theories
of history, science, religion, politics. For example, Lyotard
rejects the ideas that everything is knowable by science
or that as history moves forward in time, humanity makes
progress. He would reject universal political ‘solutions’
such as communism or capitalism. He also rejects the
idea of absolute freedom.
In studying media texts it is possible also to apply this
thinking to a rejection of the Western moralistic narratives
of Hollywood film where good triumphs over evil, or where
violence and exploitation are suppressed for the sake of
public decency.
Lyotard favours ‘micronarratives’ that can go in any
direction, that reflect diversity, that are unpredictable.
Lady Gaga’s lyrics
are centered around
the metanarrative of
not answering her
phone in a
nightclub, and yet
the micronarrative in
the video is that
she’s in prison and
get’s bailed out by
Beyonce.

Postmodern Theory
Kramer: Postmodern music theory
According to Kramer, postmodern music challenges
barriers between ‘high’ and ‘low’ styles. Media texts
are often judged on their cultural value, classical music
for example is considered more ‘high brow’ than rap.
He also states that postmodern music:
• includes references to music of many traditions and
cultures
• considers technology not only as a way to preserve
and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in
the production and essence of music
• embraces contradictions
• encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
Fat Boy Slim features
samples in his records
and also won awards
for the video ‘Praise
You’ which was filmed
covertly in a ‘flash
mob’ style. The video
plays no relation to the
lyrics, contradicting
what we might expect.
His music features
electronic sounds and
mixes combined with
lyrics. The music is
eclectic featuring
various styles.

Lady Gaga Green Day Katy Perry Taylor Swift The Beatles Radiohead Madonna Iggy Azalea
Irony
Playing with
conventions
Black/dark
humour
Intertextuality
Pastiche
Magic realism
Different
perspectives
Bricolage
Cultural
flattening
Knowingness
Hybridization
Eclecticism

Independent Study
Choose one of the music videos we have looked at today (or one of your own) and
analyse it from a postmodern perspective. Aim for 500-600 words.
You must include:
-The features of postmodernism
-Baudrillard’s hyperreality theory
-Lyotard’s narrative theory
- Kramer’s music theory

To explore how narrative theory applies to music videos

Narrative Music Videos
Many music videos have their own narrative or storyline to entertain the
audience and maintain their attention through the duration of the song. We can
apply various narrative theories.
Propp Narrative Theory
Propp noted the seven spheres
of action, many stories and
fables contained seven recurring
character types or themes that
drove the narrative forward.

Todorov’s narrative theory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzZ_urpj4As

Pre-watching teaching ideas:
• Print colour copies of screenshots and get
students to put them in order and create a
narrative.
• Give students a selection of shots and get them to
create analysis posters to feedback to class.

Using the still images you have been given, create a ‘narrative’ to accompany
Beyonce’s music video.
Be prepared to present your
ideas back to class, explaining
how the narrative theory
applies!

CASE STUDY 1: Beyonce ‘Sandcastles’

To explore how music videos represent groups or individuals in society

Theories of
Representation
Goffman looked at the
gender differences
between men and
women in advertising,
we could argue the
same issues are present
in music videos too.
• Women are represented as being inferior to men
• Oftentimes, women appear in the background
• Women are seen reclining or laying down suggesting
submissiveness
• Women are ‘dismembered’ by the camera angles so we
only see their bodies
• Women are portrayed in an infantile way making them
appear younger than their actual age

Representation
of Women in
Music Videos
• Women are often sexualised in
the media however we could
argue in music videos there
seems to be a hyper-
sexualisation that occurs.
• Women are seen dancing
provocatively, touching
themselves, males or other
females.
This creates a huge debate – Two
schools of thought;
• Women asserting their
femininity and expressing
themselves sexually
• This is damaging and
problematic as if males did this,
it would be seen as offensive.
Postmodern feminists,
such as Angela McRobbie
state that the modern day
woman is liberated
through her ability to
choose how she dresses,
acts and behaves.
She goes on to say how
girls are sold the idea that
their main quest in life is to
find a man and seek
happiness through
marriage, so she would
support women who take a
different approach.

• Mulvey’s work is influenced by
the theories of Sigmund Freud
and Jacques Lacan
• She suggested that women are
objectified and connoted “to-be-
looked-at-ness” in films.
• They become an object of desire
and are positioned for the erotic
pleasure of the male viewer.
• They are positioned for the ‘male
gaze’
• Mulvey suggests that there were
two distinct modes of the male
gaze: "voyeuristic" (i.e. seeing
women as 'whores') and
"fetishistic" (i.e. seeing women as
'madonnas').
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=LDZX4ooRsWs
Laura Mulvey
Is this necessary!?

Challenging
Representations
• Some female artists
challenge the stereotypes
and are rarely sexualised
e.g. Adele, Meghan Trainor
and More recently Lorde.
• These artists subvert
expectations offering
empowering lyrics and
stunning vocals.
• https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk

Do men suffer from the same demeaning
representations in the media? Yes or no?
Masculinity

• Connell suggests that one
version of masculinity is
sanctioned as the one to
which men should adhere
to, which she termed
hegemonic masculinity.
• There has been little
change in hegemonic
masculinity over the years
and a strong
representation of the four
themes of the male sex
role (stoic, aggressive,
dependable and not
feminine).
Raewyn Connell

Hegemonic
masculinity
• Hegemonic masculinity is
competitive and reflects a
tendency for males to seek to
dominate other males and
subordinate females
• Characteristics such as drive,
ambition, claims to self-reliance,
and heterosexuality.
• McCormack defines other
hegemonic traits: “homophobic,
misogynistic, and aggressive”
• Is this evident in rap and hip
hop?
• https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=uelHwf8o7_U

Homo-Eroticism
• Sexual attraction between members
of the same sex, either male–male
or female–female. The concept
differs from the concept of
homosexuality: it refers specifically
to the desire itself, which can be
temporary, whereas
"homosexuality" implies a more
permanent state of identity or
sexual orientation
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=FuwTgZOKcf8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=BiEEJds8JFE

Watch Beyonce’s Sandcastles
Create spider diagram.
Are there any issues of gender representation?
Can this be linked to wider expectations of the genre?
Have any expectations of gender been subverted?
Task

To analyse Beyonce’s Sandcastles as prep for the exam

Beyoncé Knowles
• Earnings: as of 6/12/17 $105 M
• Beyonce's Formation World Tour, which
wrapped up in late 2016, grossed a
quarter of a billion dollars.
• Last year's album "Lemonade" was her
sixth solo No. 1.
• Along with husband Jay Z and other
musicians including Madonna, Beyonce
owns a piece of streaming service Tidal.
• Beyonce took a break from the stage
during the pregnancy and birth of her
twins in June 2017.

Beyoncé Knowles - Beginnings
• Now at the age of 35, Beyonce is a
worldwide celebrity superstar. However
her upbringing was relatively humble.
She is the daughter of a hair dresser and
sales manager. She didn’t finish high
school as she began singing in talent
competitions from the age of seven,
often shocking the judges with her
amazing voice. Her father saw the
potential and became her manager, he
promoted Beyonce and her friends who
later became known as, ‘Destiny’s Child’.

Exam Text 1: Sandcastles
As we watch the video make notes on the production of the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD38JT8rypY
Mise-en-scene Camera
Lighting Editing & Sound
Signs and signifiers

Mise-en-scene

Signs and signifiers

Camera

Lighting

Editing & Sound

To understand the teachings of bell hooks and make links with Beyonce
Print the following slides as a student handout

bell hooks
Her real name is Gloria Jean Watkins, but she is better
known by her pen name bell hooks (intentionally
uncapitalized). She is an American leftist author, feminist,
postmodern political thinker and cultural critic.
Her writing has focused on;
• interconnectivity of race
• capitalism
• gender
• systems of oppression and
• class domination
hooks has addressed race, class, and gender in education,
art, history, sexuality, mass media and feminism, primarily
through a postmodern perspective.

Ain’t I a Woman Black Women and Feminism examines;
• the impact of sexism on black woman during slavery,
• the historic devaluation of black womanhood,
• black male sexism,
• the marginalization of black women,
• racism within the recent women’s movement and,
• black women’s involvement with feminism
It is widely considered as a response to the literature, which spoke to and about
white middle-class women and largely ignored black and minority women of
lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

• sexism seems as important as racism as an
oppressive force
• sexism and racism together caused black
women having the lowest status and
worst conditions of any group in American
society
• black women are all but ignored
• feminism is (should be) a movement to
end sexism, sexist exploitation and
oppression
• scholars deliberately minimize the black
female slave experience

The source of sexism;
• white colonizers from Europe brought
sexism from their homelands to colonized
lands
• a black woman slave was usually cheaper
than a black man slave on the slave
market
• planters recognized an economic profit in
having black women slaves on purpose of
slave breeding
• black women’s perfect obedience made
them an ideal subject for slavery

bell hooks
According to hooks, in terms of power, it goes something
like this:
White men: can oppress all.
White women: can be oppressed by white
men, but they can also oppress black women, and
may be even more ruthless doing so, to enact a
power they would not be able to yield otherwise.
Black men: Black men are oppressed by white
men, but can in turn oppress black women.
Black men marrying white women is the
most accepted form of
interracial marriage.
Black women: Can be oppressed by all the above. Their
experiences are largely ignored by both the feminist and the
racial equality movements, erasing their history and negating
their existence.

“Most Americans, including black people,
acknowledge and accept this hierarchy; they have
internalized it either consciously or unconsciously.
And for this reason, all through American history,
black male rape of white women has attracted
much more attention and is seen as much more
significant than rape of black women by either
white or black men” (p.53)

• many black women attempted to shift the focus of attention away
from sexuality by emphasizing their commitment to motherhood
• white male slave-owners created a body of myths to discredit the
contributions of black females
• even black women see themselves through these negative myths and
stereotypes
• No matriarchy has ever existed in the United States
• as a consequence of all these facts mass sexual exploitation of
enslaved black women was a direct consequence of the anti-women
sexual politics of colonial patriarchal America

Changing attitudes?
• Michelle Obama has been heralded as one of the most
influential black women in America. As First Lady she
played an enormous role in shaping attitudes towards
black women in America and also across the globe.
The First Lady Michelle Obama recently launched an initiative
called Let Girls Learn with incredible goals in mind. With Let
Girls Learn as her vehicle, Mrs. Obama hopes to put those 62
million girls in school by means of funding education projects
such as scholarships, safe transportation, and suitable
bathrooms so girls don’t have to stay home when they
menstruate. Mrs. Obama lays out all of her ideas in an article
she wrote recently for The Atlantic.

Changing attitudes?
The First Lady Michelle Obama recently launched an initiative
called Let Girls Learn with incredible goals in mind. With Let Girls
Learn as her vehicle, Mrs. Obama hopes to put those 62 million
girls in school by means of funding education projects such as
scholarships, safe transportation, and suitable bathrooms so girls
don’t have to stay home when they menstruate. Mrs. Obama lays
out all of her ideas in an article she wrote recently for The Atlantic.
Beyonce supported the campaign and spoke openly about how
inspired she was by the First Lady.

Changing attitudes?
• Oprah has lots of celebrity power in the US
• Oprah was the first female billionaire in the US
• She has had a successful acting career
• She was a famous talk show host
• Was involved in the 2008 presidential campaign,
supporting Obama and gaining over a million votes for him
• Led a campaign to establish a database of child abusers
following her own abuse in childhood
• Her private charity supports the education of women
worldwide donating over $40 million“The synergy of her talk show, book club, Web
site, magazine, radio channel, personal growth
tours, YouTube channel, Facebook page, and
forthcoming cable TV network have made
Winfrey not only one of the “most trusted
brand names” in America but also “The Queen
of All Media,” as Forbes put it.”

"Sandcastles“
Text: ‘forgiveness’ Baptise me, now that reconciliation is possible. If we’re gonna heal let it be glorious. One thousand girls
raise their arms. Do you remember being born? Are you thankful? For the hips that cracked the deep velvet of your mother
and her mother, and her mother, there is a curse that will be broken.
We build sand castles
That washed away
I made you cry
When I walked away, ooh
And although I promised
That I couldn't stay, babe
Every promise don't work out that way, oh babe
Every promise don't work out that way
Dishes smashed on my counter
From our last encounter
Pictures snatched out the frame
Bitch I scratched out your name
And your face
What is it about you?
That I can't erase, baby
When every promise don't work out that way
No no oh baby
When every promise don't work out that way
And your heart is broken
Cause I walked away
Show me your scars
And I won't walk away, Ooh
And I know I promised that I couldn't stay, babe babe
Every promise don't work out that way, no no no
Every promise don't work out that way

Read online article: https://www.bustle.com/articles/156559-transcript-of-
beyonces-lemonade-because-the-words-are-just-as-important-as-the-music
Beyonce’s album ‘Lemonade’
Is Lemonade all about Jay Z? Is it about Beyoncé's parents? Did Jay Z cheat on
her? Is everything OK? But perhaps the most powerful element to the album
was Beyoncé's speaking parts throughout the songs and chapters, which
features poetry by Warsan Shire, a Somali-British poet. More often than not, the
words in Lemonade were eerie. What does it all mean?
Beyoncé speaks slowly and distinctly against quiet backgrounds with crickets in
the distance. "Anger" ends with the words "Why can't you see me? Everyone
else can," while "Apathy" begins with, "So what are you gonna say at my funeral,
now that you've killed me?" In the middle of "Resurrection," she says, "Why are
you afraid of love? You think it's not possible for someone like you. But you are
the love of my life." Deep stuff, am I right?

Beyonce: Strong black mother
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM89Q5Eng_M&list=PLxKHVMqMZqUSPF1
1Ghs0KqDfOGhB9Vw5E
In her title track on the album
Beyonce features very personal
snap shots of her pregnancy and
early videos of her and Jay-Z.
This echoes the photo shoots she
did in early 2017 to announce
their pregnancy of twins.

Written Task
1. How far does the music video for Beyonce’s song ‘Sandcastles’ construct or
reflect social and political attitudes towards race?
2. How does Beyonce’s song ‘Sandcastles’ reflect historical issues and events?
3. What influences does the music video ‘ Sandastles’ show?

To explore the influences of the artist Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan: What do you know about him?

Bob Dylan: 60s Movement
Bob Dylan is an icon of the 60s blues and rock movement.
Bob Dylan appealed to the
disaffected counterculture’s
emphasis on peace and love,
especially with the sliding
approval rates of the Vietnam
War. As public approval of the
Vietnam War dwindled in the
latter half of the 1960s, popular
music artists began to record
songs that reflected this
disapproval and ultimately
became a new method of protest.

Controversial US tactics included the chemical attack using ‘Agent Orange’, it caused children
to be born with severe disabilities and affected thousands of innocents.

Watch: Forrest Gump Clip
Forest Gump features scenes of fighting in the
Vietnam war and also featured Bob Dylan
songs in the soundtrack. The movie shows the
horrific nature of fighting in the intense jungles
and also the anger many US citizens felt
towards the war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij6pABt366s

Explore: Read the lyrics…
‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ is arguably Dylan’s most influential song, encompassing
many of the emotions Americans were experiencing through the tragedy of war
and heightened political tensions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqEcFUW9Ai4
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind
Yes, 'n' how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Research Task
Conduct a page of research on either:
The 60s hippie movement and the music of the era.
OR:
A biography of Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan and Capitalism
What is capitalism?
“an economic and political
system in which a country's
trade and industry are
controlled by private owners for
profit, rather than by the state.”
Great if you want to own a
business, own land, inherit a
fortune or own lots of media!

Bob Dylan and Capitalism
What is Marxism?
Marxism is the phrase given to
the critical thinking of Karl
Marx. He was concerned with
the methods of production in a
Capitalist setting.
The cost of producing goods
does not reflect the cost of the
goods overall. Most of the
profits go to the factory/land
owners and not to the
labourers.
• America feared that Vietnam would become a communist country, so
supported anti-communist leaders in South Vietnam and gave them money to
fight the communist North Vietnamese.
• There is estimated to be 843, 000 civilian deaths in both the North and
South

Bob Dylan’s Interactive Music video…
http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html
America feared that Vietnam would become a communist country, so supported
anti-communist leaders in South Vietnam and gave them money to fight the
communist North Vietnamese. There is estimated to be 843, 000 civilian deaths
in both the North and South.
In groups:
Look at the screenshot you have been given and make notes on:
• the genre of the channel
• what does the channel suggest about feelings towards capitalism and
society?

Student Presentations
Create your own presentation on the two exam texts:
You must include:
• Who produced the video? Record labels?
• Analysis of key camera shots, exploring mise-en-scene, codes and theory.
• An explanation of how the music videos construct and reflect social ideas.
• Links to other music videos of the same genre, are there many similarities or
differences?
• How the music videos were received by audiences online. Where do they
appear? Forums? Comments? Awards?
Present these back to class in one week!

Music videos paper 1 section b

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Music videos paper 1 section b

Similar to Music videos paper 1 section b (20)

More from Helen Williams

More from Helen Williams (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Music videos paper 1 section b