C1SA Beyoncé Formation ASY1 A level Media Studies

1. Component 1 Section A
Music Videos
Media Language &
Representation
Case Study:
Beyoncé Formation (2016)
Youtube playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=
PLUPxDOG-
YGRBBCE9znB4huFh3SU1lJXLu
Y1

3. What type (genre) of media
product is this?
How can you tell?
What are the codes (and
genre conventions) that are
present?
When is this media product
from?
Which clues suggest the time
of production to you?

4. Product Context
Formation, lead single for the
album Lemonade, was released
the day before Beyoncé
performed at the Super Bowl final
in February 2016.

5. Product Context
Responses to Superbowl
performance

6. Product Context
The Formation music video, was
directed by Melina Matsoukas
This music video has won
numerous awards including a Clio
Award for Innovation and Creative
Excellence in a Music Video at the
2016 awards, and best music
video category at the 59th
Grammy Awards.

7. Product Context
The video is set against the
backdrop of the flooding in New
Orleans following Hurricane
Katrina and the associated racial
tension in America, the
#BlackLivesMatter movement
and also draws historical parallels
with references to racism and
slavery.

8. Textual Analysis
Media Language
Denotation
Example
Denotation
Explanation –
purpose/effect/connotations
Visual Codes (colour, gesture, costume, design and layout, iconography, etc.)
Technical Codes (Camera , editing & sound).

9. Media Language
The music video follows many conventions of the genre:
Technical Codes: Camera
Performance/lip synching of the song by the artist directly to camera
(extra diegetic gaze/direct mode of address).
She is given power with low angle shots and the use of multiple MCUs and
CUs for position her closest to the audience.
Variety of camera shots (inc XLS of locations) and constant camera
movement give the visuals energy that matches that of the song.

10. Media Language
The music video follows many conventions of the genre:
Technical Codes: Editing
The video is a montage edit of multiple scenes/locations/settings/
characters that give a general sense of mood and tone, without being too
linear. This ambiguity allows for music videos to be watched multiple times.
The clips are edited in time with beats in the music (synched). This is
especially noticeable at the start.

11. Media Language
The music video follows many conventions of the genre:
Visual Codes: Costume- Appearance is always an important aspect of
how artists present themselves in music videos.
Period-style costumes are used to signify (Barthes/semiotics) different time
periods, especially antebellum (pre-civil war) southern America. Corsets
could also connote ‘repression’
However, they still fit the modern conventions slender, revealing outfits -
(low cut necklines, naked thighs, lacey underwear) used by modern
R&B/Hip Hop artists like Beyoncé to maintain her (empowered) ‘sexiness’

12. Media Language
The music video follows many conventions of the genre:
Visual Codes: Gesture
As is common for genre, video features highly choreographed dance routines
with singer and backing dancers. Here underlined by the need to get ‘in
formation’.
The group dance moves are very physical, angular and sudden/quick,
connoting aggression and power.
These are then in contrast to some of the intimate shots of Beyoncé when
she is alone, reclining or touching herself which appear more submissive and
sexualised

13. Media Language
The music video follows many conventions of the genre:
Visual Codes: Iconography
The video is loaded with symbols of Southern American culture, the
Police, floods, slavery, etc suggesting these are all themes that are
being discussed, and all interconnect in some way.
We also see references to black women’s hair and the underground
‘bounce’ music scene.
Often, representations are subverted as we see the slave owners house
depict black people in power and on paintings on the wall, and a young
black boy able to make the Police put their hands up.

14. Media Language
The music video follows many conventions of the genre:
Visual Codes: Visual Effects are overlaid during the car park dance
routine to give the video a vintage camcorder appearance. It is grainy,
distorted with a blue tint and overlaid with a PLAY symbol.
This has connotations of surveillance, home video and news footage all of
which suggest ‘real life’ and embed these dance routines with the other
footage from the documentary That B.E.A.T.
This also has connotations of ‘authenticity’
– a value especially important for many hip
hop and R&B artists whose credibility
depends on them seeming to come ‘from
the street’.

15. Media Language
The music video follows many conventions of the genre:
Narrative
The artist/singer is placed as the protagonist and narrator,
commenting on her surroundings and commanding the most power
status in the shots she is in.
Although across multiple locations and times, the structure is given
coherence by the non-diegetic song accompaniment.

16. Media Language
The music video offers a wealth of (sometimes conflicting / contradictory)
messages and possible meanings. Many of the references in the video
require an awareness of issues and events (such as the flooding in New
Orleans and racial tension in America).
In the same way that the hip hop music ‘samples’ other songs, this video
samples other videos and snippets of New Orleans/deep south America
culture.
This intertextuality creates extra layers of meaning for the audience. Some
of whom will be able to identify and relate to the references, others less so.
The video also requires a high level of media literacy to recognise and
understand intertextual references, such as footage taken from a
documentary about bounce called That B.E.A.T. and references to news
footage of police brutality, such as the lone dancing boy.
Read “11 references you missed in Beyoncé's Formation”

17. Formation Vs Theory:
Media Language
How can you apply each of the
following theories? Write a short
paragraph?
• Roland Barthes & Semiotics
• Stephen Neale & Genre
• Tzvetan Todorov & Narratology
• Roland Barthes & Narrative Codes
• Levi Strauss & Binary Opposites

18. Representation
Economic and political contexts:
In discussions about the various issues of representation in this video, we
should not lose sight of the purpose of the music video in relation to finance
and profit.
The video was released the day before her Super Bowl performance.
The combination of this release date and a performance to over 100 million
people impacted the global circulation of the video and the financial gain
for Beyoncé and her collaborators.
Discuss: Was the video designed to promote a political/cultural agenda or
to simply generate publicity and make money?

19. Representation
The video offers a range of different representations relating to race and
ethnicity. However, consider also the specific presentation of Beyoncé
herself as a construct and the ways in which her image is cultivated on-
screen.
What is Beyoncé's public image/persona? How does she want the world to
view her?
Which images/sequences have been selected to construct this on-screen
persona?
Beyoncé frequently makes direct address to the audience by gazing directly
at us, she stands in strong, powerful stances at the front of groups (of both
men and women), and perhaps most iconic is the image of her on top of the
police car.
Is this construction of her persona cultivated to sell records and gain fans,
rather than offer any meaningful insight into her personality /beliefs?

20. Representation: Ideology
The video appears to be loaded with social commentary.
In groups, discuss the following questions. Prepare a response to class
• What views about society are being expressed?
• What attitudes and values about race and gender are expressed?
• Do these views support the status quo, reinforcing the ‘dominant ideology’
or are they subversive? In what ways?

21. Formation Vs Theory:
Media Representation
How can you apply each of the
following theories? Write a short
paragraph?
• Stuart Hall & Stereotypes
• David Gauntlett & Identity