Media Studies Revision for Music Videos

1. 1 Media Messages
Section B MUSIC VIDEOS
Emeli Sande - Heaven
REVISION
Preparing for the Key Assessment
Media Language & Representation

2. What is a music video?
A music video is a short film integrating a
song and imagery, produced for promotional
or artistic purposes.
Modern music videos are primarily made and
used as a marketing device intended to
promote the sale of music recordings.

3. Different Styles
Performance – artist/band singing
Narrative – a story
Conceptual – related to the song lyrics
Or A combination of more than one of
the above

4. Andrew Goodwin
Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1992
1. A music video will possess genre characteristics (pop- love, metal – aggression etc)
2. There will be a relationship between the Lyrics and the visuals
3. There will be a relationship between the music and the visuals
4. Record label often wants to feature close ups of the artist (Star Image) for
commercial reasons
5. There is often a voyeuristic element (watching, nudity, screens etc) – objectification
of a female body/bodies (Liesbet Van Zoonen)
6. Often intertextual references (elements borrowed from TV, Films etc)

5. Elementstoconsider

8. REPRESENTATION of characters featured
Age
Gender
Socio-economic / Income
Ethnicity/Culture
Social Groups

9. Richard Dyer’s Typography (1985)
1. What is being represented?
2. How is this representative of social groups?
3. Who is responsible for the representation?
4. What does the audience make of it?

10. Representation
Stereotypes – short hand, unrealistic
Archetypes – characters seen again and again
Stock Characters – Vladimir Propp’s stock character – Princess,
villain, hero etc
Strong Woman, Vulnerable. Damsel in distress

11. MEDIA LANGUAGE
Cinematography – shot sizes, camera angles,
camera movements, framing
Mise en Scene – Props, costume, hair, body
language, facial expressions, location, lighting,
colour
Editing – pace, transitions, cut on the
beat/transitions, cutaways

12. MEDIA LANGUAGE
Narrative
Genre
Themes
Messages
Ideology
Social Realism /Urban

13. Emeli Sandé born 1987
Scottish singer and songwriter. English mother and Zambian fath
She featured on the track "Diamond Rings" by the rapper Chipmunk (2009).
Sandé released her first solo single "Heaven" in August 2011.
2 number-one singles in the UK:
◦Read All About It with Professor Green
◦Beneath Your Beautiful", a collaboration with Labrinth.
Her album Our Version of Events spent ten non-consecutive weeks at number one and became
the best-selling album of 2012 in the UK, with over 1 million sales.
In 2012, she performed in both the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London Olympics.
She won two Brit Awards at the 2013 ceremony: Best British Female Solo Artist, and British
Album of the Year.

14. Emeli Sandé born 1987
Genres: RnB, Gospel and Soul
Singer Songwriter and musician
Record Labels: Virgin, Virgin EMI and Capital

15. Emeli Sande – Background to Heaven
Adele Sandé is a Scottish R&B and soul singer-songwriter who records under the stage name of Emeli
Sandé. Before pursuing music, Sandé studied medicine at University of Glasgow. The Scot first entered the
public eye in 2009 when she featured on rapper Chipmunk's debut single, “Diamond Rings," which gave
her and Chipmunk a first top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart. In 2010, Sandé appeared again on Wiley's
“Never Be Your Woman," which became another top ten hit, and on “Let Go," which was the closing track
of Tinie Tempah's debut album. Sandé also co-penned Alesha Dixon's single “Radio." The same year she
signed her first major record deal with Virgin Records before signing another deal with EMI in 2011.
This euphoric Trip-Pop tune is Emeli Sandé's debut solo single. She wrote the song with Naughty Boy, who
is a British grime producer who previously collaborated with her on "Diamond Rings" and "Never Be Your
Woman.“ It was also the first release from Sandé's debut album, Our Version of Events on 14 August 2011.
The single was added to BBC Radio One’s playlist in June 2011. The song was also crowned record of the
week by the station’s daytime DJ, Fearne Cotton. The single is written by Sandé, Naughty Boy, Craze and
Hoax, with producer Mike Spencer.

16. Introduction – Heaven
Lyric Analysis
1. Read through the lyrics
2. Choose the most powerful words and phrases that provoke thoughts and ideas about themes,
context and representation of social groups.
3. Do they give you any hints about what the music video could involve?
4. Are any themes evident through the lyrics of this song?
5. Would you expect Emeli Sande to have a large role in the video?
6. Would it be mainly a performance or narrative video?

17. What Themes are evident in the lyrics?
Religion (Title, “I wait with good intentions”)
Hedonism (“Will you recognise me in the flashing lights? I try to keep my heartbeat…”)
Guilt/Regret (“Something's gone inside me, and I can't get it back”.)

18. Emeli Sande – Background to
Heaven
Digital Spy said that the song is a mixture of pacey house beats, mellow strings (arranged by Cliff
Masterson) and Mark Ronson-esque horn sections. The song was also compared to Leona Lewis (whom
Sandé has written tracks for) and Yasmin. One critic said that the song was “ticking all the good boxes in
modern urban music." Critics also said that the song "stunned" them when they heard the song. The
single was released accompanied by a music video, which was filmed in London, UK which premiered on
August 22, 2011 on Emeli Sandé's official YouTube account. Throughout the video the music has scenes
of Sandé singing to the sky, and standing outside of a Cathedral, there are also many shots where Mary,
mother of Jesus' statue is seen in the video. The single was released via digital download and 7” vinyl on
14 August and 15 August 2011, respectively. The single was made to pre-order several weeks before it
was released on iTunes
The song's music video was directed by Jake Nava, who has previously worked with Beyoncé, Alicia
Keys, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. It was shot in Bethnal Green, in East London where Sandé lives. "We
wanted to capture a real British vibe and keep it really simple to emphasize the lyrics," the singer
told Spinner.

19. Emeli Sande Said…
Emeli Sandé said this about the song,
“Heaven came from a conversation I was having with my producer Naughty Boy, we were
talking about what it means to be good in this day and age, and how it’s harder for our
generation because things move so fast, and how there’s so many influences and
avenues, and he said, You just have to keep your heart clean. It was the imagery of a clean
or dirty heart that inspired me, and we wrote it in about half an hour. I knew I wanted it
to be my first song from the off.”
“I definitely believe in God and I believe in heaven, although I don’t follow religion.
Heaven was about trying to be good. My idea of heaven? A lot of music, somewhere very
calm. I felt it at Christmas with the family around. Kids are so pure and innocent, and one
was learning the piano. It reminded me of when I was learning.”

20. YOUR TURN
- 1 or 2 questions each
- screen grab and add your answer/observation
-Email to me
- File name should include your name and the area
analysed (number)
eg Fred Bloggs Cinematography 3
Many of these PowerPoints are now on the
Student shared area:
Media Studies/MEDIA 2017/Music Videos/Student
answers ppt

21. 1. Lyrics and their relationship to the visual?
2. Relationship to music and visuals
3. Cinematography – a specific shot/camera move and
emotion/meaning made
4. Editing – pace? On the beat?
5. Cutaways and their significance?
6. Mise en scene:
A. Props and their significance/meaning
B. Costume and their significance
C. Hair and make-up and their significance
D. Location and their significance

22. E. Mise en scene continued- Body language/facial expression and its
significance?
F. Style? Intertextual references?
7. Representation of Females?
8. How is youth represented?
9. Representation of social groups featured?
10.Conventions followed for pop / R&B genre?
11.Which of Andrew Goodwin’s conventions does this music video
follow?

23. MAINSTREAM or ALTERNATIVE?

24. Further Revision for Key Assessment
Mahara/
Jude Thornton White/
Making Messages/
Media Messages/
Music Videos

25. Themes and
Representation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=883yQqdOaLg
(You may need to watch it more than once!)
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS… (PLEASE WRITE OUT ANSWERS IN YOUR BOOKS FOR DISCUSSION)
1. Are any of the themes from the lyrics visually represented? If so, what examples can you give?
3. How are particular social groups represented in the video? Make reference to media language
4. What media theory could be applied here?