Media Studies - Music Videos

1 Media Messages
Section B MUSIC VIDEOS
Emeli Sande – Heaven
David Guetta - Titanium
Media Language & Representation

Our Chosen Music Videos are:
David Guetta featuring Sia - Titanium Emeli Sande - Heaven

AIM: Interpret the media language and
intertextual references in ‘Heaven’ and
evaluate how the music video represents the
artist
Media Messages Exam
About 18-20 mins
10 marks
May be asked a question
about one or two music
videos.
FOCUS: Media language and
representation; contexts
(social/historical/cultural/polit
ical)

SECTION B Media Language and Representation
Explain how representations in music videos are
chosen to promote the artist(s). Refer to one of the
music videos you have studied to support your
answer. [10]

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.

What is a music video?
The media language used in a music video will
generally do one or more of the following:
• Reflect the tone of the song
• Comment on the song
• Reflect the public image of the artist
• Reflect the style of the producers

The History of the Music Video
http://matheussiqueira.com/a-brief-history-of-music-video/
1927 The Jazz Singer – first talkie (musical)
Performance
Not able to perform https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX4xuhPKzrI
MTV 1981 US 1997
UK banned TV and radio 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q0JP3tcoHQ
2005 The YouTube era
TOP 10 music videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQoPx7v74f0

Media Language and Technology
The music video dates back as far as the 1960’s and the Beatles films
However the form took off in the 1980’s (led by MTV) which created a demand
As the number of TV channels grew with satellite and cable channels more
niche music channels were created
Early music videos were shot and edited on film but with the emergence of
digital cameras and non-linear editing, it became cheaper and more assessable
for people to produce - the pace and complexity of music videos also
increased.
Light weight cameras enabled diverse locations (especially ‘Street’ locations
like Sandi’s Heaven)

The History of the music industry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bVketPj5to
Watch the short film and answer the following
questions
Create a timeline of events

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/signing-
with-an-indie-label-2460744

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/si
gning-with-an-indie-label-2460744

Produce a fact sheet for both
chosen videos

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

Style of Music Video
Naturalistic
Social realism – real life conditions
Fantasy. Period cinematic
fantasy
Expressionism possible
elements of post modernism
and/or intertextuality

Style of Music Video
Contrasts
Lyrics desire to be better and lure of
temptation
V upbeat nature of song
V gritty social realistic imagery
Linear narrative
Themes of alienation
Expressionism – not naturalistic
Intertextual references to Super
8 and Stranger Things

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

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?

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

Theorists already studied
Liesbet Van Zoonen – objectification of females in a
patriarchal society
Judith Butler – performativity – gender is a construct by
society
Hell Hook – feminism is a political struggle
(Male Gaze – Laura Mulvey)

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
Performance
Sound – sound track

MEDIA LANGUAGE
Narrative
Genre
Themes
Messages
Ideology
Social Realism /Urban

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)
FOR FURTHER INFO:
https://www.slideshare.net/jude.holmes/lesson-2-goodwins-music-video-theory-introduction-roland

Representation: audience responses and contexts
(consider Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory)
Audience interpretation of music videos representations might depend on a number of
differences
Fandom and musical preference
Gender
Sexuality
Race/ethnicity and nationality
Age
Class
Region
Political affiliation

Heaven by Emeli Sande (2011)
Media Language and Representation

Analysis of Emeli Sande - Heaven
Somebackgroundinf

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

Emeli Sandé born 1987
Scottish singer and songwriter. English mother and Zambian father
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.

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.
(owned by Warner Music Group since 2013)
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.

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?

Lyrics
Will you recognize me
In those flashing lights?
I try to keep my heart beat
But I can't get it right
When I'm lying on my back?
Somethings gone inside me
And I can't get it back
Oh heaven, oh heaven
I wake with good intentions
But the day, it always lasts too long
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
When I'm stealing from a car
You're not gonna like me
I'm nothing like before
When I lose another friend
Will you learn to leave me
Or give me one more try again
Then I'm gone
Songwriters: Michael Spencer / Shahid Khan / Hugo Chegwin / Harry Craze / Emeli Sande
Heaven lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
Then I'm gone
I wait with good intentions
You say that you're away
I try but always break
'Cause the day always lasts too long
Then I'm gone (repeat)

You could analyse:
MEDIA LANGUAGE
1. Sound (inc lyrics)
2. Mise en scene (setting, costumes, lighting colour, body
language etc)
3. Camerawork – moves, angels, shot sizes etc
4. Editing pace. (EXTENSION Kuleshov effect – cutaways creating
a message)
5. REPRESENTATION – Youth, gender, socio-economic , ethnicity

Heaven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=883yQqdOaLg

This is a song of contrasts:
The lyrics contrast the desire to be a better person with the lure of
temptation.
The downbeat message of the lyrics contrasts with the upbeat nature of
the music.
The media language of the video reflects these contrasts:
Gritty social realism, reflecting the downbeat message of the lyrics (the
sorrows caused by temptation).
Images of transcendence, which reflect the Heaven of the title and the
upbeat music (power of redemption)

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”.)

Social realism:
The set of conventions by which audiences accept a representation as
reflecting real social conditions, especially the plight of the poor or
powerless. ‘A window on the world.’
Transcendence:
Existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level. E.g. "the
possibility of spiritual transcendence in the modern world“

Create a PowerPoint, give it the title above.
TASK 1 – How media language connotes social realism
Pick 3 moments from the music video that you think construct a sense of social realism.
Analyse the media language at these moments by making reference to at least two technical
areas (e.g. mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound) and how they convey a sense of social
realism.
Use screengrabs to illustrate.
See example on next slide >>

Heaven – How Media Language Connotes Social Realism
In terms of mise en scene,
the naturalistic looking
characters and the very
everyday, unglamourous
location (filmed in the East
End of London) highlighted
by shuttered shop windows,
scaffolding visible in the
background and overcast
grey sky all construct a
sense of social realism. The
handheld camerawork also
adds to this.
The montage editing style places this shot between
shots featuring religious imagery and, along with the
lyrics and uplifting non-diegetic soundtrack, encourages
the audience to consider ideas of trying to do good in
everyday life.

The high angle wide shot of
the woman wearing red ….
…connotes that she is
descending into a dangerous
or evil situation…
Red is often used to signify
danger (Barthes Semiotics
theory) but also red dresses were
worn by prostitutes in the
Victorian era. This could suggest
that the woman is about to
commit a something immoral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJJRyPIsD9Q

Denote (media language) encode +
Connotations (association) decode +
significance (why have they used this)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bow0Y9QUlBU

Roland Barthes SEMIOTICS
1. Hermeneutic/Engimatic Codes – Lures a reader/viewer in to solve
mystery. A hook
2. Proairetic / Action Codes – Foreshadows. Something will happen
3. Symbolic Codes – Hidden meaning. A symbol that signifies
something
4. Semantic Codes – A hidden meaning. (generally something you
cannot touch/narrative/genre/colour etc)
5. Cultural/Referential Codes – Something you would understand if
you were part of that cultural
(historical/age/gender/ethnicity/religion etc)

TASK 2 – How media language connotes transcendence
Pick 3 moments from the music video that you think connote transcendence.
Analyse the media language at these moments by making reference to at least two technical areas
(e.g. mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound) and how they convey a sense of
transcendence.
Use screengrabs to illustrate.
Extension task: Find examples of juxtaposition and comment on how media language
(particularly editing and mise en scene) is used to illustrate and amplify the conflict
communicated in the lyrics. Can you refer to any of Barthes’ semiotic codes? Or Levi
Straus’s Binary Oppositions?

Transcendence
The framing of Emeli Sande positions her very
low in frame, emphasising the enormity of the
sky above her. Sky is often used to signify the
presence of God and heaven.
Her eyes are raised upward as if she is
directing her line: ‘Will you recognise me?’ as
if in pray. This adds a scene of sympathy as if
she is guilt-ridden and worries about the after
life.
The colours are mutes and soft focus is used to
suggest an ethereal atmosphere.

Analysis of Emeli Sande - Heaven
Naturalistic – ‘window
on the world’
Social realism – real life
conditions
Contrasts:
Lyrics desire to be better
and lure of temptation
V upbeat nature of song
V gritty social realistic
imagery
Performance AND Narrative

This video represents the negative consequences of giving in to temptation
and at the same time celebrates street life.
The consequences of temptation are represented by a succession of sad faces. A
diverse range of people are depicted reflecting an inclusive representation
strategy in terms of gender, race and ethnicity, age and class.
As it cuts to different people, locations, time periods and moods it connotes a
kaleidoscope of people and their experiences.
The idea of street life as rich in character and variety.
No clearly dominant race or ethnicity.
Heaven – Media Language and Representation

This video represents the negative consequences of giving in to temptation
and at the same time celebrates street life.
Temptation is represented early in this video by a shot of a woman in a red
dress – this is a rare sexualised image of women in the video.
Emeli Sande is not sexualised in this manner.
Class is represented in the ordinariness of the location; the video is celebrating
urban working-class life.
Emeli Sande is represented as belonging to this world as suggested by her
unglamourised costume, location and performance style (not often looking at the
camera)
Heaven – Media Language and Representation
Subverts
Van
Zoonen’s
objectificatio
n of women
theory

Audience Positioning and ideology
Tries to position the audience as identifying with Emeli Sande and her inner
struggles.
Conveys the view that the world is full of temptation but also innocence and
richness.
The video invokes a left-leaning ideology by suggesting sympathy with outsiders
and underdogs.
It is anti-racist in its assumption of multiculturalism
Heaven – How Media Language and Represenation

INTERTEXUAL REFERENCE – borrows from
another style/product
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_CUd5apse4
https://www.slideshare.net/jude.holmes/intertextuality-in-titanium

INTERTEXUAL REFERENCE – borrows from
another style/product
Nostalgic – Super 8 appearance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1SKyr-GkVk

Age
How is age represented?
Youth
Teenagers
Old people

Age
How is age represented?
Youth
Teenagers
Old people
Innocence. High key lighting, bright colours, happy characters, being protected
Low key lighting, subdued colours, serious characters, in dangerous, eluding to
illegal activities. Tattoos. Reflective. Temptation: drugs, sex, back of a car, dark
tunnel
Unhappy. Homeless. Result of sin?? Punished. Ready to ‘meet maker’

Music Video – What to revise?
The 10 Golden Bullet Points
1. How do the representations in the music videos chosen by the producers promote the
artist?
2. How do the music videos reflect individuals or social, cultural and historical issues and
events?
3. How are the music videos influenced by the concept of intertextuality?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_CUd5apse4
4. What viewpoints/representations and messages and values does the media language of
the music video highlight about society and how realistic do you think these
representations are?
5. Do the music videos challenge or subvert the codes and conventions of a music video?

Music Videos – what to revise
The 10 Golden Bullet Points
6. Have stereotypes been used in a positive or negative manner (or both) how and why?
7. When placed in a global context do you think that the music videos offer representations
that are under or over represented in society. Why do you think this?
8. How have the social and cultural contexts affected the representations on offer in the
music videos?
9. How are the audience positioned to respond and interpret the representations/messages
and values/ideologies that the music videos offer the audience?
10. How has the music videos’ version of reality been constructed through the techniques of
re-representation?

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.

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.”

The social realism is connoted through a range of media language. The camerawork is largely handheld and
not always in focus, which especially when combined with the use of real East End of London locations and
naturalistic-looking characters (who may be ‘real people’) connotes documentary style realism. Emelia Sande
appears to be the exception in this video in that she is clearly wearing make-up, however her portrayal in the
opening singing in a forlorn manner looking out of a very ordinary looking bedroom window hardly connotes
glamour. Her performance, while energic, does not include dancing, which would break the naturalism, and
she quite often does not directly address the camera, implying that she may be a character in this drama
rather than just the star performer. The editing style is very jumpy (though not jump cuts), a sit cuts away to
different people, locations, time periods and moods it connotes a kaleidoscope of people and their
expressions. One striking juxtaposition is from a low angle shot of a very ordinary-looking street to a statue
of Christ on the cross to a young woman in a white dress. (Kuleshov Effect or Montage).
The images of transcendence include a recurrent low angle shot of Emeli on a rooftop that fills the frame
with the sky, a long shot of clouds rolling in the sky, another of a flock of birds taking off, a medium shot of a
man dancing ecstatically with his arms outstretched. These combine with the fast pace editing to bring
connotations of joy and freedom to the video.
The narrative of the video is structured by a sense of a narrative disruption caused by the wrong moves
depicted in the song – this is shown visually in the shots of people looking let down. The video has an
enigmatic ending that does not provide a satisfactory resolution – Emeli’s character walks away form the
mand seen earlier waiting for her at the end of a tunnel. This lack of resolution fits the tone of the song
which is about internal conflict.

Viewpoints and ideologies in Media Language
Music Video Viewpoints and
ideologies
How the Media
Language incorporates
these
Emeli Sande Celebrates the desire
to be better, possibly
a religious message.
Social realistic media
language depicts the
sorrow caused by
temptation but also
suggests the power of
redemption

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

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?

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)
Are any of the themes from the lyrics visually represented? If so, what examples
can you give?
How are particular social groups represented in the video? Make reference to
media language
What media theory could be applied here?

https://loretob1group5.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/emeli-sande-heaven-media-language/

David Guetta featuring Sia - Titanium

Bullied / isolated
Adults v children
Being different
Being resilient
Metaphor – guns/bullets for words
Intertextual reference – Speilberg-esque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuEdncp5XfM

Take a theme each.
Find a image/images that represent the given theme
Analyse Media Language and Representation
Use the theorists you have studies so far: Van
Zoonen, Barthes Semiotics, Levi Strauss Binary
Opposition, Todorov’s Narrative theory
Intertextuality – Spielberg-esque

If audience does not
get the references
they can still
understand the text.
If audience does get
them it flatters them,
and they may feel in
on the joke – another
‘pleasure of the text ‘
Intertextuality - meaning is given to a text by it referencing, knowingly, other
texts

EG: The Beatles and The Simpsons - London

EG: Thank U, Next
Intertextual references to 4 films:
● Mean Girls
● 13 Going on 30
● Bring it On
● Legally Blonde
● In addition – she references Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ video

Titanium has intertextual references to
Steven Spielberg films such as
● ET (1982)
● Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978)
● Also in 2009 JJ Abrams directed a film which was supposed to be an homage to
Steven Spielberg. The Film is SUPER 8

Spielberg's representation of the family
● The nuclear, functional family is often
torn apart.
● Spielberg introduces the supernatural
and extra-terrestrial into domestic,
suburban settings.
● He comments on family breakdown:
absent mothers / fathers and feelings of
abandonment.
● Children that feel alone and isolated.
Specify how this relates to Titanium

Recreation of Spielbergian early 80s suburban America in Super 8
and Titanium

Intertextuality: Steven Spielberg, JJ Abrams

Ryan Lee (actor) from Super 8 (2011) (produced by Steven Spielberg)
During the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and
investigate subsequent unexplained events in their small US town.
Using the same actor (Ryan Lee) helps enhance or even anchor the intertextual
references in Guetta’s video

How does the music relate to the visuals?
How do the lyrics relate to the visuals?
What representations of age are constructed?
Screen grab key shots and discuss aspects of the camerawork, lighting and mise-en-scene to support your
points.
Questions 1

Questions 2
What attitudes and values are represented?
How are audiences positioned by the text?
What effect(s) might the intertextual references have on meanings and reception of
the text?

Who is Sia?
● Along with other songs, "Titanium" was pulled from radio stations in the US after the 2012 Sandy
Hook Elementary School shooting.
● In 2016 Sia gave an emotional performance of the song to help raise money after the Florida shooting
of 49 people in Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Extend your understanding
You can relate some of the ideas from these articles to Titanium:
Spielberg - Close Encounters article
Spielberg - children and bicycles
Super 8 Article
Stranger Things and Spielberg
NB Stranger Things is one of our set texts next year

CONVENTIONS Performance Music Videos
Soundtrack is primarily or completely the music track
Expressive camerawork and editing mirrors the tone of the song, but conventionally aims fro
movement

CONVENTIONS Narrative Music Videos

Viewpoints and ideologies in Media Language
Music Video Viewpoints and
ideologies
How the Media
Language incorporates
these
David Guetta Celebrates survival An immersive world
created by high
production values and
narrative construction
that encourages
identification with the
lead character and his
quest to survive.

Social and Cultural Contexts
Music videos reflect the changes in cultural context
Before the internet – pop music was consumed by buying records or attending concerts. People had to go out
and spend money to access music (except radio which was not playing popular music until the late 1960’s in
the UK).
Fandom was encouraged – especially cult bands and pop sensations for a mass audiences
NOW music videos are freely accessible via YouTube/Vevo etc Now there is a plentiful choice.
NOW many video videos display contextual influences
Celebrity Culture - how the performer is represented
Multiculturalism – race and ethnicities are mixed (although some groups for example Asians are still lacking)
Feminism – featuring women singers who also wrote their material ad are not sexually objectified in the
videos
Changing Attitudes to sexualities – to some extent – a range of gender identities are seen in some music
videos

Postmodernism
David Guetta’s video uses a loving pastiche (homage) of older films
in order to create a self-contained fictional world that relates only
on theme to the song it accompanies
Titanium reflects the cultural prestige given to Hollywood film and
the respect given to the film director in European, especially French
culture. (auteur)

Stereotyping and under misrepresentation
David Guetta’s Titanium knowingly uses Stereotypes in an intertextual manner
Childhood is stereotypes as a time of uncertainty and new discoveries in a mostly
uncomprehendable adult world (a sympathetic stereotype)
School is negatively stereotyped as a place of constraint – which mirrors the negative
stereotypical representation of the forces of law and order
By contrast cycling is a positive stereotype – as moment of freedom and escaping the
restriction of adults (boy speeds past joggers)
ALL Stereotypes that reflect a child’s view on the world.
Gender stereotypes – female teacher and male police officers – reflect 1980s world in
which the video is set
Racial stereotyping – the only black character is in the SWAT team and in an otherwise
white American suburbia

Discourses, ideologies and audience positioning

David Guetta/Sia: Titanium
1. What type of music video is it? (Performance, Narrative,
Mixture)
2. Is it a social realistic music video or post modern /
intertextuality?
3. Which of the music video codes and conventions does it
follow/subvert
4. What themes does it consider? (Use examples of action, lyrics
etc to support your answer)
5. How are the following represented: Youth, Conflict

Christmas Homework question
MUSIC VIDEOS
1. Compare the themes in two music videos you have studied
(Heaven and Titanium).
2. Analyse how each of them follow or challenge the codes and conventions of
contemporary music videos?
3. Compare how youth is represented in each?
Use examples to support each point (remember your analysis writing table)
You may consider: lyrics, media language (camerawork, mise en scene, sound, editing,
performance), representation of socio-economic categories, gender, ethnicity
Stretch and challenge: You could also refer to theorists we have studied so far (Van
Zoonen, Todorov, Stuart Hall Reception theory, Levi Strauss’ Binary Oppositions etc)

The question:
Q 2: [specimen] Explain one way in which music videos use media language to differ from each other.
Refer to one example of contrasting media language in two music videos you have studied to support
your answer
AO1(1a) Demonstrate knowledge of the theoretical framework of media
AO1(1b) Demonstrate understanding of the theoretical framework of media

References
Rodgers, M. (2018) My Revision Notes: OCR A Level Media Studies, Hodder: London
Heaven – How Media Language and Representation

Media Studies - Music Videos

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