This music video for Childish Gambino's "This is America" tells a narrative story through its imagery and scenes of violence in the background of Gambino's dancing. It uses symbols and references to comment on gun violence and the Black experience in America. Camerawork follows Gambino and draws attention to the chaotic background. Facial expressions reference minstrel shows and scenes reference the Charleston church shooting and movie "Get Out". Billie Eilish's "When the Party's Over" music video features her in an all-white room drinking from a glass of black liquid. This liquid overwhelms and causes her to cry, symbolizing how toxic relationships take over people. Inspired by a fan drawing, the black

1. Task 1: Music video
research -
genre, industry and
audience
Niann Parsons

2. This is
America –
Childish
Gambino
(Narrative)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
VYOjWnS4cMY

3. Conventions
This is America is an example of a narrative music video as it
tells a story through the video. The target audience for this
video is young people starting from 16 to 25.
The song is a commentary on Black life in America and
Black American culture and how gun culture ties into the
African American experience . It contrasts to the pop culture’s
perception of Black experience and its often-brutal reality
by using happy, carefree choruses followed with dark,
aggressive verses. In the music video. Gambino portrays this
narrative by dancing around gleefully with school-aged
children, unbothered by the chaotic scenes of violence that
take place in background. However, in the final scene of the
video, he is seen running with a horrified expression through
a darkened warehouse trying to escape the mob that now
chases him

4. Media
language
Media language .is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the
audience. It works by carrying a meaning through signs and symbols by the way a
something is set up and filmed.
Camerawork: In the beginning the camera slowly moving forwards towards Gambino while
moving to the left .When the camera reaches him, it then moves away from him and
pauses and then continues to follow Gambino by track shooting him for most of the song.
This helps the audience to stay in focus on Gambino but to also to bring attention to
everything that’s happening in the background.
Mise-En-Scene: This music video is shot in an old warehouse.
Editing: This video uses pan-style cuts. This helps the narrative and the movement of the
video flow smoothly throughout the whole song.
Sound: the song has an upbeat tone throughout the whole song and a choir can be heard
in the intro and in the refrain of the song. The song also features rappers such as Young
Thug, Quavo, slim jxmmi, 21 savage and BlocBoy B1 doing adlibs alongside Gambino's
rapping.

5. Intertextuality
In the beginning of the video
Gambino, is dancing. But also
making strange facial
expressions His facial
expressions are a reference to
minstrel show faces that were
used to dehumanize Black
people in a cartoonish way
In this scene of the music
video Gambino walks through
a door and then can be seen
dancing with a Black church
choir but seconds later he
gets thrown an assault rifle
and shoots them all. This is a
reference to the Black church
shooting carried out by white
supremacist, Dylan roof in
Charleston Florida that killed 9
innocent Black people in
2015
Fifty seconds in Gambino kills
a hooded man was originally
playing the guitar at the
beginning. His pose is similar
to Jim crow sketches of Balck
people. The guitar strumming
man at the beginning who was
shot is similar looking to the
farther of 17-year-old Trayvon
In the ending scene of the music
video , Gambino can be seen
running down a hallway from a
mob of people. This is seen as a
reference to the movie Get Out. In
the movie somewhere called "the
sunken place" portrays

6. Hey Ya ! -
OutKast
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=PWgvGjAhv
Iw

7. Conventions
In the music video the lead singer is dressed in bright
green trousers and dungarees and the backup singers
are dressed as horse riders. These outfits are bright
and eye-catching and was also what was fashionable
and trending at the time but also allowed OutKast to be
different which appealed to them to their target
audience but is also conventional for the band to
matching in color. Dancing is a common theme shown
across this video and is very common in performance
music videos. The biggest convention of this video is
that OutKast is performing the song in the actual video
which is another common theme across performance-
based music videos.

8. Media
language
Camerawork: The camera shots change throughout the video the video until the end. It cuts
from the band playing on stage to the crazy fans in the audience all while following the
rhythm of the song. This is effectual because it gives the video a smooth look and gives a
variety of shots for the audience to look at and to stay engaged. These type of shots are
also common for performance videos
Mise-En-Scene: The music video starts off on a backstage set and then cuts to a tv presenter
taking to a crowd of screaming girls through a video camera in black and white in a tv set studio.
He then introduces OutKast, and the screen comes in to colour and the band is seen on stage and
starts to perform.
Soundtrack: The beginning sequence of the video is not included on the actual track but is there for
the purpose of performance element of the video. The song is very upbeat and has a 4-beat count
that is shown by the clapping in the video. The lyrics "Hey Ya!" Are a part of the song's catchy
chorus and the lyric " shake it like a polaroid picture" and "shake it" are the songs bridge and are
catchy but also are acted out - in the video the crowd can be seen taking photos on a
polaroid camera and then shaking the film that comes out and shaking their bodies
Editing: clips of a family watching and dancing to the live broadcast of the show is shown in the
middle-end of the video

9. Intertextuality
The video was inspired by
the Beatles appearance on
Sullivans show based on
the songs musical
structure
The song about is in
modern-day relationships,
people stay in them
because they just don't
want to be alone, not
because of their love for the
other person. The coffin on
Also, the green heart are
rumored to symbolize
togetherness of
relationships

10. When the party's over – Billie Eilish (concept)
(Billie Eilish - when the party's over - YouTube)

11. Conventions
The song is about toxic relationships and how
hard it is to let go of them.
In the music video Billie is sat in an all-white room
on a chair wearing white clothing and the
only thing with color in the video is the glass
filled with black liquid Infront of her and this is the
main focuses of the video. White has a
connotation of peace but the "peace" in the video
destroyed by the black liquid that Billlie drinks .

12. Media language
• Camerawork: The video starts off with a black screen for 2 seconds and then the music cuts in and
a glass filled with black liquid comes into view. The camera then zooms out to the side and Billie
comes into view dressed in all white the camera then zooms back in when as she picks up the cup
and drinks the liquid camera then slowly pans to the right and focuses on her face for the rest of the
video.
• Editing: there are not any cuts, there is zoom ins/outs and pan style movement.
• Mise-En-scene: the music video is shot in a white room.
• Soundtrack: the song has a slow piano melody with main vocals and background vocals.

13. Intertextuality
In these scene of the music
video Billie can be seen
drinking the black liquid and
then crying and coughing it
out. This symbolizes how
people stay in toxic
relationships and it get
incredibly overwhelming to
point where it takes over
them.
The black tears were
inspired by a drawing
Billie was given by a fan.