BEYONCE MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

Production context

1. Lead single for the album Lemonade

2. Released the day before Beyonce’s performance at the Super Bowl Final February 2016

3. Album only available on streaming service Tidal

4. Sing released for free on Tidal

5. Parkwood Entertainment produced the music video which was distributed by Columbia Records

6. Music video was uploaded on YouTube - more than 250 million views!

7. Beyonce’s 6th studio album

8. Produced by Melissa Matsoukis who has also produced for Rihanna and Nevo

9. After the performance the Formation World tour was announced with pre sales beginning 2 days later

What is the 4 points of CULTURAL CONTEXT behind the ‘Formation’ music video?

1. The video is set behind a backdrop of the flooding in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina - caused one of the biggest displacements of black people in history.

2. Racial inequality and tension - both in the present and historically

3. Celebration of black heritage and culture

4. Beyoncé as a successful businesswomen

What are 2 points of SOCIAL CONTEXT behind the ‘Formation’ music video? - Documentary, House of Dormean and TIDAL

1. Beyoncé and Jay Z released a documentary in 2013 on racial injustice - an 8 minute mini documentary

2. They made headlines by bailing out Black Lives Matter protestors from jail

3. The House of Dormean the clothing line established by Beyoncé and Tina Knowles has earmarked a percentage of their profit in benefit of the Survivor Foundation

SOCIAL CONTEXT - Charities

Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland set up the charity The Survivor Foundation - a charitable entity set up to provide transitional housing for Hurricane Katrina victims and storm evacuees in the Houston, Texas area. The Survivor Foundation extends the philanthropic mission of the Knowles and Rowland Centre for Youth - a multi purpose community facility in downtown Houston

The Survivor Foundation seeks to rehabilitate extent housing in the Houston area and provide the mean for new building construction and the deployment of housing units for transitional shelter for the families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

What is the 2 points of HISTORICAL CONTEXT behind the ‘Formation’ music video?

1. Beyoncé marched onto the pitch, clad in skintight leather and Michael Jackson style gold sashes, with a posse of impeccably choreographed dancers dressed as 70s Black Panthers

2. The Black Panthers practiced militant self defence of minority communities against US government. 2016 marks 50 years since the FORMATION of the Black Panthers

What are 5 imagery analysis points in the ‘Formation’ music video? 1

1. Beyoncé talks about her own success - ‘I might be a black Bill Gates in the making’

2. Turns around sexual stereotypes - she would reward a good lover ‘I might get your song played on the radio station’

3. Celebration of Mardi Gras - black hairstyles and natural hair

4. Martin Luther King - political icon ‘I dream it. I want it. I work hard I own it’

5. Black Lives Matter - stop shooting us

What are 5 imagery analysis points in the ‘Formation’ music video? 2

6. Church

7. Beyoncé’s own heritage

8. Black cowboys - an iconic representation of (white) masculinity

9. Urban setting - driving and dancing in a parking lot

10. Basketball stars

What are 4 imagery analysis points in the ‘Formation’ music video? 3

11. The emergence of black, gay rap in New Orleans

12. Disaster footage

13. Slavery turned on its head - historical costume and setting (antebellum dresses worn by wealthy white women

14. Get into Formation

What are 3 video analysis points in the ‘Formation’ music video? 1

1. Lots of wide angle shots to include the setting

2. Beyoncé is always centre frame - the camera moves away, towards (zooms in and out and tracks) or around her. We are always reminded of her star status although she is part of the ‘Formation’

3. Actuality footage - clips from a documentary about the hurricane, from various places in the city. To create a picture of New Orleans and its people

What are 4 video analysis points in the ‘Formation’ music video? 2

4. Montage editing - moves between different time periods, reflected through costume changes. So aesthetic is varied throughout

5. Costume reflects Beyoncé as equal to men and as equal to wealthy white women of the past

6. Low angle shots of child in front of police officers - a child’s perspective. Innocence but fighting back

7. The different settings - different faces of New Orleans, unrelated clips but create a sense of place - prawns, Mardi Gras, preacher

What are 5 representation notes that could be argued are used to cultivate a persona to sell record? 1

1. The plantation scene shows Beyoncé owns the people within it, she is centre-focus and in power. Is she therefore suggesting that she is also above people of her own ethnic group because she is the star?

2. Sexualised representation

3. Costumes: tight, expensive, short, fashion statements, revealing desired parts of the black body

4. Constructed by stylists and makeup artists, selected to appeal to fans

5. Music video is a marketing technique employed by the music industry

What are 5 representation notes that could be argued are used to cultivate a persona to sell record? 2

6. Lyrics are self-centred and not outwards facing

7. No emphasis on other representations, lacks real representation as there is a lack of diversity - white people in New Orleans?

8. Focuses on her persona as a star which she constructs through her positioning and the looks she adorns

9. Video’s popularity will increase her own success, not bring change to Black Lives or Katrina survivors more than 10 years later, publicity such as interviews, articles, critical commentary, increase marketability and popularity, making her current

10. Hairstyles depicted also demonstrates Beyoncé’s versatility - she is reimagining her identity

MODEL ANSWER 1 - ‘How are social groups represented in Formation’?

P - The representations of people of colour in Formation are positive as they subvert historical representations of black women, showing Beyoncé as a powerful figure

E - For example, the widely-framed medium long shot denotes Beyoncé and a group of men standing in front of a large colonial style house. They all wear smart, black clothes connoting they are equal

E - This is an important narrative throughout the video as Beyoncé discusses her wealth and stature throughout

T - This challenges Hall’s theory, in a sense, as he suggests stereotypes are used to reduce people to a few, simple traits, but here Beyoncé turns around the ‘inequalities of power’ in her representations

MODEL ANSWER 2 - ‘How are social groups represented in Formation’?

P - Black women are represented as equal to wealthy white women of the past in the music video

E - This is evident in the widely-framed shot of the group of black women sitting together wearing white ‘antebellum’ dresses that would have been worn by wealthy, white women in the 1800s, when black women in this area would mainly have been slaves

E - this portrait style shot reflects the era, subverting the roles black women would have had at the time and therefore empowering modern black women.

T - according to Gauntlett, this would allow some groups to construct their identity, using these more diverse representations of women of colour.

What do the racial tensions following Katrina offer?

• Evidence of tensions

The racial tensions following the flood - easily accessible through Kanye West’s comments about the ex President George Bush at the time - offer the chance to consider the way in which Beyoncé invites her audience to interpret historical circumstances

Intertextual references in ‘Formation’:

Footage taken from a documentary about bounce, ‘That B.E.A.T’ and references to news footage of police brutality - such as the lone boy dancing

How does Beyoncé use Direct Address?

Beyoncé frequently makes direct address to the audience, gazing directly at us.

She stands in a powerful and strong stance at the front of groups - of both men and women!

The most iconic image is her on top of the police car

How do the costumes contrast and conflict throughout the ‘Formation’ video?

Antebellum dresses are seen to be referencing slavery which contrasts heavily to the more stereotypical ‘pop’ signifiers such as the tight fitting and revealing outfits worn in some dance scenes

How do the performances contrast and conflict throughout the ‘Formation’ video?

There is a shift from moments of aggression - such as making obscene gestures using her fingers, to more culturally recognisable dance routines that seem less loaded with political and cultural messages

EXAMPLE EVALUATION OF FORMATION: POLICE SCENE

In Formation, a young boy dances in front of a long row of riot police. A medium shot from his perspective tracks along the line of faceless officers - emphasizing how intimidating they are. The boy dancing connotes innocence, the meaning anchored through the shot of ‘Stop Shooting At Us’ on a nearby wall. This is related to the #blacklivesmatter movement and therefore current social context.