Annya's A-Level Media Blog // Mr Halsey

1)   Music Video - introduction and factsheet questions 2)  Music Video theory and This Is America analysis 3)  Common -  Letter to the Free  context and analysis 4)  Michael Jackson -  Billie Jean  context, analysis and MM article

Media Magazine reading:  Billie Jean , birth of an icon Go to our  Media Magazine archive  and read the case study on  Billie Jean  - birth of an icon (MM62 - page 20). Answer the following questions: 1) What was the budget for  Billie Jean ? How did this compare with later Michael Jackson videos? this video had a budget of $300000, while other videos like thriller had a budget of $2million. 2) Why was the video rejected by MTV? They didn't want to 'play music by a black guy' because it didn't suit their 'middle America' audience of the time before being threatened by the music producer to be exposed as racist to the public. 3) Applying Goodwin's theory of music video, how does  Billie Jean  reflect the genre characteristics of pop music video? He lip syncs throughout the narrative of the video, and paired with the dancing there is a large amount of performance in the movie style narrative. His costume and character all elude to an artistic pie

Social and cultural context Read this  Billboard interview where Common talks about  Letter to the Free , political hip hop and contemporary American society. Use the article and the notes we have made in lessons (also available above) to answer the following questions on the social, cultural and genre contexts for Letter to the Free . 1) What other projects has Common been involved in over recent years? John Wick, Selma, Suicide squad 2)  What is the 13th Amendment of the American Constitution? The 13th amendment abolishes slavery with the exception of using it as a punishment for criminals. It wasn't long before white people began to exploit the loophole and target black people for minor crimes/ falsely persecute them in order to restore their supremacy. 3) What were the Black Codes? The  Black Codes  were laws passed by  Southern states  in 1865 and 1866 in the United States after the  American Civil War  with the intent and the effect of restricting  African Americans '

Horror handheld camera movement Fast paced  Dialogue Fast paced editing with high frequency soundtrack soundtrack is eery and the sound effects create hyper tension and anticipation jump scares Dialogue overlaps throughout scenes mise en scene (lighting remains dark throughout trailer) Jumpscares and silent scenes  graphic scenes and dialogue to create discomfort Statement of intent: Script: A dark room trap/hip hop music plays quietly, increases volume gradually (Diegetic) CHARACTER 1: receives message on phone  music stops slow zoom in on phone followed by CHARACTER 1 dropping the phone in pain CHARACTER 1: *cry of pain* close up of burnt hand  silence phone notification followed by close up of screen:a notification appears saying 'the game chooses you' Female off screen: Are you just going to ignore us? Don't be so rude.   fast pan to demonic woman  Female: the game chose you. *la