A little about Beyonce and Jay Z:
* Beyoncé
being a RnB singer and Jay Z being an American and have been in the music industry for many years, still in the music industry now that they are married and with child.
* The couple
have previously made music videos together such as ‘Bonnie & Clyde’.
* They have promoted many values and ideologies through music as well as Beyoncé's acting career.
* These values and ideologies are extremely important as the couple are looked up by many individuals and are many peoples role models.
REPRESENTATIONS:
* Beyoncé presents the illuminate symbol at the beginning of the music
video, this creates mystery and interest for
the audiences.
* Many well known brands such as Timberland BMW, Manolo Blahnik etc. are also shown throughout the music video,
this is significant as it represents Beyoncé and Jay Z as wealthy and superior.
* This is a typical ideology in the RnB and
Hip Hop industry therefore, by showing these brands the music video follows the
popular codes and convention (glamorous lifestyles, crime, money and wealth).
* The way in which Beyoncé and Jay Z are
represented in the music video is accurate as they are taken as role model by
money individuals therefore by them having the values of being superior and
wealthy allows their fans to want to work hard to become like them and look up
to them.
* The representations which have been
previously mentioned are extremely accurate for a music video made by Jay Z and
Beyoncé are from the RnB and Hip Hop Industry.
* The reason for his is that there has been
a lot of wealth, fabulous lifestyles, designer clothes and nice cars which is a
typical convention for a RnB/Hip Hop music video.
MEDIA LANGUAGE/KEY CONVENTIONS:
- The key conventions and motifs which are
re occurring throughout jay z and Beyoncé's music video is money, crime,
branded clothing and living the wealthy/glamorous lifestyle.
- The is a large use of mise-en-scene
throughout the music video; for example, Beyoncé's hand gesture of an
illuminate sign at the beginning of the music video portrays her and jay z as
to having a great deal of power and as being superior.
- Also as they are seated on a bed counting a lump sum of money it again
illustrates their wealth and glamorous lifestyle.
- There is then the reference to the
‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) movie as there is again money, crime and the glam
living.
- The props, iconography represent money
such as helicopters, expensive cars etc.
- The camera keeps switching from Mexico to
USA showing free-ways this portrays the American dream, money and how Beyoncé
and Jay Z keep escaping from different locations with all the money they have.
- The clothes worn portray their personalities and shows they are on the run.
- Branded clothes showing their wealth and the close up of the
Louis Viton bag fitting for the genre as well.
- The lighting is high key lighting as it
is during the day and showing they couple on the run and beating the law.
- Furthermore the camera angels are
significant to the music video as the high angle shot of the police show they
are superior and in control however Beyoncé and Jay Z still manage to escape
them therefore showing they are stronger together.
- Robinson also does close up shots of
Beyoncé in a hat and red lipstick which is voyeurism as it could be portrayed as being sexual.
- Surrounding setting of the house and
empty house ; relates to the genre as it shows wealth.
- Camera flips from long shot of police to
long shot of the criminals therefore showing how they are opposites and the
difference between the law and crime.
- The music video is both narrative and
performance based.
- Narrative; police are talking at the
beginning and at the end
- Narrative; through the lyrics, Jay Z is
rapping about ‘Timberland’ and ‘Burberry’ then the couple are wearing
Timberland and Beyoncé is wearing a Burberry swim suit.
- Furthermore, he raps abut different cars
such as ‘BMW’ and ‘freeways’ and the video goes on to show the couple escaping
through freeways in different cars.
- The performance is then portrayed through
Beyoncé and Jay Z singing directly to the camera and dancing which also
portrays their star image.
INSTITUTION:
* The music video was composed by Shaun
Carter, Kanye West, Prince, Tupac Shakur, Ricky Rouse, Tyrone Wrice and Darryl Harper for Jay Z;s
seventh studio album.
* The beat is from American rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996
song ‘Me and my girlfriend’ and inspired by the crime film ‘Bonnie and Clyde’.
* The music video was directed by Chris
Robinson.
* It was nominated the best music video in
the MTV video music awards.
* The music video have been distributed in
many ways as there has been a large group of individuals working on the
production and promoting it through social networking sites as well as through
the TV and on award shows
* There had also been a problem with the
song and other singers.
* Toni Braxton has started an argument with
Jay z and Kanye as she accused them of copying her in using Tupac Shakur's beat
from ‘Me and my girlfriend’.
- This is because she had composed a song ‘me and my boyfriend’ to be released just when Jay Z and Beyoncé's song got released.
- This is because she had composed a song ‘me and my boyfriend’ to be released just when Jay Z and Beyoncé's song got released.
* However, Jay z and Kanye denied these accusations and Jay Z also said if he had
know Toni Braxton wanted to compose a song with the same beat he would have
done a duet with her for Bonnie and Clyde.
GENRE:
o This particular text/music video belongs
to the Hip Hop/RnB category the reason for this is that Beyoncé is a RnB singer
where as Jay Z is an American rapper.
o The major generic conventions through out
the text are the re occurring motifs of wealth for example the surrounding
setting shots of the house as empty pool and the stack of money shows how
wealthy the criminals are as well as their glamorous lifestyles
o Furthermore there is the narrative of
designer clothes followed by the performance as the couple are then shown
wearing brands such as timberland, Louis Vuitton and driving cars such as
Mercedes Benz.
o There is the generic theme of crime and
law as the camera shots show long shots of the police followed by long shots of
the criminals therefore illustrating the difference between the two and the
difference between them.
o The characters/singers are extremely
generically determined as they stick to the themes and genre through out the
whole video showing the importance or it.
o The singers are also successfully running
away from the police showing crime as a main theme therefore relating back to
the Bonnie and Clyde movie (1967).
o Furthermore as they as using a beat from
Tupac Shakur's song ‘me and my
girlfriend’ Beyoncé and Jay Z are even more determined to insure they do
justice to the beat.
o The audiences expectations of the song
are fully met as by ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ audience’s expect there to be crime,
money and glamorous lifestyles which is shown throughout the video by the two
singers as well as by the directors actions of the camera angles etc.
AUDIENCE:
- The music video is targeted towards
demographics E D class as it is crime and running from the law HOWEVER due to
the money and designer motifs it could also be said that the music video is
targeted to A class audiences.
- The audience for a music video like
Bonnie and Clyde would be individuals who listen to RnB and Rap music.
- A large variety of the audience would
also be 16-27 year olds this is because they would have been brought up
listening to both Beyoncé and Jay Z as well as others in the same Genre as
them.
- Bonnie and Clyde music video has
previously been criticized as to following the hypodermic needle theory as
Beyoncé does the illuminati sign at the beginning of the video therefore
causing audiences to believe and question the ‘illuminati’.
- The music video also follows the Uses and
Gratification theory as music tends to help audiences divert themselves from
their everyday life and feel as though they can escape into the life of Beyoncé
and Jay Z in the music video.
- The audiences reaction to the music video
is greatly influenced by their age, gender and background this is because many
individuals may have not been brought up with rap/RnB/hip Hop music therefore
it may not be a norm for them also if elderly or young you may have not grown
up listening to Beyoncé and Jay Z therefore they will not have that much of an
interest in their music.
VALUES AND IDEOLOGIES:
* The major ideologies and Values within
the music video are to escape from the law and to live a wealthy glamorous
lifestyle… This is shown through the actions of Beyoncé and Jay Z as they
successfully run away without being caught by the police with a great amount of
money.
* Furthermore, the values which are
naturalized with the music video are the values of being together through thick
and thing , once again shown through the actions of Jay Z and Beyoncé
* The criteria which I believe have been
selected is crime and justice which is the major theme from the Bonnie and
Clyde movie.
* The text does reinforce the mainstream
values and ideologies we see in modern Britain to some extent.
* The reason for this is that there is a
great deal of materialism in modern day Britain therefore by the music video
showing that wealth and the glamorous lifestyle is a large part of what they
need to be happy shows how materialistic they are.
* Moreover, the fact that Beyoncé and Jay Z
are expressing their love and showing they are able to do anything together
also reinforces the values and ideologies in modern Britain as many people
believe they are able to do anything when with their partner also many people
have began to rely on others.
* Furthermore, crime levels have also
increased therefore the crime in the music video portray the event in modern
Britain.
NARRATIVE:
^ The narrative of this music video is
extremely important to be structured in a way it will tell the story promptly
as if this was not done the music video would not make much sense.
^ Furthermore, the music video is
structured and organized in such a way that the criminals are made to look
superior over the police as they are able to escape the law successfully.
^ The audience is positioned as to being
important in relation to the music video as most of the time Beyoncé and Jay Z
are singing/rapping directly to the camera therefore making audiences feel as
though they are singing directly to them.
^ At the beginning of this music video the
police have been perceived as being superior as the heroes as they are catching
the criminals however, as the song goes on it is evident that Beyoncé and Jay Z
are superior and the heroes as they are able to successfully escape the law not
only once but several times
^ Also the fact that they are doing it
together brings a sense of romance and love to the narrative.
^ The police officers talk at the beginning
therefore bringing a sense of narrative to the performance.
^ Moreover, a lot of the narrative is
followed by the singers actions; for example when Jay Z says ‘Timberland’ and
‘Louis Vuitton’ there is a scene where Beyoncé and Jay Z are both wearing
Timberland shoes.
