Music Video Research 1 - Formation

Artist: Beyonce
Track: Formation
Director: Melina Matsoukas

Camera/Editing/Visual Style/Mise-en-scene
The camera used in the music video is constantly moving. When Beyonce is dancing it moves forwards towards her so the focus is on her however it will move back on itself so we can see the dancers in the dancing scenes of the music video. There are a range of Medium Close ups of Beyonce however there is no Big Close Ups of her as the main point of interest is not her, it is the story the music video is showing through the different types of visuals. In part of the music video, it shows Beyonce and her dancers being recorded on a video tape suggesting they are being recorded by police this is reiterated from the beginning of the music video when Beyonce is leaning and standing on top of a New Orleans police car in a flooded street. The music video seems to be predominantly about the issue of racist police as another part of the video shows a young black child dancing in front of the police which the camera then cuts to a shot of a spray painted wall which says 'STOP SHOOTING US.' Near the end the camera shows a Close Up of a black man holding up a newspaper called 'The Truth' with civil rights activist Martin Luther King on the cover. An interesting shot is when everything in the background is still and the only thing moving is Beyonce's head up and down. At the end the police car from the beginning of the music video sinks in the flood with Beyonce on the top of it whilst in slow motion.

Narrative
The whole story of the music video is that black lives matter. It tackles the problem that racism is still present in parts of the USA, this music video particularly singles out New Orleans as at the very beginning the first lyric spoken is 'what happened at the New Orleans.'  I also know this because every person in the music video is black including Beyonce's own daughter featuring in it which shows that the topic is something she is committed to and wants to raise awareness of. The video shows black power protests and gospels in church. The dancers in the video also signifies feminism especially as there are a lot of dancers.

Conventional/Unconventional
The music video is unconventional, it strays away from typical R&B/Hip-Hop music videos. It's unique in the way it portrays the lyrics in the song and it begins the same and ends with the same visual. It is not we as an audience usually expect of Beyoncé's videos, the majority of her videos is based upon her whereas this video tackles an issue in society.

What works?
The setting of the music video and some of Beyoncé's lyrics work together, the lyrics she sings correspond to how Beyoncé is a black woman and is proud of it and no matter where she is now, she will never forget where she came from. However what doesn't seem to work is the voice over of the video, what he says is quite random and for the most part is not needed to be there