ANALYSIS: Black Eyed Peas - BIG LOVE

Black Eyed Peas - BIG LOVE

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Conventions, Industry and Audience

• This music video is counter - hegemonic 
• Track is repeated twice, two distinctive narratives 
• Warning at start saying "it is difficult to watch"
• Clash between freedom of speech and freedom of information + protection of children 
• The opening warning has a voice over of a young school age female
• Primary Audience younger males/females (teens)
• Uses and Gratifications due to lip syncing done by Teens in video
• Performance is integrated into the diegetic world
• At 5:41 there is a dolly zoom 

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• At 7:24 there is a woman seeing running to the beat which is part of Goodwin's visuals link to music
• Editing is selectively cutting to beat at times in video as seen with GIF below

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• Social realism is reflected with handheld(steady cam) 
• Conscious effort to keep movement going
• Low key lighting is also seen as social realism 
• Explores social issues
• Directly represents the underprivileged in this music video
• The underprivileged are the protagonist in this video, they are given a voice through lip syncing 
• Protagonist vs Antagonist
• Slow motion, but lip syncing is still on time  

Timestamp in video 5:00

• Cannot be screened pre-watershed 
• Too visually graphic 
• In America most TV programs will never screen even post watershed (especially advertiser funded channels)
• Directly critical of Trump 
• Lack of exposure through mainstream TV 
• Does it matter that there is no mainstream exposure on TV?
• Yes and no
• Yes they lose exposure through mainstream TV 
• No because, there is still online distribution 
• Web 2.0 (top-down model has become interactive, converged) (Top-down model is when corporations produce and audiences consume)
•   Has only 6.7M views which is not a lot compared to their most popular music video, The Time 

• Due to video being 9.40 mins long it requires a certain amount of time viewing the video for it to count as a stream on YouTube 

Quite high budget due to:

• Special effects
• Bullet wound effects
• Facial blurring 
• convergence
• *Twenty one Pilots GCSE (Simon)*
• Facial mixing (face appears on others) 
• CGI
• convergence between professional and amateur technology
• audience and producer technology being blurred  
• The high budget of music videos is more uncommon due to the DISRUPTION and due to DIGITISATION. Record companies sales are plummeting due to the huge decrease in sales and revenues of CD's. The DISRUPTION of CD sales comes from YouTube and other streaming services. 
• Hugely established band created music video, not some small Indie band, more likely to get larger budget.
• the big 3 (Sony, Universal, Warner) 
• continuity editing 
• Large amount of cast
• Large variety of locations
• Law enforcement props
• Expensive mise - en - scene

• Lighting can be used with candles as seen in this shot below 

•  Frame (below) is dominated by the coffin, person lip syncing is pushed towards of the left (not using rule of thirds intentionally to focus on the message)
• There is a high angle used to show weakness which is not as common as a low angle and unusual
•  Direct Address (looking directly at camera/you) is used to make the shot feel much more personal 
• Fairly Low key lighting used (shadow is shown) not over exposed, some fill lighting. They are very careful to try and not over do the fill lighting
•  lighting is still being controlled.   
• Majority of the shot is shallow field of focus to emphasise the message 
• Selective focus

Representations:

Preferred reading can be taken both ways of will.i.am being a person of positivity or seen as pedophellic in this shot. 

• Male science teacher
• still careful to include shots of female students in lab coats 
• Male P.E teacher
• P.E class is mixed gender 
• Different to what the representations was 30 years ago
• This can be seen as counter-typing