Music Video Analysis Practise

This is America - Childish Gambino

Camera:
F - Frame
A - Angle
M - Movement

Mise En Scene:
C - Costume
L - Lighting
A - Actor
M - Makeup
P - Props

Editing:
S - Screen Time
T - Transitions
O - Order of Narrative
P - Pace
S - SFX

1. How is this video commenting on historical, social, cultural and political issues?
Dancing and shocking violence with the uncomfortable juxtaposition with reference to black lives and culture.
2. What is the role of Glover in the video?
He is a microcosm for America.
3. How does this promote him as an artist?
He come across as someone who values equality and wants to see social change.
4. In the opening scenes, Glover uses grotesque smiles and exaggerated poses, why?
Glover was commenting o racism by referring to Jim Crow and how black people were used as entertainment. 
5. Guns vs black lives - what representation is constructed here?
Guns are treated better than black lives: the gun is carried off carefully by a nicely-dressed man.
6. What is the significance of the choir?
A direct reference to the 2015 Charleston massacre in a church. 
7. Camera pan to black men on mobiles? What is the significance of this?
Refers to the case of Stephen Clark, shot dead because they thought he was armed when in actual fact he only had an iphone on him.
8. Why the White horse in the background of the frame?
Refers to the Bible, Revelations 6:8
9. Juxtaposition of dancing and violence, why?
Could be read as people happily adopting black culture and turning a blind eye to the violence it can affect on black people.
10. What do the empty cars and burning police car signify?
The empty cars could possibly signify black stereotypes and how they could be potentially 'stolen'
11. What is the significance of 17 seconds of silence?
The seventeen second pause in the music video help represent and signifies the seventeen children killed in a school shooting in America.
12. What is the intertextual reference in the closing scene?
The intertextual reference in the closing scene is a reference to the movie 'Get Out' and how they are trying to escape from something.