Africa

shox by

Leftfield

Slide 1

*

* A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery. Music

videos are primary used to market and promote the sale of music recordings,

however some bands may choose create one for purely artistic purposes.

* Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into

prominence in the 1980’s when MTV based their format around them.

* Music videos use a wide range of style of film making techniques, including

animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as

abstract film. Some music videos blend different style. Other music videos may be

without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the songs' live performance.

Slide 2

The LyricsLyrics and images interact creating meaning.

In many music videos a new meaning is added to the by lyrics through

metaphorical language, often with a amusing twist. Lyrics often rhyme and

have poetic meaning, Very often they get through to listeners by their deep

meaning and carry powerful messages that might change your view of certain

things.

* An ethnic group or ethnicity is a socially-defined category of people who identify with each

other based on common ancestral, social, cultural or national experience. Membership of an

ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, myth of origins,

history, homeland, language (dialect), or even ideology, and manifests itself through symbolic

systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, physical appearance,

etc.

Ethnicity is important as race and ethnicity are issues that must be considered in every part of

society. The criminal justice system have a particular relationship with certain cases, as does

police, the family. Race must be considered in every situation because at the moment ethnic

minorities receive fewer chances.

Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that

constitute gender portrayal. However, stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than

stereotyping of gender, as media representation may constitute the only experience of contact

with a particular ethnic group that an audience (particularly an audience of children) may

have. Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth, perpetuated down the ages.

Influential psychologists, pressure groups, religious leaders and politicians have suggested that

there is a direct causal link between violence in films, television programs and computer

games and violent real-life crime. It is argued that such media content exerts an

overwhelmingly negative effect on impressionable young audiences. These beliefs have led to

increased state control over and censorship of the media in Britain.

ethnicitySlide 3

*Madonna was born in Bay City in Michigan on august 16th 1958, her mum was a former dancer

which is were Madonna must get it from, her mother is French Canadian and her father is the

son of Italian immigrants and was the first in in his family to go to collage where he got a

degree in engineering. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when her mum was

pregnant with Madonna’s younger sister and her mum died when she was 5 years old. She

rebelled against many things due to the fact she thought that only mothers taught manners and

her mother was not there. She was the 3rd of 6 children and knew how to handle being the

middle child but still thought she needed to stand out.

Madonna wanted to re-launch her career by coming out with the like a prayer video which got

her publicity with fans and haters and she got into the newspapers and was bigger then ever

and also she got publicity by the catholic church as the pope had banned it from the eyes of

Catholics.

Intro to MadonnaSlide 4

* A girl on the street witnesses an assault on a young woman. Long shots commonly occur in the

video and whilst the woman is getting assaulted the lighting is dark letting the audience know

the atmosphere is negative therefore creating tension. Afraid to get involved because she

might get hurt, she is frozen in fear. A black man walking down the street also sees the

incident and decides to help to woman. But just then, the police arrive and arrest him. As they

take him away, she looks up and sees one of the gang members who assaulted the girl. He

gives her a look that says she'll be dead if she tells. Close up The girl runs, not knowing where

to go, until she sees a church. She goes in and sees a saint in a cage who looks very much like

the black man on the street, and says a prayer to help her make the right decision. He seems

to be crying, but she is not sure. She lies down on a pew and falls into a dream in which she

begins to tumble in space with no one to break her fall. Suddenly she is caught by [an African

American woman] who represents earth and emotional strength and who tosses her back up

and tells her to do the right thing. Still dreaming, she returns to the saint, and her religions

and erotic feelings begin to stir. The saint becomes a man. She picks up a knife and cuts her

hands. That's the guilt in Catholicism that if you do something that feels good you will be

punished. As the choir sings, she reaches an orgasmic crescendo of sexual fulfilment

intertwined with her love of God. She knows that nothing's going to happen to her if she does

what she believes is right. She wakes up, goes to the jail, tells the police the man is innocent,

and he is freed. Then everybody takes a bow as if to say we all play a part in this little

scenario."

Slide 5 like a prayer synopses

*

*There are three ethnic groups used in ‘Like a Prayer’. They were:

*White Italian immigrants. This was portrayed by Madonna, who is a

white Italian American. She was scared, influenced by the other

white ethnic group due to fear, and she was guided with support by

the black community.

*Black. They are the helpers, angels, saints, the gospel choir and the

general community. They were portrayed as the good people in the

video.

*White. The white people in this video were portrayed as the bad

people. They were aggressive, criminals and they bullied other

people.

* In the lead up to the release of her fourth studio album, Like A Prayer in 1989, Madonna had

signed a promotional statement deal with Pepsi. The deal which gave the singer $5 million to

do several commercials for the soda company, would at the same time feature and promote

her music. Pepsi produced a two minute long advert a Pepsi branded music video, that would

premiere the single "Like A Prayer" in over 40 countries at once. It was a huge deal. On March

2, 1989, the highly looking forward to the advert, In that Pepsi version, Madonna reflects back

on innocent images of her own childhood before being transported to some kind of upbeat,

retro song-and-dance number that looks like it's taking place on the set of West Side Story.People who no doubt did not actually watch the video created most of the controversy. While

everyone is entitled to his own sense of shock, with the benefit of 20 years of hindsight, the

outrage caused by the video is not terribly interesting. What might be more fruitful is

attempting to understand where the video's imagery, themes, and narrative come from, what

it could actually mean--if anything at all--and how it serves its purpose as an advertisement

for Madonna.

This make huge effect on audience :

-Italian blocked a video

-everyone was talking about her

Slide 8 Desired effect on audience

*Leftfield originated in London England in 1989, until 2002 when they

split, but regrouped in 2010 and are still together today. The two members

of Leftfield are Neil Barnes, and Paul Daley. Neil Barnes entered the

music industry as a DJ at the Wag Club. In 1989 Barnes was inspired by

Afrika Bambaata and decide to attempt creating electronic music, which

resulted in the track ‘Not Forgotten’ which was released on the Rhythm

King label, as well as ‘More Than I Know’.

The name Leftfield was originally used by Barnes for the first single but it

was then made the name of the group. Because of the legal dispute involving Rhythm King, they could not release their own music.

9. Leftfield history

*

The opening shot is of a large characterless building, typical tilt or

establishing shot of the business world. It is a low angle which

connotes intimidation and also places the building in a position of

power, this symbolises the wealth and power of America and New

York City, whilst also belittling the veteran/zombie. The way that

the sky is clouded with smog also contributes to the feeling of a

business city - limiting the vision of the citizens and restricting

them.

The second establishing shot of the police car immediately sets up

a feeling of harm or danger. The non-diegetic sound of the siren

connotes the idea of New York as being an unimagined place; an

undesirable, unfriendly and frightening place. This is represented

by the siren symbolising trouble, crime and chaos. The cut

between the police car and the security man dressed in yellow also

suggests a society controlled/restricted by the authorities, who

may well be corrupt. The fact that the security/police man is

white also reinforces the idea that society is controlled by a white

authority. The lights of the police car could also represent the

genre of the music as they are almost like strobe lights, further

signifying the electronic/progressive house genre.

In this shot, the audience is placed on the same level as the

zombie meaning that they share the same second class

position., by doing so Leftfield may have been aiming to

emphasise with the black man and allow the audience to feel

sympathy for him and realise his pain. The zombie has his

hand against the wall and stumbles, this could be connoting

the idea that he is weaker, perhaps not used to this kind of

society. This could be a possible link to the slave trade

through the 16th and 19thcenturies, as many of the

individuals suffered greatly from the unusual surroundings

and oppression or to how people of the buisness land do not

have sympathy for those of third world countries.

*

* Mise-en scence

'Africa Shox' by Leftfield would be in the Dance, Electro, Techno, Progressive House type genre, meaning that it is reflected in the video, choreography, cinematography and Mise-en-scene to appeal to the demographic, of which would be 20-25 year old people, mainly male. The obvious reference to slavery and racial issues suggests that audience would also be of a more middle class status and be relatively well educated due to the whole video being an extended metaphor for racism.

The video is set in New York showing a direct link to the genre and a tribute to a legend of the genre of hip-hop/electro/dance/electro-house.

Afrika Bambaataa is a DJ who one of the originators of hip hop and the development of the hip hop genre and is also the father of electro funk.

* S.C.E.L.P.

Setting- New York city (financial capital)

Costume-ragged clothing, contact lenses to make his eyes cloudy

Expression-Sad, confused, scared, shocked, frightened

Lighting-dark, dim

Positioning-Close up shot, Medium shot

*

The main character in the video is as if he’s isolated from everyone else and a

misfit of the miese-en-scene in the video. You can clearly see the difference

between the main character and everyone else in the video with the way the

character is dressed in tatty, ripped, dark clothes. Its almost like the character

isn’t seen as a human being. There is also a sense of confusion with the way the

main character presents himself and his facial expressions, almost as if he has

been placed in a strange new world. The main actor can also be perceived as a

metaphor for the slave trade which could represent the slave arrival in America.

You can see that the main character is malnourished because of how skinny he is

compared to the other people in the video who are obviously well fed.

The fact that when the main character is in clear need of help and the white man

ignores his cries for help shows the attitude of the western world to problems

such as malnourishment and lack of money.

Overall, we decided that we preferred Leftfield ‘Afrika Shox’ over Madonna ‘Like a prayer’ this is because we believe Leftfield has a deeper meaning and people can gain more knowledge from the music video while on the other hand Madonna’s music video has a less powerful and more complicated storyline, we often got confused while watching ‘Like a Prayer’ whereas we knew straight away what was happening in scenes of ‘Afrika Shox’.

Madonna, ‘Like A Prayer’ In this music video there are a variety of ethnic groups represented in

contrasting ways such as; Villainous, heroic and target. Throughout the videotape Madonna faces villains and wrongly accused roles and has to make moral decisions based on her conscious. This is seen in the scene where Madonna comes face to face with the ultimate dilemma where she either had to save herself or to save the African American for the crimes that the white men committed. The music video could have taken another route to achieve the message they wanted to get across because the Pope banned the music video due to her chosen outfits and actions as it was counted as inappropriate even though there was Catholic imagery presented in several scenes. Also the music video went global through the media due to the ‘inappropriate’ scenes even though Madonna wanted to provide a ‘message’ not for the media attention. Leftfield, ‘Afrika Shox’

In the video ‘Afrika Shox’ there are two extremely different ethnic groups used to create a statement to the audience. First World County Citizens and Third World Country Citizens are portrayed contrastingly to show the different between the two ethnic groups. Throughout the music video we learn that equality reached breaking point in America, as First World Countries were oblivious to the events and experiences

Slide 15