Media: Paper 1 - Section B Music Video (Titanium) Flashcards
What is the genre of Titanium?
Unconventional Narrative
What is Titanium’s main theme?
resilience
Titanium is a “text about a text”. What theory is this related to?
Postmodernism or hyperreality (Baudrillard)
What texts does Titanium link go through intertextuality?
Films e.g Super 8 and ET
What cinematography is used at the beginning of the video? (This is reminiscent of cinematic feature films rather than music videos)
Tracking shots
Why is most of the video shot at a low angle or from the boy’s shoulder?The editing only speeds up on one section. When is this?
When the boy is on his bike to connote danger
Why is most of the video shot at a low angle or from the boy’s shoulder?
To connote a child’s view of the world
The video is set in an America suburbia reminiscent of the 80s. How can we tell this in terms of the location?
The white picket fences and wooden suburban houses
The video is set in an America reminiscent of the 80s. How can we tell this in terms of the technology?
cathode ray tube TV and landline handset
The video is set in an America reminiscent of the 80s. How can we tell this in terms of the costume?
Boy wears anorak and bobble hat. Joggers wear sweat bands
What lighting is used to make intertextual references to Spielberg?
Lens flares and bright lights in the woods
What narrative structure is used?
Enigma-resolution
What is the main viewpoint that Titanium celebrates?
Survival
What main text does Titanium reference?
Super 8
How does the music video reference this text?
(Super 8)
Ordinary “boy” hero, adult misunderstanding of the child’s world, the bike (symbol of freedom) theme of loneliness, use of enigma to delay resolution
How is an immersive world constructed?
High production values and narrative construction (identification with lead and his quest to survive)
How does the music video reference this text?
(Super 8)
Ordinary “boy” hero, adult misunderstanding of the child’s world, the bike (symbol of freedom) theme of loneliness, use of enigma to delay resolution
What does the video represent?
Spielbergian America
What does it mean “Titanium is a representation of a representation”?
Titanium represents the films of ET or Close Encounters etc which are in themselves representations of American suburbia
What ethnicity is used?
White except for outsiders in the SWAT team who are Black (who are violent and aggressive)
How is class represented?
It tried to be “class-less” but middle class really through big houses and a well off community
How is gender represented?
Men are powerful - hero and police, females lack power - teacher and comedic joggers
Who has power?
Forces from outside; the SWAT team and the energy burst
Are the forces of law and order powerful?
No - they show fear
The video represents what in an allegorical form?
The issues of growing up and finding your identity and power. Overall, about resilience.
Why is the video not a true construction of social realism?
Because it is a pastiche (copy) of representations that constructs an intertextual world
What is the main cultural context?
The cultural prestige given to directors in Hollywood
How is childhood stereotyped?
As a time of uncertainty in an uncomprehending adult world
Is childhood stereotyped sympathetically or unsympathetically?
Sympathetically
How is school stereotyped?
As a place of constraint - the hero had to “burst out” of the school to escape
How are the forces or law and order stereotyped?
Negatively - as outsiders who do not understand
How is cycling stereotyped?
A moment of freedom where children can sail past adults (cf the joggers)
Whose point of view is the video made from?
A child’s POV
How is gender stereotyped?
Females have no power, males have power
How is race stereotyped?
White as the dominant hegemony. The only Black character is an outsider
How is the audience positioned?
Identifying with the boy and his attempt to escape frightening forces
Who is the video sympathising with?
The underdog - the boy
