Textual analysis, Childish Gambino: This Is America- 10 shot analysis

The song exposition uses a traditional south African guitar, to put the audience into a false sense of security, the video follows this with a long take, that last for around a third of the video, temporal imagery is used with the gun shot coinciding with the beat drop of the song. The location of the warehouse also allows as a frame for the composition of the shot. The gun is taken away with care on a piece of red cloth, juxtaposed by the man's dead body being dragged away; this motif, of commodities being more valuable than human lives is repeated throughout the video.

The next shot is of a choir, with again music that is associated with positivity, and happiness, which is again immediately juxtaposed with the choirs murder, a reference to the 2015 massacre at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. At this point we see the contrast between the foreground, and background with Glover having a constant smile, whilst violence, and unrest happens in the background. This could reflect America's image on a global scale: Hollywood, a plethora of influential brands, and popular music, with America's reality of racism, political corruption, and a gun violence.

This next shot is transitioned into by a whip pan. Here we see the full scale, of the disassociation between the foreground, and the background. Glover pulls a Jim Crowe face here; A famous actor in white American society where a white person would paint their face black and act out a physically disabled black African slave character who smiles and dances all the time. Jim Crow was portrayed as lazy, stupid and a way of mocking black people. It became used as a racist term and the laws segregating blacks and whites were known as the Jim Crow Laws. The allusion to America rascist past, with the connotations that black citizens can only be validated by becoming 'entertainers' is referenced throughout the video, and the lyrics, 'We just wanna party (yeah), Party just for you (yeah), We just want the money (yeah), Money just for you (you)' 

Midway through the video we see a slow pan from above, with children with phones filming the violent scenes below. The use of proxemics here indicate that these people are outside of the system, a younger generation or looking down upon it. The children could be seem as being part of the endless cycle of violence, this is what they've ever known, aspirations are impossible, and become the next generation to be subjugated to the unjust system. Alternatively, if we inject Baudrillards theory of hyper reality, through the removal of reality of the phone, where hyper violence is equally seen as other news, games, trivial information, and fiction. The urgency of the situation, as well as the context is removed, and people become desensitised to the violence, and unfairness of the system.

Throughout the video we see old models of cars in the background. This obviously has a meaning behind them, as they wouldn't of placed such an prevalence within the mise-en-scene. The cars could be metaphor for many interpretations. They could represent the many African-Americans who have been killed by police unjustly during traffic stops. Furthermore, they could represent the lack of opportunity for black Americans, with the stalled economic mobility, leading to no social mobility for the majority.

The final scene with a mid-tracking shot portraying a sweating panicking Glover fleeing the scene, the low key lighting with a cold colour palette with the pillars framing the shot, framing Gambino, this mise-en-scene elicits feelings of suppression, this is matched with the lyrics 'You just a black man in this world, you just a barcode' imply that, in the end, he cannot hide as the problems that are building up in the background and getting steadily more serious. He can’t escape just because he has success and money. 

Throughout most of the music video what is going on in the foreground is positive, or conventional in tone to a typical music videos; dancing, money, and singing. Which is juxtaposed with the background where there chaos, violence, or destruction. With the violence and Glover changes in facial expression, from the stereotypical minstril face to a more sombre expression. He could be suggesting that society get distracted by the superficial, and material aspects and we end up being blind to what is really happening in the world and cannot be ignored.

The music briefly cuts after Gambino mimics firing a gun before lighting a joint with the music coming back. This lasts for precisely for 17 seconds, some have interpreted this as one of the many ways the video denounces gun violence. However, in this example the 17 seconds of silence is done in reference to the 17 people who lost their lives in the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Back in February, groups around the country honoured the lives of those lost by taking a moment of silence for 17 seconds. The joint could also be a reference to the disparity of arrests of black Americans compared to other ethnic demographics for marijuana ownership.

In this area I wanted to talk about the mise-en-scene and aesthetic of the video. The video features a shirtless Childish Gambino donning a gold chain necklace and trousers that give off a ’70s vibe. His look appears to be inspired by the late Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician dubbed “Africa’s answer to Handel” by one arts critic. Some suggested Childish Gambino’s look was a nod to the late Richard Pryor, the legendary comedian and social critic. Others noted the similarities between his pants and a Confederate soldier’s uniform. Additionally the colour palette of the video is a cold throughout with lots of blue's and greens. With de-saturation, and a lack of other colours, the video also has a sharp image possibly to further accentuate the imagery of the video.

Lastly, I wanted to speak about the videos editing. There is a lack of edits, and cuts throughout, with a heavy cinematic feel, the editor of the video, Ernie Gilbert, elaborates here: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/interview-editor-this-is-america/

"PB: On “This Is America,” with such long takes, what was your role as an editor on this like? How was it different than your previous work with music videos?

"EG: I’ve done a handful of longer-take music videos in the past couple years. They end up being their own challenge. Initially, I thought I could do a tracker document and try to rate each take with good or bad moment markers, making a count, and then mathematically choosing which to use. But I’ve found that the best way to handle it is to watch all the takes and go with your gut. Generally speaking, there’s one take that feels just right. That being said, sometimes there’s a second or a third that could work, and then there are a few that just won’t. Hiro (Murai) is incredibly supportive and collaborative as a director. He wants to hear your opinion and get that different perspective. This motivates me to dig in and find the takes that really speak to me. Once I had my selects, I kicked out a rough cut for Hiro’s review, and then we sat down to look over alternative takes and my second and third choices per section.The video is presented as a slow build, single-take journey that slowly but surely descends into chaos. So, with that idea, the director, DP, and editor had to use classic filmmaking techniques that were practical, and editing wizardry to take the audience through this hellish warehouse. Aside from the obvious cuts shown in the video, there are a few quick cuts here and there.

"PB: How many hidden cuts are there in the video?

"EG: Most of the whip pan-style cuts or regular cuts are pretty obvious, but we did do one invisible edit to combine two takes based on performance. See if you can find it.

"PB: Were you on set? If so, were you putting together rough cuts on the fly?

"EG: I wasn’t able to be on set for this one. They shot on 35mm film for this project, which meant not receiving the scans until three days after the shoot."