Music Video Analysis : This is America by Childish Gambino

Music videos are still used by artists as marketing strategies to promote the artist or band's work or the artist themselves. Music videos draw the audience's attention to their music but also what message they are trying to communicate or something about them.

For example Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" music video was made as a homage to the American comedy film 'clueless'.

Iggy Azalea's Fancy music video

Music videos also create a memorable visual experience that enhances a song's meaning portraying the lyric in a visually intriguing way.

Childish Gambino's 'This is America' music video was released in May 2018 and was Directed by Hiro Muria. It went ahead to have over 700 million views and 11 million likes on Youtube and 8 awards including a Grammy award for best music video.

A star image is created for Childish Gambino as the music video portrays his ideologies in the smartest way possible.Sometimes the audience don't like being told what's happening but instead they like to be shown without being told.Gambino uses different imagery in his video that link to different meanings leaving the music video open to interpretation by anyone.

The fact that the title looks signed shows that the music video is more than just a music video but it's clearly personal to Gambino himself.

The way Gambino was able to make his audience think about serious problems in today's society lead to him having a larger audience which meant that he was also able to generate money aswell.

The video starts off with a long shot duration in a cheerful tone and then turns to a more serious tone and this is where we see Gambino pull out a gun.

The pose he holds is similar to the Jim Crow pose that was a racist character that classified African Americans as " lazy, stupid and inherently less human". He holds this pose possibly to tell the audience that Jim Crow is still alive in American society till this day and the use of long shot duration is a way of mirroring how long Jim Crow has been alive.

We then see Gambino handing the gun over and noticeably the gun is handled with more care over the body representing priority and how black lives aren't valued as much as they should be. Which is why the body is dragged away with no care as that is how black lives are treated in America.

Gun treated with care

The body being dragged away 

The red cloth used to wrap the gun represents the republican dominated state where they value guns over black lives.

This is Gambino's way of presenting his message of what life is like for Black people in America.

Gambino's costume also holds meaning as his lack of a shirt tells us that he as a black man whether a celebrity or not is still vulnerable to America's brutality.

Confederate soldiers pants

His costume serves a reminder of the historical violence inflicted on African American's and it also highlights how easily distracted we get from the history black people have had.

His double chain emphasises how engrossed we are with consumerism.

As the video continues to progress we see children dancing happily and taking up the foreground of the frame. This is purposely done to distract the audience from all the action happening in the background.

The dance scenes are interpreted as how social media is used to distract us from the issues that go on in the world and how easy people become blind when it comes to matters that need our attention and help.

Gambino uses famous dances that have blown up on social media like the gwara gwara as diversions from the background.

In one shot we see someone committing suicide as the children dance in the foreground implying that black culture and experience is often enjoyed by white people.

Here Childish Gambino is trying to portray the message that America uses its famous black celebrities like Beyonce or Kanye west as distractions from how black people drown in violence. It also shows how black lives are devalued in their own culture where they should be thriving but instead are failing.

someone committing suicide as the children dance

The music video cuts to the next scene where we see a church choir performing the a few seconds after is gun downed by Gambino.

This is done to reflect the church shooting in South Carolina in 2015 where 9 people died in. the mainly African American church.

Every time the diegetic sound effect of the gun shot goes off the lyric 'This is America' follows reminding us that it's simply what happens in America every other day like it's normal.

An AK-47 is specifically used as in America mass shooters choose to use AK - 47's.

In this scene the camera pans up to show children holding phones. While the camera pans Gambino says "This is a celly, that's a tool " which possibly refers to prison cells which is a great tool of oppression in America. The setting of the music video is similar to what looks like a prison cell mirroring this possible meaning.

Another possible connotation could be that these days people's first instinct is to take out their phones and record what's happening instead of trying to help the situation. It could also be seen as the normalisation of how black children in this generation are growing up seeing their own people die everyday on social media.

In the background we see a white horse galloping which may have a reference to the new testament and this verse talks about how death/ the last day will come riding on a white horse. The white horse is followed by a police car which holds the connotation that the police will be the death of black people in America.

In some shots during the music video if you look closely at the edges have been edited to make the corners look rounded like a frame.

This could be seen as a metaphor for how the police make black people feel everyday which is claustrophobic.

In this scene the camera pans out showing all the cars having open doors which signifies how Black people are constantly being asked to get out of the car or pullover.

The video ends in long shot duration where we see Gambino running away which could be a metaphor for slaves running away from plantations into the woods.

His expressions are clearly scared and terrified and the dark setting sets the message that Black people have been running for a long time since slavery.

Logo designs in the music industry

Music logos are essential in the music industry as they are used everywhere in association with an artist or band. For example they can be used on stickers, hoodies or even on bags.

AC DC image used on a vintage poster

AC DC tattoo

AC DC mug

Logos are placed everywhere meaning that an artist or band can reach as far as they want went it comes to putting their brand out there.

There are seven types of logos which include abstract mark, mascot logo, combination mark, emblem logo, letter mark, pictorial mark and word mark.

The seven types of logos

Logos are used on merchandise, they can create a unique selling point for an artist or band , they represent ideology and convey the genre.

Music logos mean that people are able to recognise the band and artist through iconic imagery attracting more attention towards them. For example Nirvana's logo is so iconic that even people who don't listen to their music can recognise it.

The logo was introduced in 1989 and was Kurt Cobain's idea. The yellow creates a sense of positive energy and a warm atmosphere. The famous smiley face holds the connotation that the band wanted to make music that made their audience happy or it could be a symbol for the type of audience that they attract.

The font fits in well with rock genre as its hard and sharp. Putting two contrasting colours such as black and yellow makes the logo catchy in some sense as they are two different colours that go well

The contrast between the black and yellow can also have the connotation of the black being the rock created and the yellow is the happiness from the band and their fans.

My logo

With my logo I decided to go with the same theme as my draft hypothesis. I decided to carry foward the wavy text and I used the the heart beats as imagery that possibly go on to become iconic or could be used as an association with the artist.

Some examples how the logo can be used.

The logo on a tote bag

An example of the logo as a poster

The logo on a ipad cover

 Feedback on my draft design album artwork

After presenting my album artwork I was given feedback from my class on what I can improve and what I did well.

It was clear that that my album artwork was created for an artist and the genre was RnB.

It is clear that it's for an artist as there's only one person on the cover selling the artist's image as she is that main focus.

However they made it clear that it was slightly confusing what genre the artwork was for due to the fact that the colour scheme was dark making it seem like the artwork belonged to the Hip Hop genre.

Color scheme

The key conventions that I used that were successful were the heart beats on the back cover which fits well with the RnB genre and the blood smudged down the front cover.

The heart beats and the smudge could have been used to create a heart break themed album.

Overall I think that the front and back cover worked really well together as they were related with the same theme.The colour scheme was also good however could be improved to fit the genre better.

Another thing that worked well was how the blur went through from the front and to the back.

Something else that was noted was that the 'Blaze' at the bottom of the front cover was a bit too strong and aggresive.

The track list also didn't match the tone of the album however the placement of it was really good and the blur on the font matched the the theme of the album.

Looking back at the the artwork I think that for a first attempt on an album artwork it went really well however looking at the feedback there's much to be improved on and I have learned from this that small details contribute to the whole album.

 My Draft  Album Artwork

In class we were set the task to create an album artwork that's realistic. With my artwork I decided to go with RnB genre. 

Using photoshop i made the font look wavy and I used the smudge tool to make it look like the blood font had been wiped down the cover. 

The white ghost-ish filter i added onto of the photo makes it like the picture is kind of on a canvas that has been painted on.

Front cover 

Back cover

The  process

For the front cover I used a normal font and then I used the smudge tool to create the crazy font and to blur out the subject's eye. I added a filter on top of the picture to create a white-ish sense on the picture and I layered the parental advisory sticker on top.

For the back cover I used the gradient tool to create a gradient from the top to bottom and I layered
the stickers and the track list on top.

Screenshot of the layers and steps t

The final product 

Album Artwork Conventions

Album artwork conventions refers to the rules or the normal things that would usually appear at the front

or the back of an album.

At the front of an album artwork you’ll find the name of the artist or band, the album name and in the Uk as a requirement  parental advisory should appear on the album cover. For example Lana Del Rey's front album cover has her name in huge font, a picture of her as the main focus, the album name and parental advisory sticker.

Here her record label is trying to sell her as the artists which is why her name is in a huge font and the cover is a photo of her.

For upcoming artists like Jorja Smith her record while push for her album to sell her as an artist meaning that her covers reflect this having pictures of her and then the album name.

Lost and Found by Jorja Smith 

However for artists like Kanye he doesn't have to follow these rules or conventions because he is big enough for people to recognise his work without his name on it.

    Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 

At the back of the album a track list usually appears which is numbered in order, legal information and the barcode.

Adele's 21

 Why is album artwork important and how is it used?

Album artwork is still important till this day as it helps create and maintain an artist or bands image.It provides a visual representation of what the album is going to be like and the ideology of the band or artist.

It’s used to sell the product which in this case is an album and in some cases they have gone ahead to become iconic and even the unique selling point of the product. 

Kendrick Lamar's To pimp a Butterfly (2005)

The Velvet Underground and Nico, 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' (1967)

It could also be used to show the genre of the album for example a cover with hard block writing and dark colours would most likely be in the rock punk genre while a cover that has light colours would be in pop.

Rock album Mothership by Led zeppelin

Taylor Swift's Lover album released in 2019.

Having looked at these two album covers above you can tell that each cover has been designed to fit the different genres of the artist that appeals to their audience.

Album artwork also means that record labels can sell an artist's music physically for more money with the artwork at the front of either a CD or Vinyl.