This is America - Childish Gambino

F A M - Frame, Angle, movement.

Mise en scene:
C L A M P S - Costume, Lighting, Actors, Makeup, Props, Setting.

Contrapuntal - opposite to what you're expecting.


FAM:

• ls.
• mls - accentuates 'crazy' facial expressions.
• track in/track out.
• rotating.
• 17 seconds - bad things, representing the death of 17 students.
• guy with guitar shown at the beginning and the end of the video.
• shows how casual and easy it is to shoot someone.
• grotesque smiles/facial expressions.

CLAMPS:

• underground car park.
• shirtless - neutral colours.
• gospel singers.
• natural lighting.
• yellow shoes - only colour? (cars at end are coloured).
• cars/horses/(gospel cloaks).
• cars are stolen?
• Glover looks confident.
• Glover dances.
• shocking, violence.
• intertextuality.
• juxtaposition - dancing distracts from chaos.
• Glover represents America not paying attention.
• equality.
• Black Lives Matter.

EXTRA:

• he's acknowledging the dehumanising way black people were treated.
• guns are treated with more respect than black lives.
• choir is a reference to Charleston, South Carolina massacre.
• polysemic = multiple meanings.
• camera pans to kids with phones - white people muzzling police brutality - high angle.
• horse relates to the bible.
• dancing!