#MUSICVIDEOOFTHEWEEK 10
Music Video Of The Week
Jay Z - Moonlight
JAY-Z is back with another music video and this one is very, very, different!. Firstly, the track Moonlight is said to be inspired by 2016 Oscar winning film “Moonlight”. The film features an all black cast and an LGBT theme, it won Best picture at the Oscars and conveys the importance of embracing one’s racial and sexual identity.
The music video opens in the same style as the hit TV show “Friends”, in fact a lot of aesthetics from Friends was definitely conveyed in the Moonlight music video. Characters play out as a sit com for around (2:48) and the cast look like they enjoyed themselves and from their actions think they did a good job. The main character Jerrod Carmichael in the black and white suit then walks up to Hannibal Buress and asks “be 100% honest, what do you think” – he replies with “Garbage. it was terrible”. Hannibal also says “it was like episodes of SEINFIELD, but with black people” in which Jerrod replies with that he was trying to do something subversive, something that would turn a culture on its head.
The main take away from this interaction is how it corresponds to the mistake made at the 89th Academy Awards; where La La Land was incorrectly announced as the winner of Best Picture when really it was Moonlight. The emphasis is even when black community does something they can be proud of they still experience losses. This is further emphasised by Jay’s chorus on Moonlight “We stuck in La La Land, Even when we win, we gon’ lose”. – Damn!
At (3:47) you can see Jerrod is still thinking about what Hannibal said to him, the aspect ratio gradually turns from 4:3 to 2:40:1 – this signifies that the real music video is about to begin; This was my favourite part of the music video.
The cinematography was simple, nothing spectacular but i think the director wanted the audience to focus more on the dialogue, the characters interaction, the connotations of the overall music video was more important.
Jay has been diving deep with his music videos, telling stories otherwise unknown if you're not able to decipher music like some out there. In my opinion, this is what music videos should do for an audience. They need to express the true meaning behind the artist's music, the love, the anger, the passion of why you put so much effort into making the track. VirtueMedia specialises in Music Videos and if you would like us to tell your story, please feel free to contact us.