Social Realism- A genre of film that focuses on topical issues within modern society which is represented by different ideologies. Common themes include money, drugs and sex in modern contemporary social realism films.
Postmodernism- Rejects any idea that any media product or text is of any greater value than another. Judgements of value are down to taste not the actual quality of the media.
Intertextuality- The process of creating references to any kind of media text via another text via another media text.
Narrative- The media term for story telling.
Diegesis- The term used to name the story presented on screen as opposed to the story in real time that the screen narrative is about. Diegesis can contain elements such as characters, events and things within the main or primary narrative.
Ideology- A world view, system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual or group of people deem to be true or important. They are shared by a culture about how a society should function.
Massive Attack is an English Trip-Hop band that formed in Bristol in 1988. Trip-Hop is a 'downtempo' version of Hip-Hop. it was called this because it is like a slowed down version of Hip-Hop. The band consists of 3 members; Robert "3D" Del Naja, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, and Andy "mushroom" Vowles. Originally, the three met as members of "the wild bunch" which was one of the earliest and most successful sound systems in the UK at at the time. They were renowned for their wide range of musical styles, from punk to reggae to R&B, the groups parties quickly became unmissable events for the Bristol club crowd and at the peak of their popularity they drew crowds so enormous the local live scene essentially ground to a halt. Massive attack released 13 alums and 29 singles. The first album 'Blue Lines' contained the single 'Unfinished Sympathy"
With Massive Attack becoming famous in the midst of the Gulf War their manager, Cameron McVey, suggested it would be a good idea to change their name to 'Massive" rather thn "Massive Attack" because he believed it was too controversial and insensitive because of what was happening at the time. Not only this but he believed they would get little to no air time due to their name. Because of this change pretty much all of the copies of 'Unfinished Sympathy' are printed with only 'Massive' on them and about 25% of the initial UK printing of 'Blue Lines' have just 'Massive' printed on them. The bands manager, Cameron McVey and his wife provided crucial financial support and assistance to the early career of Massive Attack. They even payed the band regular wages through their Cherry Bear Organisation.
Blue Lines
In 1991 Massive Attack released their debut album Blue Lines. within the album there was a single called Unfinished Sympathy. It very quickly reached the charts and their manager, Cameron McVey, helped them to record Blue Lines and it was released through Virgin Records. The album including numerous vocalists including Horace Andy and Shara Nelson.
Unfinished Sympathy
Numerous people helped create the song including the 3 band members, the vocalist Shara Nelson and the co producer of the band Jonny Dollar. It was the second song to be produced on the album and it was released on the 11th of February 1991. After its release it quickly became number one in the Dutch Top 40 and became a Top 20 hit in numerous countries including the UK and Switzerland.
The song itself incorporates a variety of different musical elements including vocal and percussion samples, drum programming and string orchestration. The video was directed by Ballie Walsh, who has also done other massive attack videos including "Be Thankful For What You've Got" and "Safe From Harm". The video accompanying the song was a continuous long shot of the songs vocalist, Shara Nelson, walking through West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. It begins as a shot on a street of a gang and then swaps over to Shara walking down the street. 3D and Daddy G both feature in the background of the video. Many of the people in the background of the video weren't actors they were just extras. The very first shot you see was a real gang that lived in Los Angeles and may of the others were people who didn't care enough to move out of the shot.
Within the first 10 seconds of the video we are presented with gang culture, throughout the rest of the video we then see an appearance of a paraplegic man on a skateboard, a native American man in their traditional dress and a homeless women with a shopping trolley. The noticeable stereotypical characters seen in the background are only shown in a medium shot due to the main focus being on Shana walking through the street. Soon after the shot of gang culture we are presented with a pan over to a small child mimicking shooting someone with a toy gun. This shot alone is a very powerful one because it is a symbolic representation of children growing up in LA and how they are exposed to gang culture at such a young age.
The director of the music video has chosen to incorporate the hidden message through mise-en-scene. Props like the silver balls or the police cars are very effecting alongside the lighting used which presents what a normal day in LA is like. The video is completely raw footage and with the shot constantly being on Shana Nelson with the background slightly out of focus it adds to the suggestion of normality and the idea of individuality and importance. it is clear the director has deliberately incorporated the different types of people in the background to make the audience notice them.
Throughout the song it has constant periods where there is no vocals and there is just the beat. This is blended with Shana's steady walking with the slow pan of the camera circling and it works exceedingly well.
