
Throughout her music video “Formation,” Beyoncé uses complex visual motifs to contribute to the tone of the video as well as to give the viewer a better perspective into the message that she is trying to convey. She uses “Formation,” as a medium to convey her viewpoint of the recent shooting of unarmed African Americans by police officers. Beyoncé’s repeated use of different camera angles and color influence the viewer’s perspective and gives insight into her beliefs and highlights the symbolism in her music video. These motifs are used to add depth and perspective as well as set the time period of the music video and without the motifs the music video may have failed to influence the opinions of the viewers.

One instance in which she uses the visual motifs of color and camera angles in one shot is Frame 1:40. In this scene Beyoncé chose a medium range camera shot in which she breaks the rule of thirds in order to introduce her as the subject of the shot. In this shot she is surrounded by five African American men who are also dressed slave era clothing. A significant detail of the shot is that the African American men are wearing clothing typically worn by the slave owners during that era. The movement of the camera highlights the clothing of the people in the shot as well as the large building that they are standing in front of. Furthermore, the camera angle contributes to the tone of the shot as it brings attention to the grim facial expressions of the men and the hat that covers Beyoncé’s eyes. In addition to camera angles, Beyoncé chose a dull color scheme to add to the tone of the shot and set the time period of the shot. She chose to use a lot of grey, black, and white highlights to add to the dreary tone of the shot. Furthermore, the color scheme as well as the clothing worn by the people indicate that the scene was set in the past. If Beyoncé were to choose a different color scheme for this frame it would be more difficult to decipher the intended time period of the shot. 

Another instance in which Beyoncé uses the visual motifs of camera angles and color is frame 4:18. She chose an over the shoulder shot in order to give the viewers the perspective of the African American boy. This scene is defined by the perspective of the boy wearing a hooded sweatshirt who is looking out to a group of police officers dressed in riot gear. Furthermore, the police officers in this shot are holding their arms up as if to indicate that they are unarmed. Beyoncé chose to make the boy the subject of the shot by blurring out the rest of the frame and she again uses a dull color scheme to convey a dreary tone. The only vibrant colors in the shot are the flashing blue and red lights of the police vehicle which draws attention from the boy to the police. Without the blurring of the shot and the over the shoulder camera angle it would have been more difficult to interpret the intended tone and perspective of the shot. 

A third shot in which Beyoncé used the visual motifs of camera angles and color is frame 2:53. In this shot she is standing on top of a New Orleans police vehicle with her fist raised to the sky. She chose a long range shot in order to highlight her raised fist as well as the police vehicle half submerged in the flood waters of New Orleans. Furthermore, she broke the rule of thirds to bring the viewer’s attention to herself and the submerged vehicle. She again uses a dull color scheme as well as old clothing to indicate that the scene was set in the past.

When Beyoncé states “you know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation,” at minute 4:30 she indicates that she is using her music as a platform to convey her acrimony toward the recent police shootings. She hopes to incite emotions from her viewers in order to initiate change in how law enforcement is handled in the future. Throughout “Formation” she uses camera angles and color to highlight the symbolism in her video. For instance, in Frame 1:40 she uses color scheme and the rule of thirds to highlight the slave era clothing that the men are wearing in the shot. The clothing is symbolic of how she believes that the power given to police officers is comparable to the power that was given to slave owners during that era. She uses the symbolism to give viewers a better insight into her feelings toward law enforcement. Likewise, Beyoncé uses camera angles to highlight the perspective of the young African American boy in Frame 4:18. The boy symbolizes Trayvon Martin who was unarmed and wearing a hooded sweatshirt when he was shot and killed by a police officer. She again uses symbolism when she chose to have the police officers with their hands in the air, indicating that they are unarmed. She uses this symbolism to incite emotion from her viewers and add to the tone of the scene. Lastly in Frame 2:53 Beyoncé uses camera angles to highlight the submerged police vehicle and her fist raised in the air. In this scene the flood waters are symbolic of how she feels as though the shootings that had occurred were as significant to the African American community as the flooding of New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. Furthermore, the police vehicle sinking into the flood waters is a symbol of how the African American community feels as though they are being dragged down by law enforcement. Lastly, Beyoncé’s fist in the air is representative of the black panther party who monitored police brutality during the 1960s and 1970s. She uses this symbol in hopes to incite change in police brutality by bringing awareness to the problems associated with current law enforcement.

Beyoncé used visual the motifs of color and camera angles to highlight the symbolism in her music video and to illustrate how she feels that some of the ideals of the past have carried on into present. Her video contains both scenes set in the past and present to illustrate the transition of prejudice from the slave era to the present. Ultimately, her use of visual motifs adds to the tone and perspective of viewer by giving insight into the viewpoint of the African American community.
