Hasta La Motion!

Beyoncé’s music video for Formation, released in February 2016, has won the Music Video of the Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards, along with Best Pop Video, Best Choreography, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing. The Beyoncé Formation music video connects the pop star with the struggles of African Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 4:30 minute video opens with Beyoncé casually draped on top of a police car, with a voiceover by New Orleans bounce artist Big Freedia asking the question, “What happened in New Orleans?”, a reference to the US Government’s response to the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. Footage from local film artists is interspersed with choreographed scenes shot in Feynes Estate in Pasadena.

That B.E.A.T.

The Beyoncé Formation music video includes footage from That B.E.A.T., a documentary on the bounce music scene in New Orleans.

Beyoncé Formation Credits

The Beyoncé Formation song was produced by Mike Will Made It, co-written by Swae Lee from Rae Sremmurd.

Filming, commissioned by Parkwood Entertainment, was shot by director Melina Matsoukas via Prettybird with director of photography Malik Hassan Sayeed, executive producer Nathan Scherrer, production designer Ethan Tobman, and choreographer JaQuel Knight. Additional footage in New Orleans was by Lily Keber and Allendra Freeman.

Editor was Jeff Selis at Bonch.

Post production was done at Electric Theatre Collective by producers Serena Noorani, Therese Mayer, lead Flame John Price, Flame artists Federico Saccone, Ryan Yoshimoto, Mark Youngren, Dave Levine, Ant Waltham, Nuke assists Jadan Duffin, Julie Jang, Kevin Kim, Syam Karumathil, Young Mok, Eric Almeras, Taran Spear, Bernardo Verala, matte painter Roger Kupelian and colourist Aubrey Woodiwiss.

That B.E.A.T was shot in New Orleans by director Abteen Bagheri via Somesuch & Co, executive producers Tash Tan and Brooke Denard Smith, producer Chris Black, associate producer Lee Groombridge, and cinematographer Isaac Bauman. Editor was Leila Sarraf at Trim Editing. Sound was mixed by Martin Leitner at Wave Studios. Colour correction was by Dave Ludlam at Framestore.