Friday, 24 February 2017

Apply the theory of media language to a piece of coursework

Apply the theory of media language to a piece of coursework.

Paragraph 1: For my A2 final project my group and I have created a cross media promotional package, we used many codes and conventions of media to create meaning and emotion and entice our audience in our final product. 

Paragraph 2: We used Mise en scene extensively during the creation of our final music video to create meaning. Firstly costume, we wanted our artist to be involved with the current youth and we wanted to make our audience feel like they could connect with our artist through his fashion sense and costume. We always ensured that our artist was dressed fashionably but also wore outfits that apply to the 'indie' genre of our music. Therefore our artist was mainly dressed in black, which helps to outline the depressing and dark nature of most modern indie songs. However we also ensured that our artist wore light colours to juxtapose the darkness of the genre. This helped us to create a more upbeat persona of our artist and meant that our artist had a much wider audience that he would appeal to. Moreover the juxtaposition of the light and dark outfits reflect the contrast in mood in the song, as at the beginning and the end the song is very depressing, however during the chorus the song is much more upbeat. This juxtaposition is also seen through our use of props, especially the powder paint. The use of powder paint contrasts the dark and gloomy feel that our editing created when we used the leave colour effect. The bright coloured powder paint is a direct juxtaposition with the black and white look of the final video. 

Paragraph 3: Additionally my group and I thought extensively about the camera shots we would use during our final production of our music video. We used a lot of close up shots at the start of our video to introduce our artist without seeing his face. An example of this is the opening of our video where there are multiple close up shots of our artists feet. We incorporated Goodwin's theory of thought beats in the opening, this was used in conjunction with the camera shots we used. Using the beat of the song to change shots, but still using close ups of our artists feet created a feel of mystery about our artist and enticed the audience to watch more and discover more about our artist. We also used camera shots and framing to empower our artist at the upbeat parts of the song, but to also make our artist look incompetent during the darker parts of our song. For example we used a low angle shot of our artist standing tall over the camera and singing into the lens. This shot was used before the upbeat part of the song to empower our artist and show his importance. The low angle makes the audience feel as if the artist is much bigger than them and creates a 'star image' of our artist, however we wanted our audience to connect with our artist rather than think he is a big 'star'. This is why we used high angle shots to make our artist look small and incompetent, we used this shot during a part of the song where the artist is talking about a failed relationship. So the use of a high angle shot shows that our artist feels emotional towards it, this helps our audience connect with our artist more and makes him seem a lot more human than just a music star.

Paragraph 4:

Audience Essay Plan

Apply the concept of audience to one piece of coursework.

Theories and Theorists:
  • Hypodermic Syringe (Passive):
             Messages are 'injected' into the audience, the audience is powerless to the media and is effectively 'drugged'. 
  • Cultivation/Drip Drip (Passive):
           Slowly introducing feeling to your audience, the audience notice it less as it is more subtle, for example less                        violence.
  • Schadenfreude (Active):
              Gaining pleasure from others misfortune
  • Hall's Reception Theory (Active):
             Considers how texts are encoded by producers and decoded by audiences. In some instances the audience will                    understand it, but others will not. 
         3 ways to read and interpret a media text
        - Dominant or preferred 
           - Negotiated ( Can see the idea but doesn't believe it)
           - Oppositional (Seeing and thinking the complete wrong thing) 

  • Uses and Gratifications(Active)
            Actively choosing to consume a certain media for your own gratification, not being forced to consume it.  
            Gratifications:
          - Diversion - Escapsim - Information - Pleasure - Compare relationship and lifestyle 

  • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Active)
                
  • Marxist Hegemony (Passive)
             The elite at the top control us 'The Passive Masses'. We wait and we are fed our media. 
  • Liberal Pluralism (Active)
         Allowing ANYONE a voice and allowing different views and interpretations 

Monday, 20 February 2017

Narrative Essay

Apply the concept of narrative to one piece of coursework.
Intro:

Brief overview of piece, what was it? Media type. Film opening called... followed by brief overview of plot. 

Paragraph 1:

Levi Strauss - Binary opposites, the opposites in narration, children and adults, tattooist and consumer. How and why you used it. 

Point: We incorporated Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites
Evidence: This was shown by juxtaposing the views of old and young
Explanation: The juxtaposition of these views show the divide in generations and how young people are more interested by tattoos than the old 

Paragraph 2:

Bathes - Codes, enigma code, iconography (starbucks etc.)

Point: We incorporated Bathes theory of enigma codes in our final piece
Evidence: The narration and voice over poses lots of open questions to the the audience 
Explanation: Audience want to watch on and try and answer the questions for themselves

Paragraph 3


Todorov - Theory of equilibrium

Point: We purposefully decided not to include Todorov's theory of of equilibrium 
Evidence: 
Explanation: