Drew's A Level Media

Genre: Horror There are some generic paradigmatic and iconographic features that help to construct the genre of horror. These are features such as: the dark lighting in the background, the full moon, a castle in the background, bats, blood dripping from the text and the two people who appear to be being murdered. Therefore, it conforms to the general rules of the horror genre because of some of the darker colours. The fact that there is an vampire depicted as part of the main image also conforms to this genre. We can also see what appears to be a castle in the background which makes the poster recognisable as a horror film because there are spooky/creepy connotations that are tied to a dark castle. Furthermore, there is a full moon that is visible ion the background that also conforms to the horror genre because that has connotations of werewolves. However, in some ways the poster subverts from the genre conventions because the women that are featured in the poster are quite well

Component one - Media products, industries and audiences Section A - Analysing media language and representation Briefly  define the following terms: [6] Ideology:  Ideology is the beliefs behind a media text. It is the thoughts that the media producer is trying to convey through the media product. Intertextuality: These are textual references to another media product from within a media product. Positioning: All media texts have messages encoded by the media producer and it is down to the audience to decode these messages. Most audiences will decode the messages differently and as a result take different readings from the product. Lexis: The language that the media product/text uses. Diametric opposition: Two groups that are radically different and come into some form of conflict. Paradigmatic feature: They are signs, signified and signifiers and they are essentially the meaning behind a media text. Which two theoretical perspectives have we studied that can be

Advertising Print Codes and conventions Layout and design Composition Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif), colour  Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up  Graphics, logos etc. Language – slogan/tagline and copy  Anchorage of images and,. text Elements of narrative Levi-Strauss talks about binary oppositions: Men vs Women. Woman in power. Main image of a female. Famous logo. Not even full name. Male gaze Producer may have wanted to appeal to wider audience. Marvel is  predominantly male audience. WW appeals to women.  Weapon could appeal to men. (Compensation).

Key Theory 6 - Stuart Hall - Theories of Presentation Representation: Re/Presentation. Re presenting something. e.g: re/peat, re/mix. Representation is the ways in which a media product constructs the world and aspects in it, including social groups, individuals, issues and events. Richard Dyer - The Role of Stereotypes Stereotypes: A commonly held belief about a certain group of people. Key Theory 7 - David Gauntlet - Theories of Identity He believes that despite many negative perceptions of the media, audiences are capable of constructing their own identities through what they see on television. Additionally he writes that there are now many more representations of gender than the traditional 'gender binary'. Key Theory 3 - Steve Neale - Theories around genre Neale believes that genre us essentially instances of 'repetition and difference'. He suggested that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identified within a certain genre - but must

Audience Continued The Hypodermic Needle Model: The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by 'shooting' or 'injecting' them with a desired response. They express the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. People are seen as passive and are seen as having a lot of media material 'shot' at them. People end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information. Passive Audience Theories: Cultivation Theory Hypodermic Theory Active Audience Theories: Reception Theory Encoding: To give something meaning. Decoding: To break something apart. To figure out the meaning. Producer: Somebody who creates a media texts. Producer encodes text. Audience decodes text.

Key Theory 17 - Stuart Hall - Reception Theory Preferred Reading: The 'right' reading of a text, which can be enforced by positioning. This concept has to be approached carefully: often texts intentionally have multiple meanings/readings, and of course, as we have discovered, audiences can potentially get whatever they want out of any media text. Hall categorised audience response into three separate groups. These groups can help us to understand whether or not an audience sticks to the preferred reading, or if they decide to make their own decisions as to how to decode a text. Dominant Reading: The audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideology it shows. Negotiated Reading: The audience generally agrees with what they see, but they may disagree with certain aspects. Oppositional Reading: The audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading. Nike Advert: Dominant reading: If you

Narrative and Representation Key Theory 2 - Narratology - Tzetan Todorov: Todorov's theory is that within a narrative, the power is in a state of equilibrium. As the story progresses the state of equilibrium can change and develop. Each narrative should start with initial equilibrium. However, the equilibrium is changed after disruption, resulting in a disequilibrium. The old equilibrium is broken, and therefore anew one must begin. This will repeat during the narrative until we reach a final equilibrium. The types of Narrative Linear narrative is a narrative that follows a line from the beginning to the end. (Beginning, middle, end). Non-linear narratives do not follow a line from the beginning to the end - it goes back and forth in an order which is not chronological. John Lewis Christmas Advert (2014) How is meaning created through the narrative? Meaning is created through the narrative because it is trying to promote the idea that John Lewis can supply a really m

Key Theory 3 - Steve Neale - Theories around genre Neale believes that genre us essentially instances of 'repetition and difference'. He suggested that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identified within a certain genre - but must also subvert these conventions in order to not appear identical. Most media products repeat the same formula to appeal to people so they know what they're getting when they watch it. Colossal: What genre is the media product? Thriller/comedy/Sci-Fi/Action/Destruction/Disaster/Drama Outline the generic paradigmatic and iconographic features that construct this genre. The genres are constructed because there is quite a lot of dark scenes and clips from youtube/news reports which help us to identify it as a thriller. There is also quite a lot of explosions and destruction which construct the theme of action. They also convey humour through one liners throughout to give the audience a laugh and help us identify it as a co

Diesel - Go with the Flaw advert analysis Narrative: I would say that the narrative of the advert is non linear because it doesn't follow an official storyline throughout. However, it does tell us a story because it begins by revealing a lot of people who seem to be flawed in some way like for example, with a disability. As the advert progresses we then get to see them all banding together at the end and they seem to be enjoying whatever they want throughout. This is also evident because when one of the women featured in the advert is playing pool she seems to be playing well but it is then revealed that she has a lazy eye. This is effective because we would generally stereotype someone who has a lazy eye to not be able to play pool that well. Ideology: The ideology of the advert is to show that you can still live a full life despite all of your flaws. I would say that the advert achieves this by depicting many people throughout the advert with different flaws in their appear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

Key Theory 16 - George Gerbner - Cultivation Theory Cultivations Theory: "The idea that prolonged and heavy exposure to [TV]... cultivates" , as in grows or develops in audiences "a view of the world consistent with the dominant or majority view expounded by television." Outline of Cultivation Theory: Television (and by extension other tools of mass media distributions) present a mainstream view of culture, ignoring everything else. In doing so, television (etc) distorts reality. Heavy television users are therefore likely to accept this edited and distorted view of reality. Issues with the Cultivation Theory: Not everyone watches excessive amounts of television. While this theory may have been useful in the 1970s, with only three channels, the ridiculous amount of ways that we have of accessing media now challenges the idea that any ideology can be mainstream. The theory is less relevant now.

Component one - media products, industries and audiences Audience is essential in media studies. We, as consumers, are targeted and positioned according to our culture, class, gender and ethnicity etc. Tide Advert: Target Audience: The target audience for the advert would be women because of the main image if the image and the tagline "Tide's got what women want". Secondary Audience: The secondary audience could be the children of the mothers because Psychographics Psychographics: The classification of people according to attitudes, aspirations and other psychological criteria. Aspirers: People who want to appear rich and attractive. Reformers: People who want social change, are unimpressed by status and make decisions based on their values. (e.g Environmentalists) Explorers: Adventurous people who like taking risks. Mainstreamers: People who follow the crowd. Strugglers: People who find it hard to achieve (often connected with poverty). Ideology: Sh

Audio Visual Advert Analysis Adidas: Break Free  Narrative: I think that the meaning of the advert is to convey a sense that if you buy Adidas products you will be able to achieve things that you haven't been able to do before. Meaning is further created because it makes you as the viewer build up a relationship with the character. It does this by making you want him to succeed at getting away from the home because you can see how sad he is there. I would say that the advert is linear for the most part because there is a sense of equilibrium in the beginning when he is sitting at the nursing home. Although, he is not happy it would still be equilibrium because it is relatively peaceful and there is nit too much action going on. This means that the advert follows Todorov's theory of equilibrium. Due to the fact that the advert follows quite a linear pattern it means that the equilibrium transfers into a disrupted equilibrium. This stage of the advert is conveyed by depict

Utopia There are many genres that we can perceive in the trailer for Utopia. I would say that the main genre would be mystery as there is a wide variety of shots throughout the trailer including empty shots/establishing shots which help to convey a feeling that you don't really know what is going on, therefore, supporting the genre of mystery. These are hermeneutic codes to help to create a theme that you don't really know what is going on. It also uses high angle shots to show a point of view of them. The fact that there is a shot of a man scanning an ID could represent the idea that it is a crime/thriller as well. You could also say that the film is of a horror genre because the drawings of massacred people which also act as hermeneutic codes. Neale believes that genre is essentially instances of 'repetition and difference'. He suggested that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identified within a certain genre - but must also subvert these c

Water Aid - Background It is a charity that was established in 1981 as a response to a United Nations campaign for clean water, sanitation and water hygiene education. Works with organisations in 37 African, Asian and Central American countries and the Pacific region. Patron: Prince Charles. Created by  Atomic London in 2016 an advert named 'Rain For Good' presents a 16 year old Zambian student with the aim of showing how communities benefit from clean water. It achieves this by portraying them doing everyday chores such as farming and laundry. Wateraid: Claudia sings sunshine on a rainy day (2016) The advert uses Levi Strauss' theory of binary oppositions because the cause is very serious as it is raising awareness for the fact that many groups of people do not have access to lean water but she is singing a relatively happy song and the lighting is quite golden which could symbolise happiness and hope. This relates to the theory of binary oppositions because they a

Unicef Charity Advert I would say that the purpose of this advert is to try and get you to donate to help out starving children. It achieves this by appealing to as many groups of people as possible and making them feel guilty about not donating to the cause. The advert includes everybody with the tagline "He's starving. We're not". The fact that it uses the word "we're" means that it is using direct address to build a connection between the audience and the child portrayed in the advert. The direct address makes us as the audience feel as if we can really help the child and our donations actually matter. It also makes us feel as if we should donate by making us feel ashamed if we don't. This is because there is another tagline stating "It's time to share". This is effective as it is reminiscent of when you were younger and a primary school teacher would ask you to share with your classmates. The reason why this is important is becaus

Anchor Spreadable Butter What groups are represented in this advert? The groups of people that the advert focuses on are elderly people and teenagers. The older person is shown to have a Caribbean accents which makes it more memorable. These people are clearly identifiable because the older woman has grey hair and she is shown to need to look close to reach the product and the young male is wearing a hoodie which is what teenagers would stereotypically wear. What assumptions are made about these groups of people? That old people are not used to technology and they are confused by it. An example of this is when she holds the butter up to her ear to see where the sound is coming from. This means that old people are represented as not up to date with things that are common in everyday life and the fact that she is talking to herself at first could show her mental state is not all there. This also shows that teenagers are represented as not very sympathetic towards old people as the

Tide Advert Designed for heavy duty machine cleaning. Brand leader in America established in 1946 by P&G. (Procter and Gamble). DMB&B (D'Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles) handled advertising agency handles P&G's accounts. They found their audience had a large amount of confidence in the brand. Used print radio advertising campaigns concurrently in order to build a familiarity of the brand with the audience. Both media forms use the "housewife" character and ideology. They made it out that the customers loved the product. Semiotic Analysis of the Tide Advert The purpose of the advert is to create a relationship between the audience and the product by making the audience familiar with the product and want to buy it. the overall purpose is to sell their product. The context of the advert is that mainly women would do the washing so it makes sense that they would depict a woman for the advert as it appeals to the target audience. Tide uses sym

Advert Analysis Image One: I would say that the product that the advert is trying to sell is a handbag and perhaps the clothes she is wearing. I think this because the handbag seems to be the main focus of the image because it is in the centre and everything around it (accept the woman is quite barren). I would assume that the products that the advert is trying to promote are quite upper class because they have used a model wearing highly fashionable and expensive clothes. I think that as well as the products the advert is trying to promote a free lifestyle meaning that if you buy their products then you will be free because she is in a calm environment. The colours used are quite similar as the field and clothes compliment her hair colour. The model is also looking straight at the camera which could be showing that the advert is trying to directly address the buyer and try and convince them that if they were to buy their clothes then they will be able to live a free and happy lif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0RhPOsr01g

Learning Conversation What do you think has gone well so far this year? What are your strengths? I think that shooting and editing the short suspense film has gone well for me this year. I think a strength was already being fairly familiar with the editing software. I think that i have taken quote a lot of notes and gone into necessary detail to describe something important. I would also say that i have incorporated a fair amount of media language in my analysis'. Identify three specific targets for yourself for the rest of the year. Become more familiar with media terms and codes and conventions to become able to give concise and accurate definitions of them to be able to use them in my work. To have a large amount of knowledge about different shot types and editing styles. To be able to pick up on and analyse different aspects of a media product without prompted questions. Course suggestions:

Wonder Woman Mini-Mock Media language would create meaning in this advert because it uses hermeneutic codes in the form of a bright light and the sword. This is because it makes the audience question why she would need a sword and what the bright light actually is. Furthermore, the bright light could have connotations of some form of explosion so that and the fact that there is a sword in the main image would help to appeal to the male audience because stereotypically males would enjoy that. This can also be described as proairetic codes because the sword, armour and bright light promotes the theme of action in the poster and hints at it being an action film. Additionally, the sword could appeal to men because of the theory of compensation . I think that the advert creates meaning because it subverts from the stereotype that women are not as powerful as men and cannot fight. i believe this meaning because the main image is of a woman and the man is in the background which present

Lexis: The language used in the advert Textual Analysis: the meaning behind the product/lifestyle that an advert is trying to promote. Hermenuetic code: Enigma codes. It creates mystery or unknown. Formal Text: Serif Semiotics: signs, signified, signifiers. Rule of thirds: The rule of thirds is when the picture is separated into blocks of three and its purpose is to put the focus of the picture into spaces where our eye is naturally drawn. draws the audience in. Proairectic code: They are action codes and suggest what is going to happen. Z-line: The z-line is the line at which our eye takes when looking at a picture. The purpose is to draw the audience into what is most important. Symbolic Code:  Suggests deeper meaning. Mode of address: The mode of address is how the model or advert is addressing the audience. For example, if they are looking straight at the camera or not. How it communicates to the audience.  Ideology: The beliefs and values of a media text. Domi