Lockdown mock exam: Key Assessment 4

Questions

Music videos - MEDIA LANGUAGE

Explore how the combination of media language creates meaning for the audience in the video to Riptide [15]

Riptide as a music video displays a wide array of media language. it creates meaning through merging many forms of media language and linking the visuals and the audio, to give the audience a sense of narrative and direction in where the story goes. first we have to identify the audience that this music video is targeted towards, the song fits into the indie pop category so will most likely be aimed at people aged 16-22. this is important to bear in mind as people from this age group will have different ideologies, priorities and ways of life so they will seek out media that will fit in with this accordingly. 


the instrumeltals of the song are upbeat and lighthearted, a smooth and rhythmic tune. this contrasts some of the lyrics which if you look in depth have a darker meaning, commoting wanting to run away and escape from something. video links with song in a way that moves the narrative along smoothly, the lyrics describe what we can see happening in the video, somewhat common in the industry but this is a very literal way of doing it which helps create meaning for the indie pop audience they are aiming to capture their attention and in a way, its a convention of the genre to be slightly unconventional. camera work is composed of many short but differing shots, a reoccuring one we see is a close up of the woman singing, whereas there are many we only see once and for a brief moment. this creates meaning because we infer from this that the artist has used the shorter shots to patch the longer pieces together which at as an enigma code beacause she gets more beat up looking over time, this is also the only part of the video where the lyrics and visuals dont go hand in hand, the very literal interpretation is stripped.The music video largely rejects a clear narrative. There are some short narrative sequences ( such as the scene where a girl goes missing in a graveyard) but for the most part, sequences deliberately lack narrative - typically narrative is associated with the indie genre. the mise-en-scene for example is composed of soft colours, with the exception of some red. the soft colours appear gentle and innocent, and are a feature of the indie pop genre, allowing for the audience to identify with the product more.

one theory we can apply to this music video is roland barthes semiotics, this consistes of codes and conventions i have mentioned already, although one we can look deeper ito is the connotations of money and what it and the colour green symbolises. The video is purposely a low-budget video and reflects the lyrics 'all my friends are turning green' referencing the desire for money. Showing a symbolic code and metaphor of green meaning money but also jealousy could be represented. The use of green shows envy, jealousy of being wealthy as money is a well-known thing by everyone.

Video Game industry - INDUSTRY

In what ways has ownership shaped the media products you have studied? Make reference to the Assassin’s Creed franchise [15]

one main way that ownrship will attempt to mould the media products that are put out by certain companies, is through projecting their bias and ideological viewpoints.  shaping media products is done to be able create games that will more specifically target and attract the intended audience.

for example the assassins creed franchise that we look at is produced by a company called Ubisoft, which is a multinational conglomerate video-game developer. it puts out an array of different style of games to appeal to multiple audiences. however the focus is on the assassins creed franchise which is composed of over 10 games with many more in development. ubisoft was founded in france in 1986, this would suggest that the output would have a more european take and be less focussed on consumerist american culture. the ownership will also have different standards to other large rival game developers such as rockstar games.

 for example the assassins creed franchise is made of high quality and high budget games, most being AAA games, this maeks the games high in quality but also eaqually high in price for the buyer, the game developers must be sure that there is a big enough (and loyal enough) audience that will buy the game at full retail price in order to be able to make it worth the money put into it. however, ubisoft also releases other lower budges games that are designed to appeal to a less hardcore gaming audience or "casual gamers", they are easier and quicker to produce and will generate sales but from an audience different to their bigger franchises. this applies to David Hesmondhalgh's theory of cultural industries where he states that producers have to minimise rick and maximise profit. 

Advertising - AUDIENCE

Explore how the WaterAid advert you have studied appeals to its target audience(s) [15]

the water aid campaign is a charity ad, meaning its not intended to sell a product or idea to make money, its intention is to raise awareness or get people to donate directly to the issue raised and not the people who organise and set up the charity. the target audience for charity's and charity ads are primarily women and older people but they will most likely aim to reach the widest audience they can i order to be able to raise enough money and donations to the cause.

the advert dosent fit in with typical charity ad codes and conventions. what we very often see is use of harsh imagery of for example starved, malnourished children from Africa, or young girls that have to walk miles to get water for the entire family to drink. a convention of charity ads is to show the negative side of the crisis/ issue at stake. however this WaterAid ad takes a different approach and shows the positive effect the general public's actions could have on the lively hoods of these less fortunate. it shows what the future may hold if people make such a small step they can do greater good. the advert starts out with the sound of rain with a radio played over it, this represents the UK and shows how he take water for granted and even go as far to complain about it. the next shot that follows is of a completely arid patch of crops, this is a strong justapose that will immediately get the audience thinking about how privaledged they are compared to the protagonist claudia who we soon meet. because the setting and the environment is so different it can be applied to Paul Gilroys theory of ethnicity and postcolonialism, where he states that media producers are often guilty of using binary oppositions to reinforce and segregate "us" from "them", often being also associated with a racial hierarchy. 

Magazines - REPRESENTATION

Liesbet van Zoonen argues that representations of gender are encoded through media language to position audiences and to reinforce dominant ideological perspectives. In what ways do the producers of Woman use representations to position their audiences? [15]


throughout history women have been placed on a lower stand than men, its seen as a "traditional" view that women have less power and are often an accessory to men. liesbet van zoonens theory is built upon the media being the ones that construct the representations of women through codes and conventions although representations are subject to changing over time. the media language which is used to enforce gender roles can be through images (putting th women in the background r having a lareger focus on men), the language usen when tlking about women, colour, lighting and anchorage of images to text.Gender is constructed through discussions and its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context the idea that the display of womens bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture. the idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body.
the magazine "woman" was launches in 1937, just before the war. at the time of the war magazines would have been in line with "mend and make do" as resources were tight and magazines such as women were even more fixated and reinforcing of hegemonic ideologies of women being st home, in the kitchen and should know how to vook and clean as husbands were at war. in the set text we have looked at the 1964 summer edition we see a woman up close smiling. the main headline screams kitchen which has sadly become a code synonymous with women, however the tone has shifted from the war time and has moves into a more frugal consumerist culture in the 60s, society but women especially were encouraged to buy buy buy. to be able to target their audience, the magazine woman alongside many others will apeal to insecurities of women that have arised from culturally telling women they have problems in order to be abole to cash in on them and exploit them for profit. for example the same cover has a line that reads "are you an A-Level beauty". the producers have specifically chosen to word it like this to capture the intruige of the average woman as we have been brainwashed over decades to believe that we are never enough and there is always something more we could or should be doinf to be sen as more of a woman. the target audence will read the cover and it will create a sense of enigm as to what it is they could be missing, this will make the udience want to buy it and read it for the sake of self improvement.