Showing posts with label genre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genre. Show all posts
Friday, 2 December 2011
Exam Questions Prezi
This is the prezi that I featured in the video below, which covers questions 1a and b from the exam
Friday, 8 July 2011
Music Video Analysis
OK Go’s music video for ‘Get Over It’ begins with a shot of the band sat on an old brown leather sofa. After a few seconds of silence, it cuts to a shot of a wall covered with photos, some of which are the band members, as the song begins. There are then a series of abstract, ambiguous shots which all cut in time to the pace of the intro guitar. Some scenes include a ping-pong table, a piano, a wall with deer heads hung on it, and various sofas. Just before the vocals begin, there is a close-up shot of a microphone, with the lead singer just coming into focus as he sings. Then the video uses visual representations of key lyrics, e.g. for the line “all your wounds are full of salt”, the camera pans upwards on a shot of a salt-shaker. The pace of the cuts remains fast, with some images only appearing on the screen for a split-second, and in time with the beat of the lead guitar. This conforms to Goodwin’s theory on music videos, where he states that there is a relationship between both the music and lyrics and the visuals. Additionally, Goodwin claims that the demand of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist (as this video does), which links to the concept of Marxism as ultimately the purpose of the music video is to sell the song. As well as close-ups of the artist, this video also uses close-ups of the instruments, in particular the guitars, which is a typical feature of an indie music video, as it is a mainly guitar-based genre. As the music builds to a crescendo, the camera begins to shake, suggesting the reckless nature and high volume of the song. However, the song pauses at this point and the band are shown playing ping-pong, before the song starts again, as most of OK Go’s music videos are designed to be funny in some way. As the song gets slower, the cuts turn to fades, which switch back to cuts when the pace picks up again, along with heavy lighting now being used. The video ends where it began, with the band sat on an old brown leather sofa.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Monday, 13 June 2011
Definitions
Some definitions (from http://www.mediaknowall.com/) ...
A text is classified in a genre through the identification of key elements which occur in that text and in others of the same genre. These elements may be referred to as paradigms, and range from costume to music to plot points to font (depending on the medium). Audiences recognise these paradigms, and bring a set of expectations to their reading of the text accordingly: the criminal will be brought to justice at the end of the police thriller. These paradigms may be grouped into those relating to iconography (ie the main signs and symbols that you see/hear), structure (the way a text is put together and the shape it takes) and theme (the issues and ideas it deals with).
Narrative is the coherence/organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Each text becomes part of the previous and the next through its relationship with the audience.
By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. When studying the media it is vital to remember this - every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone's concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to note that without the media, our perception of reality would be very limited, and that we, as an audience, need these artificial texts to mediate our view of the world, in other words we need the media to make sense of reality. Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on its relationship to reality.
Audience is a very important concept throughout media studies. All media texts are made with an audience in mind, ie a group of people who will receive it and make some sort of sense out of it. And generally, but not always, the producers make some money out of that audience. Therefore it is important to understand what happens when an audience "meets" a media text.
I know they're fairly long, especially the representation one, but they're the best-explained definitions I found.
A text is classified in a genre through the identification of key elements which occur in that text and in others of the same genre. These elements may be referred to as paradigms, and range from costume to music to plot points to font (depending on the medium). Audiences recognise these paradigms, and bring a set of expectations to their reading of the text accordingly: the criminal will be brought to justice at the end of the police thriller. These paradigms may be grouped into those relating to iconography (ie the main signs and symbols that you see/hear), structure (the way a text is put together and the shape it takes) and theme (the issues and ideas it deals with).
Narrative is the coherence/organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Each text becomes part of the previous and the next through its relationship with the audience.
By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. When studying the media it is vital to remember this - every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone's concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to note that without the media, our perception of reality would be very limited, and that we, as an audience, need these artificial texts to mediate our view of the world, in other words we need the media to make sense of reality. Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on its relationship to reality.
Audience is a very important concept throughout media studies. All media texts are made with an audience in mind, ie a group of people who will receive it and make some sort of sense out of it. And generally, but not always, the producers make some money out of that audience. Therefore it is important to understand what happens when an audience "meets" a media text.
I know they're fairly long, especially the representation one, but they're the best-explained definitions I found.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)