The End - My Media Product - Story Board

This is the final product from all the research on visual communication. The reason i chose to do a story board is because i felt i would have more to talk about in coursework 2. For example, i could talk about semiotics, composition and audience position as well as theories which i've spoke about in the blog. I've enjoyed doing this project and feel that learning about the different elements of visual communication makes me more aware of what i'm doing when creating a media product. It also made me look at other media products in a more analytical point of view.

My Room - Michael Railton - Lighting

Before i create my media product, i think should do a post on lighting. This is a page from my visual diary from semester one, and as you can see it's very musch in a cubist style, just like my Dalton Sq piece. However in this piece rather than talk about homage and influence, i'm going to talk about the importance of lighting.

Obviously without light we wouldn't be able to see so it's very important in all media texts. In this piece we see many different shades of light, due to the image been created from different perspectives. In my opinion this creates an atmosphere within the image, as well as enhancing this block like cubist feel.

I think in any media text lighting plays a big role on making things aware to audiences and creating an atmosphere. For example in theatre different sorts of lights are used for different scenes. When one person is on stage on normally we see a single spot light on them, making them stand out. This because, unlike tv and film, the theatre can't make the background unfocused. However in dramas on tv, lighting is used to add to the dramatic approach of the media text.

From this post, i've learnt that lighting is important as it helps create an atmosphere. Although mainly used in theatre, it is still very important in the media world.

Reception Theory - Stuart Hall

I found the past three posts fascinating and decided to look into the idea a shared understanding between film and audience. When furthering my research i came across the 'Reception Theory' by Stuart Hall. He said that the text is encoded by the people behind the film, and then decoded by the audiences. However, there maybe differences in understanding of what the codes are, which could be due to the age, gender and culture. So using what Stuart Hall calls the 'Prefferred Reading', producers tend to use codes that everyone has a shared understanding of, as well as playing on the expectations of the audience. This could be the use of stars within the text, and genre, meaning there is a an agreement between audience and producer, resulting in audience members been able to understand the story and ideologies of the media text.

I felt this was important to put in because now i'm coming to making my own media product, i need to create this agreement between myself and the audience otherwise my media text won't be understood.

Semiotics - Same Sign, Different Meaning

Although in past two posts i've been talking about shared meanings between audiences, in some cases the symbols maybe the same but the meanings may be different. For example the four leaf clover (not the best example in the world but its really hard to think of something that means different things in different cultures). I personally associate the four leaf clover with luck as i'm sure most people do. However, Celtic fans may associate the four leaf clover with their club and maybe has nothing to do with luck what so ever. Meanwhile, over in Ireland, people may associate the four leaf clover with their saint, St Patrick. Either way there is several meanings.

The point of this post is to prove that not all symbols and signs signify the same thing. It maybe your culture or personal experience or views that change this. Either way, i think its important about what signs and symbols are used as this post clearly shows that even though things may look the same or similar, they can signify totally different things.

Semiotics - Saving Private Ryan

I've already used a similar example in a previous post, but i feel this fits in nicely with this post aswell. In this shot we see two American soilders wearing American soilder's outfit. The reason we know it's an American soilder is due to the helmet they are wearing. We also know that it is a World War Two helmet. In this picture the uniform is the sign, the time period is the signified, telling us when this scene is set. Due to this we also gather some more information of the story. This was also seen i the second Inbetweeners post i did.

The past two posts are very important as in every shot in every media product the audience sees signs that signifies a shared meaning between them. This gives them an idea of what is going on in the media product, meaning they have greater understandment of the story. I will make use of signs were i can in my media product as it helps tell the story.

Semiotics - Everyday Life

I've spoke about lots of different elements of visual media, specifically TV (due to me been on the TV Production Course). However, i haven't really spoke semiotics in depth, which what i intend to in this post. The first example i've chose for this post, is of a road sign. We all know that this sign means 'warning, road works' but why? Well its due to the signs and the signified. We all recognise the sign as a road sign and we all have a shared understanding of what the sign signifies. As we all have shared understanding of what the sign looks like and what it stands for, we all understand how to react. This is straight forward example but in the media it isn't quite as obvious.

Only Fools and Horses - Colour

This is a screen shot from Only Fools and Horses, and in this post i'm going to talk about the the importance of colour within a shot. The reason i chose this frame is due to the clear contrast in colour. As you can see the main focus on screen is of 'Del' and 'Rodney' in the Batman and Robin suits. However this is only made the initial focal point by the big contrast in colour between the foreground and background. By using primary colours ontop of black, they immediatly jump out of the frame, making them the initial focus.

Another reason for the clear contrast in colour is for dramatic effect. In this scene we see 'Del' and 'Rodney' walk into their friends wake, so by making them stand out so much the dramatic effect is much greater. This information about the story can be gathered from the shot.

From this i have released that colours are more than just making the frame complete; they can be used for different reasons such as setting the focal point or creating dramatic effect. This is yt another element of visual communication i'll have to take into consideration when making my media product.