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.

Shameless Series 7

In the previous post i spoke about the posion of the audience and what connotations it has. We saw a low angle shot, as we do here, which typically denotes power, authority and inspiration. However in this image, although we see a similar camera angle, we don't get the impression of hero and authority due to the character's appearance. However, for people who know Shameless, people may see Frank as a 'god like' character as he is the one who has carried the story along since day one, however, i'm just going to look at this single frame, focusing on audience position.

Due to this juxtaposition created, by 'going against the norm', Claire Johnston's 'Counter Cinema' theory can be applied. I first came across this theory whilst doing 'Media Histories' last semester and is described in Sarah Gilligan’s book, ‘Teaching Women and Film’ as - “cinema that that questions and subverts existing cinematic codes and conventions”. This could've been done deliberatly or accidently but either it creates a juxtaposition which leads to dramatic effect.

By them going againts the norm, it could be argued that this is an example of postmodernism, due to Shameless taking the convention of a low angle camera shot and adapting it for their

own use.

From the past two posts, I've learnt that the position of the audience in relation to the action on screen can tell us a lot about the character and even the story. However, just because there is what some people may call the 'norm' it doesn't mean you have to follow it, as this example of Shameless have done. Either way when it comes to making my own media product i know i don't have to stay within the border lines and can be creative.

Saving Private Ryan - Position of Audience

Throughout my blog i've tried to cover most things that make up a picture, wether it's mise en scene, composition or semiotics. I've also spoke about camera shots, positioning and focus but one thing i haven't covered, which i beleive to be important, is camera angles.

The angle of the camera tells us a lot about a character, and therefore sometimes alot about the story. In this image from Saving Private Ryan, we are looking up at the chrarcter which gives us the impression of them been godlike or a hero because theyre in a 'higher position' than us. With this in mind,as an audience we can get a couple things from this single frame. Firstly he has some form of power and authority as we're looking up to him, almost like a student looks up to a teacher at school; the teacher been the authoritive and powerful one. Secondly, we could be looking up at him in aspiration, as he could be seen as a hero of some kind or thats hes done something that is a inspiring. Either way the audience position is telling us a lot about the character and even giving us abit of information about the story.

Adidas House Party Advertisement 2010

This is a screen capture from the current advert by Adidas. The reason i've chose this advert to use is so i can speak about ideologies and underlying messages and issues. I wanted to talk about ideologies because i beleive it's a very big part of visual communication, wether thats through films, posters or advertisements like the one we have here.

In this shot we can see four men all wearing Adidas clothing. However these arent just any men. In the shot we see Snoop Dog (American musician), David Beckham (English footballer), Jay Barachel (Candian Actor) and James Bond (American Designer). From these four men, originally from different backgrounds, been in the same shot, Adidas are trying to say their brand brings all these different people, form different countries and from different background together. All this isn't stamped all over this shot as one or two of them aren't recognisable, after research you can see it.

Carrying on from this idea of Adidas using four different men from different countries and backgrounds, each one of them have been chosen for different reasons. For example David Beckham will have been chosen as he's a good looking man, he's known world wide and many people either aspire to be like him, or want to get with him. Along side this, it's argued that he is own brand, with his own fan base, bringa more mass audience for Adidas.Therefore by Adidas using him in their advert, showing him smiling and been in their clothes, it gives the impression to the audience that he's happy because he wears their clothes. Therefore people maybe more persuaded to purchase Adidas clothes.

From this, i've learnt that not only is it important for the shot to look good, depending on wether it's an advertisement or film, you have to be careful about who choose because people like David Beckham and Snoop Dog are almost brands within themselves, and with that carry their own fan base and connotations. I will have to take this into account when making my own media product.

Sigourney Weaver - Ellen Ripley - Alien 1979

When studying Media Histories last semester, i looked into the representation of women in film in the late 70's. I concentrated my research on Sigourney Weaver's character, Ellen Ripley in the Alien film in 1979. I spoke about how her character was groundbreaking for the repersentation of women in science fiction, however in this post i'm going to speak about her representation in the chosin image.

As we know characters can be represented in different ways and in this image Weaver is portrayed as an object of desire due to what she is wearing and where the audience are placed. With this in mind Laura Mulveys 'male gaze' theory can be applied. She argues that women, especially in film are objectified as a sexual desire for audiences through the 'male gaze', which is the subconcience way males view women.

As mentioned in a previous post, the main character is looking away from the camera, making the audience passive. However in this case, the shot is set up to make the audience see Ellen Ripley's character as a sexually desired character, therefore they don't need to be active in the shot. Also within the shot we can see three quarters of her body, and as shes not wearing much this objectification is made more apparent.

From this post i've learnt theres a lot more to setting up a shot. You need to think about how people are represented and wether it's the representation you want to communicate with your audience. This is something i will bare in mind when making my media product.

Dalton Square - Michael Railton

This is an image I created for my Art GCSE of a statue in my home town of Lancaster. As you can see it is very much influenced by the work of early cubists, such as Picasso and Braque. As you can see the image has been broken up and then reassembled to create an image which is in the perspective of multiple viewpoints, rather than the singular one the human eye would normally see. By using multiple viewpoints, we are also able to see more things within the image which we wouldn’t normally see.

As you can see there are buildings on both right and left sides of the image, creating almost a line around the image, resulting in there appearing to be a single point of perspective. However, as the main statue is in front of where this point, the ‘line’ appears to emphasise the statue as the main object in the image.

From this I can see that the influence from earlier artists could be very important in constructing an image, as this image clearly plays homage to the work of cubists. Composition pays a big role in pointing out what is active and what is passive within an image.

Father Ted

This is a random image from the TV series showing Father Ted and Father Doogle in a two person mid shot. In this post I'm going to speak about positioning of the main objects in the image as well as the position of the audience.

Throughout this blog I’ve spoke about one or two different camera shots and how they make a difference in telling the story. Here we see a two person mid shot which tells the audience that these are the two people that are important in this scene. A key note to point out with this image is where the two people are looking. As you can see there’s no eye contact with the camera which makes the audience, passive members of the scene. If there was eye contact with the camera, the audience would be involved as it’s almost as if they’re been singled out. This technique is commonly used in documentaries and game shows, where as the audience been passive is often used in dramas and comedies, such as Father Ted.

Carrying on from the previous point, by the two characters not looking at the camera, we know there is more going on in the frame, making it an open frame.

From this, we can tell the audience pay a big role in the media, and therefore when setting a frame up their positioning is vital. I will definitely consider this when it comes to creating my media product.

The Inbetweeners Series 2

This is another screen shot from the second series of The Inbetweeners. In the previous post i spoke about position and focus within a frame and in this post i'm going to speak about mise en scene and its roll in telling the story.

In this image although the background is out of focus we can tell that there are diggers in the background denoting that the two figures are on a building site. This is because the diggers act as the 'signifier' and the idea they're on a building site as the 'siginified'. However a juxtaposition is created by the clothes the two characters are wearing. When we think of building sites, we associate hard helmets, high visability vests and other health and safety equipment. However when looking at this frame we see the total opposite, giving the impression that the two characters are 'outsiders' or as 'inexperienced'.

Looking further into the image, but staying on the idea of mise en scene and clothing, we are able to tell roughly when this frame was set. Both of the characters are wearing hoodies which became a popular item of clothing in the early 21st century. However, this is the only way we can locate this frame in any period of time.

From this post i have learnt that alongside everything else that makes up an image i.e. framing, compostion etc, mise en scene is just as important because it allows the producer to communicate visually the story and the time period it was set. I will therefore ensure i maeke a special effort when creating my media product.

The Inbetweeners Series 2

This is an image from series 2 of the Inbetweeners. In this post i'm going to talk about focus and positioning.

The first thing about this shot is that it's a classic over the shoulder shot, allowing us to either see the reaction of somebody or to see what they have to say. In this case it's to see what he has to say. Another key factor to point out is that the main character is pretty much central screen, giving them the focus of the audience. Talking about focus, the focus on him is enhanced with everything else been out of focus. I think this is important for any television programme as not only does it narrow the focus on what you want but also makes it look more professional and organised.

From this shot i've learnt how important positioning and focus on telling the story the way you want it.