The Camera Talks

Every image in a media text has connotation associated with it. You can use these connotations to assume what is going on in the scene. Even a still image could tell you somehting about what is going on in a movie or video.

Our task was to take photos using the different types of shot. We also had connotation that went with these photos. For example, if there was a photo of two people, that is called a two shot. But it also depends on what the people are doing in the scene, this is where Mise en Scene comes in. For example, in the image where there are two people at the bus stop, we can assume that they are strangers, and that the scene is slightly awkward. We can guess this because they are sat quite far apart from each other on the bench. they are also not making eye contact, which shows that they are not having a conversation. This is what gave us the idea for the bus stop photo in the collage above.

When it comes to shooting photos for my music magazine, I will need to consider what type of photo I am going to use. If I use a high angle shot, it can make the subject look smaller and more vulnerable. Whereas, if I use a low angle shot, the subject is made to look much bigger and more powerful. This was the idea behind the photo in the collage that is captioned ‘#headintheclouds’. Low angle shots are often used in movies where the producer wants the villain to look powerful and menacing.

My image that uses MES to make meaning

 

 

Reflection:

All denotations are leftn in a media text for a reason. The producer has left in the denotations to display a narrative.  The elements that are used in a media text are called Mise En Scene. There are five elements to consider in a media text. These are: costume, lighting, acting, makeup, props and setting. When a producer makes a media text, they consider all of these elements before creating it.

In groups of three, we were given a genre of music to work on. For this genre, we had to create a moodboard for the topic and then we had to dress up one of the members of our group in a costume that matched the genre. My group was given jazz as the genre. As you c an see in the image above, we created a moodboard using pictures and words that we associate with jazz music. The person dressing up would also dress up as if they were performing that genre of music live to an audience.

This explains that poses in the photos above. We had to experiement with different camera angles to try and fiund the perfect shot for a tour poster. I took the photo’s based off of the photo’s that had been used in the moodboard. We tried to look laid back and relaxed, as that is what jazz singers normally are. The are also quite retro, which is why I dressed the model up in a bowtie and a waistcoat.

I think that the last image is the best photo that we managed to take, so we have decided to use this photo for the tour poster. We used this photo because in my opinion it looks the most like the jazz pictures that I have seen. I think this is because he looks more laid back, talented and retro.

After having completed this task, I uderstood the importance of Mise En Scene. I also understand how much a producer needs to think about before publishing an image. I understand that i will also need to take these things into account when I come to making my music magazine.

Tour Poster Analysis

Tour posters are used to attract peoples attention. They usually do this by using bright colours, which is all that people usually read into the poster. But there is so much more to it that people can analyse. For example, people can read into what sort of emotion the person/group is trying to portray with their body language. If someone is being quite playfull with their body language, then you can assume that they are a fun, informal group/induvidual. Another aspect that you could analyse is the font. If the font is in a really fancy style, then you would usually be led to assume that they are a classicla singer because the font is more formal. I mentioned earlier that people usually are just attracted by bright colours on posters, But you can actually also analyse the colours and why the creator has used them. In my example, the colours are bright (blue and pink) which shows that they are fun and upbeat. If the creator of the poster used colours like black and white, we would work out that they are mo0re downbeat. Black and white could also be associated with older music. the colours blue and pink could also be used to show that the group are inclusive and their target audience isn’t just one specific gender. Blue is uually associated with males and pink is normnally associated with females. That is why we could be led to this conclusion. That might not have been the message that they were trying to put across with those colours but you can read more into the poster than what you first see.

That is the point that I am trying to make. It takes the creator quite of lot of time to create a tour poster and then somebody comes along and looks at it for a few seconds then walks away, or even worse, they just completely ignore it. If people just read a bit more into the poster, then they can probably assume what the group or induvidual are like and what sort of music they make without just going away and searching them up on the internet.

For my magazine, I will need to consider all of these aspects too: target audience, colours, Font, Body language and clothing. These aspects will make people know what type of music I am trying to advertise and what they group are like. I am looking forward to seeing what it is like to create a music magazine, but I need to cinsider a lot of thiongs, so it may not be as simple as people first think.

Media Ecology

Each induvidual aspect of a media environment are interconnected and interdependant.

Without the other aspects, the media environment would not be able to work. For example, creators could not work without social media. this is because, they need to be able to advertise the thing that they have created. If they could not advertise it, then nobody would see it and the creator would not make any money. A creator would also need information. Without this, the creator could be speaking about something. but not know any of the real facts and information. They could be speaking from what they heard in a distorted view of what was going on. However, if the creator has social media but doesn’t look at real news stories, then they could just be reading the same distorted view on what is happening. This is how media Impacts on society’s understanding.

Without even one of the aspects, a media environment cannot function properly, and the aspects cannot work without one another. The interdependance between the different aspects is what makes a media environment.

The audience is also important. The reason for this is because the creators need somebody to aim their content at. Without a target audience in mind, their content would not be viewed by anyone which therefore means that they would not make any sales. Without an audience, there would be no need for a government to make rules surrounding content creators because nobody would be viewing the content in the first place. This once again shows how all of the aspects link in with and interdepend on each other. And it shows how the entire media environment could fall apart without one of these aspects.

My Media Diet

Reflection:

I am a prosumer of media. A prosumer is somebody who both produces and consumes media. This collage shows the media that I consume and produce. The logo’s that are larger are the media platforms that I use the most often and the smaller ones are the media platforms that I do not use as often. Some of these logo’s/photo’s have letters on them. These letters stand for words that show what I use that media platform for. For example, E stands for Entertainment and SI stands for Social Interaction. PI is the largest, because PI stands for Personal identity and the media that I consume defines who I am.

Personal Identity is where viewers can recognise a person or product, role models that reflect similar values to themselves and mimic or copy some of their characteristics. An example of Personal Identity is Instagram. This is because, on Instagram, you build up  profile for yourself. whether this is through your description on your profile or through the posts you put up, people can see into your world through this profile.

The next type of Gratification is entertainment. This does what is says in the name, it entertains people. A person will go on to the internet and search for something that, most of the time, they will find enjoyable to look at. A great example of entertainment is Youtube. People can go onto youtube and watch anything from stand up comedy to video clips of TV shows. Somebody can go onto Youtube and search for the exact type of video they want to watch. So if a person feels like watching a comedy video, they can, and this will entertain them.

Another type of gratification is Social Interaction. There are many examples of social interaction. Instagram is a form of social interaction, as is Snapchat etc. Social interaction is a way for people to compare with each other through media. Interaction is what makes the world go round. If nobody spoke to each other, then nothing would ever be able to happen in the world. The use of media also means that people can interact with one another remotely, this brings the world closer together, because it makes international relationships and conversations easier.

The final type of gratification is information or knowledge. This is fairly self-explanitory. People can see what is happening throughout the rest of the world through media. Whether they see trending news stories while they are scrolling through social media, or searching through a newspaper website, they will find out about important news wherever they go. If people didn’t know what was going on in the rest of the world, people may be less inclined to donate to charity if they don’t know what they are donating for. With less people donating to charity, people in struggling countries wouldn’t be able to get the support they need. So this is why Informatrion is so important in society, and also why it is so important that we can get information remotely now.

For my music magazine, I want to try and incorperate most of these types of gratification when I co0me to making it. Some types of gratification will be harder to include than others. For example, Social Interaction is harder to include, because the magazine will be made out of paper, and it is harder for people to talk to each other through a piece of paper. To get around this, I could make a virtual version of my magazine that could include a comment section, where people can talk about the things in the magazine. Other forms of gratification can be easier, such as entertainment, because that is the main reason why people buy magazines.