Language – Tom Bradshaw
For my A2 Media Studies coursework I made a music video in
the genre of Indie rock, similar to artists such as Arcade Fire. The music
video consists of a main character that is trying to fight against the
government and their corrupt, capitalistic ways. He does this by attending
protests and gratifying signs around London. This character is also (in our
music video) represented as a leader of people who share his views. We did this
by conveying messages via media language – the way in which a producer conveys
messages to the audience through the use of camerawork, editing, sound and Mise-en-scene.
Due to the fact our music video was in the genre of indie
rock. This meant we used specific media messages to convey this genre in our
music video and ancillary tasks. I looked at interesting music videos such as ‘Rogue
Waves – Lake Michigan’. I saw that they used a convention of the indie rock
genre of giving their music video a sepia tone. Although, not the hole of our
music video has a sepia tone, when editing I made a the scene when the main
character is speaking out in a dark room have the yellow sepia tone, using the
colour corrector, because I felt it contorted quite a rustic look which is a
common style in indie culture.
This idea of using tones to convey a genre could be related
to Andrew Goodwin’s book ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ where he states
that there is a succinct relationship between the music and the visuals, “the
visuals are either illustrated, amplified or contradicted.” I feel that by
using the indie rock code of using a sepia tone ‘amplified’ the shots dramatic
aesthetic. During this scene we then used a close up of the microphone in which
our protagonist was speaking into. This was another code from the video by ‘Rogue
Waves’ where they used close ups to ‘amplify’ certain subjects. We also very
obviously used Goodwin’s idea of linking the visuals to the music when the
lyrics say ‘Run boy run’ and the visuals are of our lead singer running around
London. This can also be connected to our use of the sound; when curtain lyrics
were said we used shots of our lead singer/protagonist following these lyric in
what he does. This links to Goodwin’s idea that there is a succinct link
between the music and the visuals.
We used a variety of shots to create deep meanings and
messages in our text. Roland Barthes stated that there are five codes in a media
text, the hermeneutic, enigma, semantic, symbolic and cultural code. The cultural
code could be applied to our music video because it looks at the audience’s wider
cultural knowledge, morals and ideologies. Our music video is strongly based on
how it affects people views and ideologies toward today’s society. For example,
we used a wide shot of a protest to represent people view toward our government
the fact that we were able to capture a flare being set off in the shot made a
more powerful atheistic. We also used fast cutting to intercut two separate scenes
to convey a message. This can be seen when the beat drops and shots of burning corporate
company logos and shots of the protest are cut together to send a message to
the audience that these subjects are bad. These examples of media language can
be applied to Barthes theory because the cultural code can be applied to our
audience.
Levi Strauss’ theory of binary opposites can also be applied
to our music video. This theory is all about the use of two opposite, like dark
versus light, good verses bad, to create a message. When using the camera in our
music video we used lots of close ups of curtain subjects that have relevant to
our story. In most music videos close ups are used as a peace of media language
to represent dominant subjects. One of our subjects was a mask surrounded by
smoke surrounded by darkness. The mask was back lit to represent the beacon of
light in a dark place. This is a binary opposite of dark verses light,
representing the mask being on the good side with the smoke stretching our across
the darkness, which emphasizing the plot on how our masked man is fighting back
against capitalism and corporate company’s. The mask was an important part of
the media language do to it being part of the mise-en-scene. This mask (being
worn by the main character) was captured in a focus pull from the fire to the
mask, showing the fire (that was used to burn company logos etc) is against the
these company’s and the government due to the mask signifying the good and the
fire signifying the bad, again creating another binary opposite.
We also used the pace of the editing in a way that could be
related to Strauss’ use of binary opposites. This can be seen at the begging of
our music video when there are long takes of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
(a well-known government building), which gives of the idea that the government
are slow and behind in the times. This is then contradicted by cutting to fast
paced editing of a protest filled with people who are against the government,
giving of the idea that these people want change and are moving fast to get
what they want. This use of media language through the editing could represent
a binary opposite of fast verses slow.
Again whilst editing, we constantly intercut different shots
of subjects to link then together without actually seeing them in the same shot
together. This could be linked to Kuleshov’s theory that, depending on how
shots are assembled the audience will attach a specific meaning or emotion to
it. We edited close up shots of fire burning corporate company logos with a long
take of our main character silhouetted whilst taking off his mask. This gave
off the idea that all the secrets of these company’s and the identity of the
main character is being let out in one big climax, using Kuleshov’s theory that
two subjects do not need to be seen in the same shot for them to have a
connection.
