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A2 MEDIA STUDIES. Learning Objectives. T o investigate how meaning is constructed To analyse case-studies to evidence an understanding of how meaning is constructed To revise for the upcoming assessment. Blumler and Katz (1975) went into greater detail and identified four main uses:
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Learning Objectives • To investigate how meaning is constructed • To analyse case-studies to evidence an understanding of how meaning is constructed • To revise for the upcoming assessment
Blumler and Katz (1975) went into greater detail and identified four main uses: • Surveillance • Our need to know what is going on in the world. By keeping up to date with news about local and international events we feel we have the knowledge to avoid or deal with dangers. • Personal Relationships • Our need for to interact with other people. This is provided by forming virtual relationships with characters in soaps, films and all kinds of drama for example. • Personal Identity • Our need to define our identity and sense of self. Part of our sense of self is informed by making judgements about all sorts of people and things. This is also true of judgements we make about TV and film characters, and celebrities. Our choice of music, the shows we watch, the stars we like can be an expression of our identities. One aspect of this type of gratification is known as value reinforcement. This is where we choose television programmes or newspapers that have similar beliefs to those we hold. • Diversion • The need for escape, entertainment and relaxation. All types of television programmes can be ‘used’ to wind down and offer diversion, as well as satisfying some of the other needs at the same time
Following and Challenging the Stereotype Task You need identify two characters within a particular case study that follow and challenge a particular stereotype. Part I Identify your case studies. Part II Research and make notes on your case studies that will inform Part III. Part III Create a Prezi document to present your work. NEEDS TO BE UPLOADED ONTO BLOGS BY MONDAY 7th OCTOBER
The Analysis of Representation When analysing a case-study to suggest how meaning is the constructed it is hugely important to consider the following areas… • Camera shots, angles, movement and composition • Editing • Sound • Mise-en-scene
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition Where the camera is placed is very important for how the audience understands a scene, the camera angle is the exact position of the camera.
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition 1. Typically the camera shows a scene from the position of an observer watching action as it happens. This could be as a back seat driver or the driver of an on coming vehicle in a chase, or someone on the street seeing the cars zoom past. This is to represent the atmosphere/tension/excitement from within the action, putting the audience in the center of the action, as the camera works to tell the story as an observer. 2. The camera can take the position of a character and show his or her point of view – this is a POV shot, as we see the action through the eyes of that character.
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition 3. The camera can see the action from any number of different viewpoints depending on how the director wants us – the audience – to perceive meaning in the scene. 4. The camera can move on a dolly to give a smooth tracking shot, or the lens of the camera can move to zoom in or zoom out. The effect is that the character is shown in a variety of shot sizes.
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition This is a close up of Heath Ledger as The Joker in Batman, The Dark Knight (2008) - the close up tells us something about what the character is thinking. Another aspect is the movement of the camera and the position. This can be called camerawork or camera technique, dependent on the exam board specification you are using.
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition You need to understand why the director has chosen this shot (angle, movement or position) and what they are trying to tell the audience. This is called the meaning or message. The Director can use any camera technique they wish, why is it this one they felt was the best at this point in the narrative / for the character / for the audience to understand. The director selects the size of the shot to help the audience unravel the meaning of the scene. The camerawork and the lighting in a film is also known as the cinematography.
Sound Film Language involves the use of sound and music to convey meaning and often to work on the emotional impact of a scene. The soundtrack of a film is a very complex mix of: 1. dialogue recorded on location. 2. dialogue recorded after filming, and dubbed in sync with the lip movement of the actors – virtually all the dialogue on major movies is post- synched in a dubbing studio to get a very clean high definition sound. 3. diegetic sound or music. Sound or music that is recorded on location as it happens. 4. non-diegetic sound or music. Pre-recorded music or sound that is added to the soundtrack during the audio editing process. 5. sound effects (FX) - these may be recorded on location and added later or they may be created for a scene such as a gun shot, the sound of a man being punched, cars crashing etc. Hollywood does these extra sound FX in a Foley studio, which you can see working on a tour of Universal Studios.
The Purpose of Editing At the most significant level, editing form determines meaning in a film in the same way that the sonnet form helps determine meaning in poetry. In most Hollywood films, editing helps determine at least four dimensions of film narrative: in what order you receive information about the plot, how much information you are supposed to receive about the narrative, how you are supposed to feel about events and characters at any given time, and how you are supposed to experience the pace of the narrative. In addition, as the idea of montage suggests, editing can serve an intellectual function, often making aesthetic, political, or ideological assertions about the activities you are seeing, as well as emotional appeals. This latter activity tends to belong more to the world of avant-garde and experimental films.
Determine the Speed at Which Events Move Along At the simplest level, editing determines the pace, and so the mood, of a film in three different ways: • The editor determines the duration of a shot. Generally, the longer the shot duration, the slower the pace. • The editor can decide what goes in or out of a sequence. • The kind of edit between shots determines speed. The slow dissolve can leave us lingering on a disappearing image for several seconds or the cuts between shots can be very quick.
Give or Withhold Information Sometimes editing gives you access to bits of information that will be important to subsequent events. We see a long shot of a man in the street. He looks harmless enough. But then we cut to an insert or detail shot of a hand holding a gun behind its owner's back. We realize that the man is waiting for someone he is going to shoot. Sometimes information is withheld in order to surprise us. Only at the very end of The Usual Suspects (1995) do we get detail shots of the various elements of the police chief's office out of which Verbal Kint has fabricated the elements of the tale of the phantom Keyser Soze: a coffee mug with the name of a made-up company, a bulletin board with the names of places and characters, and so on. Determine Your Feeling for Events and Characters How do you know when you are supposed to like a character? How characters are supposed to feel about each other? Music and casting of course help. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts don't usually play the heavies. But the way characters are edited also says something about who they are. For example, when a man and a woman talk to each other they can be shot either in a two-shot or in a shot-reverse shot. The two-shot can imply (though certainly not always) a level of intimacy between them that crosscutting may not, because the characters in a shot-reverse shot sequence can seem emotionally further apart when they are not physically close. The Illusion of Unity Editors cut together material from disparate sources to give the illusion of unity and continuity. This editing constitutes the practical Hollywood use of the "creative geography" the Soviet filmmakers theorized about. (See "Eastern European Film.")
Misé en Scene How do you analysemisé-en-scène? We see the world through our two eyes, and our brain interprets what we see as a three dimensional image with depth and perspective. A camera only sees the world as a two-dimensional image, which means the picture on the screen is noticeably flatter than it would be in real life. Film and television industries have evolved techniques of lighting, framing, set design and shot composition to produce the impression of depth and perspective. This adds to our enjoyment of a movie or television programmesas it looks naturalistic – that is it re-presents real life. It can also add meaning to a scene.
Misé en Scene As Film students, we have to work out what extra meaning is added by these techniques including how the acting, location, costume and make up also add to meaning. One way of remembering this is to use the acronym SCAL: S - setting / location (time and geographical) C - costume, makeup and props A - Actors - casting, body language, facial expressions L - Lighting / Cinematography
Task As you watch the following case-study make notes in your books that suggest how meaning is created through the following… Camera shots, angles, movement and composition • Editing • Sound • Mise-en-scene
ASSESSMENT Remember you will be having an assessment on Thursday 10thOctober.
