Riptide analysis

The various elements of media language has a huge imapct and influences the meaing of music videos.
one of the elements of media language that is used to influence the meaning of music videos is the budget. If we look at the music video Riptide by Vance Joy, we can clearly tell that it is a low budget music video as we can clearly tell that the footage and images used have been found and cut into the video. Evidence of this being used is the way that they use a montage throughout the video to convey the meaning of the song. For example we see at the beginning of the video we see the woman in the dentists chair and the iamge of the lightbulb fading. In contrast to this, another Vance Joy music video called Georgia is a high budget music video. We can clearly see this straight away as we have a pan view of a jungle, whereas in the Riptide video th opening shot is a poor quality shot of the sky. Also used in the video Georgia that isn't used in the video Riptide is special effects. These are used to create explosions and a gun shot wound. The budget has a huge imapct on the band as if it is a low budget video like Riptide then it won't catch the eye of the target audience, whereas if it is a high budget video then it will catch the eye of the target audience as it looks more cinematic.
Riptide relies heavily on intertextuality- intertextuality allows the target audience to recognise and relate to elements through the clever use of props, backgrounds and stereotypes. A good example of this is when the lyics "The cowboy's running from himself" are sang, a man is wearing a brown waistcoat and a overcoat. He also wears a stetson hat. The target audience wouldn't have to etablish the cowboy in this video as cowboys have been represented in many films and so are well established with this stereotype.
One element that the video Riptide does include is challenging the typical codes and conventions of narrative as it doesn't follow a simple narrative story. Instead what this bideo does is cut links betwen lingustic and symbolic codes. For example when the line "Being dragged away to the dark side" a woman is dragged away into darkness. Another element that this music video does is influences surrealiststs because if you take the lyrics away from the video, then it wouldn't make any sense and goes against reality.
A further element that the video Riptide includes is Roland Barthe's theory of subversion of conventions as it confers to uniqueness. An example of this is when the line "All my friends are turning green" is sung. Most artists may have used actors with a special effect to represent this, however Vance Joy represents this in a unique way as he uses an image of a dollar to represent this. By doing this he could be representing the obvious fact that his friends are turning green at his success, but he could also be signifying the fact that he has more money than he does friends.
This video Riptide also includes the element of semiotics. The reason that semiotics is used here is to convey meaning and also symbolize what is actually being sang. For example we see a clip of a woman untangling herself from a pile of string. This is used to symbolize the lyrics "They come unstuck." This could also denote the fact that it could symbolize that everytime he tries to get into a relationship, it comes unstuck.
The Riptide video also includes the element of cinematic features. The reason that this is used is to catch the eye of the target audience and also that when the target audience watch the video, they feel as though it is like a film. For example, they use a cowboy hat and a cowboy outfit on the actor and placed a desert background at the back of him to symbolize the genre of a western. By using these, they have used the codes and conventions of westerns.
In conclusion the media language used in the video Riptide gains the attention of the target audience and also gains the artist Vance Joy more fans. Secondly, Vance Joy becomes more famous with this video and so he became more recognisable to the public. The video represents Vance Joy as a quircky and creative artist who had a broad imagination.

thumbnails posters

charity adverts comparison

https://www.slideshare.net/danielbretherton147/media-language-representation-and-audience

Vance Joy

Economical Contexts 
Funding:  Riptide low budget- the reason that we can tell that this is a low budget film is because of the shots that are used within the video. for example at the start of the video we can see a shot of the sky. this is a poor quality video and it has used the light that is around instead of editing it before adding it to the video. it could also symbolize the darkness of the lyrics of the song. also in this video when they sing the lyrics i was scared of dentists and the dark, the use a clip of a woman being at the dentist and then a light bulb going out to represent the dark. Also in this video they link the linguistic codes to the symbolic codes. for example when he sings the lyrics all my friends are turning green, they use a picture of a dollar. the quality of the video is quite poor as it is not done with expensive cameras or editing to make the video look more attractive .small Atlantic records label- this single got Joy a 5 album contract with this record label after a talent scout got to hear the tune.First single to be released in USA- this single went as high as 30th in the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 10 in the UK singles.

Georgia- this song had a higher budget than Riptide and this is clear to see straight away from the beginning of the video as they use a birds eye view to look over the jungle. We then see a a shot of a group of men with guns from a low vantage point. Also in this video we see special effects used for example we see these used for the explosions that happen and also they use slow motion so that this can have an effect on the target audience when they watch the video. We also see the how realistic they made the wound that has been inflicted on one of the soldiers. Finally they use a water machine to give the effect of it raining just on the two soldiers.

Montage style in Riptide is used to convey meaning and Intertexuality- in this video the images used within the song connect with the meaning of the lyrics. for example when the line they come unstuck, we see the video of the woman escaping from the rope that she is tied up with to represent the unstuck. also during the chorus we see the woman running away, and the image of the tide of the waves. We then see a different woman being dragged into the dark to go alongside "taken away to the dark side."  We then see a different woman lip singing to the chorus but singing the words wrong. this goes along side "you gone and sang the words wrong." Another thing we see in this video is the cowboys. They have used intertexuality to represent the theme of western movies. for example they have set it in a desert, with cactus and gave the male actor a stetson and a gun to symbolize a cowboy. This is what we would usually see within a western so we can immediately know this. The reason that the women who are used in the video are different is because the meaning to the song is that Joy was in love with a girl that was changing before his eyes, so in this video the meaning that the target audience could get from this is that they will be in a situation like this during their life when they see someone they love change in front of them. they reason that they decide to use the dollar for the line "all my friends are turning green" is because his friends were jealous of him because of the girl he was with, but another meaning that could be taken from this line is that now he is making it big time, all he sees is money and he is seeing more of it more than his actual friends.

Georgia- in this video, the theme of war is used to convey meaning. the way that this conveys meaning is that the meaning of the song is about a girl who he loves but she doesn't love him, so in this video it shows that he would fight for her so that he can be with her. it could also convey the meaning that people will have to go through a battle to be with the one that they want to be with. this also conveys the meaning that it doesn't just have to be a male who is in love with a female as this video shows, as in the it is a male who is in love with another male and the one who he is in love with is shot and he can't cope without him. the intertextuality within this video is the jungle, the way that the actors in the video are dressed as they are dressed in what the army would wear for war. another way that intertexuality is used is the use of guns and explosions to let us know that the he is using the theme of war to convey the meaning of the song in an original and creative way.

Riptide does challenge typical codes and conventions of narrative as it cut links between linguistic and symbolic codes. for example when he sings the line she's been living on the highest shelf, the symbolic way that he does this is by placing a woman high up on a balcony to symbolize that she is out of his reach. this can also influence surrealists as it isn't something that isn't real and something that no one would do. in fact the whole video could influence surrealists as some of the images used within the video wouldn't make any sense to people unless they knew what they lyrics were and understood what they meant.

In Riptide the subversion of conventions does confer to uniqueness as he uses original and creative ways to get the meaning of the lyrics across to the audience. for example he uses the image of a light bulb to symbolize the he was afraid of the dark. also he uses the image of the dollar to symbolize his friends were turning green. this could symbolize that his friends were jealous of him as he made it to the top and they never thought he would, or it could symbolize that he had more than he did than actual human friends.

semiotics- 
lyric- i was scared of dentists (a woman in a chair at the dentists looking scared)
lyric- Lady running down to the riptide (woman running down the road then a clip of a tide)

Cinematic features
In this music video there are a few cinematic features including the codes and conventions of westerns. for example the setting of the scene is in a desert which is where most westerns are set. then we have the stetson hat, which represents the type of hats that cowboys wear, and then we have the gun which represents the type of weapons that cowboys use. Then we see the horror iconography repeated throughout the video. The way that we see this is by the woman being dragged away by a hand into the dark. Also in this video we see a reference to the film Velocite. We see this being referenced to with the tape of the film and the opening credits of the film. 

This music video embraces Steve Neale's that genres are dominated by repetition. in this video that we see the genre of horror is repeated several times, so that this video can not only gain new fans for the artist but also gain new fans for the genre of horror. The function that this music video has for Vance Joy is that it helps them to make the scene as an artist, and also it makes them famous and gains them a fan base. The way that Vance Joy is represented by this video is a band who are original and creative with their music videos and also that they can create interesting videos with very little money. This video could also represent members of the band that have been through the topics that are included within this video and so people can relate to this if they have been in the same situation.

Homework- Newspaper representation

My chosen newspaper is from May 23^rd 2013.

My chosen newspaper represents the issue as a major issue that is happening in society by dedicating all of the front page to the issue and also by the boldness of the headline symbolises just how big a problem this issue is not just in Britain but in the world. The boldness of the headline could also highlight the urgency for someone to come up with an idea to stop this issue from happening in the world.

With the image that they use, they show us the person who committed the crime with a bloody chopper in his hand. This image also shows the man with blood on his hands. This image influences the audience to not allow children to see it as it is too detailed for them to see it and if they do then it could have a massive effect on them for the future as well as there and then. The image also is shaping the audience to be sickened at the sight of what has happened and by adding the detail that they do, they could be wanting the audience to stand up to terrorism. However, by using this image and showing the colour of the person skin, it could symbolise to a younger audience that people who doesn’t have white skin are the people who commit these crimes which isn’t true. In this newspaper, thy only use this central image on the front cover to symbolise how much more protection that we need on the streets. Another thing that they decide to do is put a subheading within the masthead in bold, capital, black letters. This could represent the idea in another way that people who don’t have white skin commit this terror that we see on the streets. This could also have an impact on the audience as they will agree with the subheading the evil face of terror. The main headline is in detail and they tell the audience exactly how he killed the person. This impact that this would have on the audience is that it would make them feel sick at the graphic detail about the death. The headline could also be a cry out to the government to make the streets of Britain safe as the headline states that it took place on a British street. A reason that the paper could be including the way that the person was killed could symbolise that they want the audience to react and start to make an impact for this to be stopped. In the subheading at the bottom of the page the use the word butchers. This could symbolise to the audience that the person was chopped up into pieces just like meat is in a butchers and create a horrific image in the readers mind. This could also symbolise to the reader that the killer intended to kill him this way, which could suggest to the audience that he had this planned beforehand. Finally, the way that they dedicate the whole of front page to this story without including any other story, symbolises the importance of this issue and also how no one is doing much to change this.

The cumulative effect of these repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time is going to make the audience believe that the world is full a bad news more than good news as this is all that most papers represent in their papers. It’s also going to make parents believe that the world that we live in isn’t safe enough to bring up kids in and also it’s going to make parents want to be more overprotective over their children than they already are. For a younger audience’s point of view, seeing this repeated will make them believe that future for them isn’t going to be a positive future and also they are just going to view the badness in the world rather than the goodness in the world as all they have seen during their childhood in the news has been negative rather than positive. 

film industry

Films are produced by film producers and they can fill a variety of roles depending on the producer. There are two ways that film producers are employed:

1-      Producers can be employed by a production companies

2-      Producers can be employed by independent companies

Film production companies

Warner Bros- Wonder Woman, Fantastic beasts and where to find them

BBC films- An adventure in space and time, Hawking

Aardman animations- Shaun the sheep movie, flushed away

Lionsgate- Jigsaw

Distribution of films

Film distribution describes everything that happens in between a production and exhibition. Film distribution also involves all the deals to get the film shown including the promotion

What film distribution involves

1-      Acquiring legal rights to show a film

2-      Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place

3-      Marketing and releasing the film

4-      Making and distribution of prints and flies to cinemas

5-      Marketing and distribution of DVD and Blu-ray to stores

Vertical integration

The three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company e.g. warner Bros, Disney…

Horizontal integration

Distribution is a collaborative process, for example independent companies will depend on other companies to distribute their films

British vs Hollywood film industry

The average critic’s score for Hollywood films is 5 out of 10

The average critic’s score for low budget British films is 6.5 out of 10.

Across all films, British films get higher audience ratings than American ones

Broadly, audiences and critics agree on the ‘quality’ of a film

British films that critics loved but audiences hated include The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Coriolanus (2011) and The Arbor (2010)

British films that audiences loved but critics hated include Tideland (2005), Revolver (2005) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Common themes in British films

Drugs/alcohol

Less known actors

Gangs/violence

Day-to-day life

Different cultures

Urban areas or fantastical locations

Poverty/financial hardship

I, Daniel Blake- contextualisation

            The film depicts the hardships a joiner and a            Single mother must endure when facing the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the benefits System and its draconian sanctions regime

Daniel Blake is a 59-year-old widowed carpenter who must rely on welfare after a recent heart attack leaves him unable to work. Despite his doctor's diagnosis, British authorities deny Blake's benefits and tell him to return to his job. As Daniel navigates his way through an agonizing appeal process, he begins to develop a strong bond with a destitute, single mother who's struggling to take care of her two children.

Straight Outta Compton- contextualisation

In 1988, a ground-breaking new group revolutionizes music and pop culture, changing and influencing hip-hop forever. N.W.A's first studio album, "Straight Outta Compton," stirs controversy with its brutally honest depiction of life in Southern Los Angeles.

Marketing campaign for I Daniel Blake

 

Back of the DVD

Blu-Ray release for I Daniel Blake

Book release for I Daniel Blake

Poster for I Daniel Blake

Poster for I Daniel Blake

Trailer for I Daniel Blake

Marketing campaign for Straight Outta Compton

Blu-Ray release for Straight Outta Compton

DVD release

Posters for Straight Outta Compton

Cinema poster for Straight Outta Compton

Merchandise for Straight Outta Compton

Trailer for Straight Outta Compton

Contextual details for Straight Outta Compton

During the production of the film, Tomica Woods-Wright, Ice Cube and Dr Dre were set to produce the film. This is significant as they could tell the truth about what it was like at that time through the film as they were the ones who lives were affected by the events that took place in the film. Also in the person who portrayed Ice Cube in the film was the son of Ice Cube. This is significant also as it would be an ideal portray of Ice Cube. On August 12, 2014, TMZ reported that just seven days into filming in Compton, a drive-by shooting took place directly in front of the cast and crew members while they were on the set. A group of men standing outside the Compton Courthouse flashed gang signs at a passing car and passengers in the car opened fire on the group. No one affiliated with the film was injured or hurt, but one civilian near the set was shot.

Contextual details for I Daniel Blake

There has been a wide variety of both praise and criticism of the film from politicians. Former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith referred to the film as unfair, aiming particular criticism at its portrayal of Jobcentre staff, saying: "This idea that everybody is out to crunch you, I think it has really hurt Jobcentre staff who don’t see themselves as that. Producer Rebecca O'Brien responded by stating that Duncan Smith "is living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Similarly, on an episode of BBC's topical debate programme Question Time broadcast on 27 October 2016, which featured Ken Loach as a panellist, Business Secretary Greg Clark described the film as "a fictional film”, saying "It’s a difficult job administering a benefits system...Department of Work and Pensions staff have to make incredibly difficult decisions and I think they should have our support in making those decisions."[16] Loach responded to this by criticizing the pressure that DWP staff are placed under.

Conversely, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared at the film's London premiere with the director, then subsequently praised the film on his Facebook page. In a session of Prime Minister's Questions on 2 November 2016, he advised Prime Minister Theresa May to watch the film, as he criticised the fairness of the welfare system.

theorists

Media work

Roland Barthes- Semiotics

Roland Barthes’s theory of semiotics contains these main points:

The idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification. This means that the meaning of the piece media through the size, style and colour of the text can be picked up easily by the audience.

The idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the literal or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign. This means that when the audience sees the sign, they can pick out the clear message that the sign is giving them, but they could also pick out other messages that the sign could be trying to send out to the audience but in a very subtle way.

The idea that constructed meanings can come to seem self-evident, achieving the status of myth through a process of naturalisation.

This theory links into the album cover by Adele and Kendrick Lamar. If we look at the album cover of Adele’s 25 we can clearly see by the number 25 being in red that this album is going to be about love as the colour red has the connotation of love. On the other hand, the album could be about finding love but then having your heart broken by them and how to cope with this heart break. It could also symbolise that the album could be about losing a loved one and having to say goodbye to them. If we look at the Kendrick Lamar album cover Good Kid in a Mad City, all over the title of the album are marks. The denotation of this is that he has had a bad life which has left him with marks mentally and physically but he pulled through them all. The marks all over the title of the album cover could connote that his journey to fame was tough and the message that could be given out to the audience is the journey to fame isn’t as easy as it’s made to look.

Narratology- Tzvetan Todorov

The idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another

The idea that these two states of equilibrium are separated by a period of imbalance or disequilibrium.

The idea that the way in which narratives are resolved can have particular ideological significance

This theory of narratology links to the water aid audio visual advert. Firstly the equilibrium of the advert is the children walking miles to go and collect dirty water and then we see them drinking the dirty water and the effects it has on the health. Then we see the disequilibrium which is the charity installing wells for the community and giving them an education also. The way that this narratology is resolved is by seeing the effect that installing these wells has on the people living in the community and we can see them smiling and drinking the clean water and basically seeing lives being saved.

Genre Theory- Steve Neale

The idea that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation and change

The idea than genres change, develop and vary, as they borrow from and overlap with one another.

The idea that the way genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts

This theory links to the horror time line because in the 1980s Ghost Busters was released, which saw the genres of horror and comedy overlap with each other to try and develop the horror franchise for the younger generation. Another reason that this links to the horror time line and the Ghost Busters poster is because there is a variation as the movie is a variation from other horror movies as they are usually dark and scary and on the edge of your seat, whereas with Ghost Busters it’s a lighter way to show horror and a funny and creative way to also portray the genre of horror.

Structuralism- Claude Levi-Strauss

The idea that texts can be best understood through an examination of their underlying structure

The idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of opposites

The idea that the way these binary opposites are resolved can have particular ideological significance.

This theory links to the Kiss of the Vampire poster as there are binary opposites included on the poster. For example we have the binary opposite of good vs evil, young vs old, male vs female. Another way that this poster links to this theory is because the way that the binary opposites are resolved has a particular ideological significance e.g. good conquers evil.

Postmodernism- Jean Baudrillard

The idea that in postmodernism culture the boundaries between the real world and the world of media have collapsed and that it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation.

The idea that in a postmodern age of simulacra we are immersed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything real

The idea that media images have come to seem more real than the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality)  

This theory links to the Tide poster as the image of the woman on the poster became more real for the audience as the women wanted to be the woman on the front of the poster and the men wanted the wives to be like the woman on the front of the poster. Another reason that the Tide poster links to this theory is because the colour of the background is white which represents purity and a brighter future as the poster is from post WWII so the audience believe to be a brighter future for them all.

8 screen shots of how i did my poster

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/lssXfX98ZCeM2Z

my movie poster

intertextuality of horror movies from the 60s

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/2idjLn5tnGbopf

horror movie time line

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/9eRtsn3lWXyokW