Media Language Practice Answer

I am going to discuss media language in relation to my music magazine, 'Sound' which I constructed during my Foundation portfolio. The magazine was constructed for a mostly female-based audience of 16 - 24 year olds, with a music genre of indie/festival music as the main genre. 'Media Language' is the term which defines the ways in which the media text communicates meaning to the audience. The meaning can be constructed for an audience through a variety of methods. These methods might include; semiotics, genre, narrative, mise-en-scene, sound, editing etc. Semiotics might be considered as the 'parent' method, as this is the study of signs, which is broken down into the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the form in which the sign takes, whilst the signified is the concept the sign represents. These semiotics can then take the form of everything used for construction in my magazine, such as the camerawork, mise-en-scene etc. Barthes then discussed that all cultural forms are made up of a system if signs that could be deconstructed to reveal how cultural meanings are constructed - in a sense, the meanings of signs are not fixed and depends on the readers' interpretation of the signifier.

For example, for the front cover of my music magazine, I used a gradient as a background behind my main image. The gradient of pink and yellow, was the signifier - that's all it was, just a blend of two different colours. However, my intentional signified meaning was that it would represent the idea of summer and would so reflect upon my summery-festival theme of my content. This was because it looked very similar to the colour of sunset during the summer months, and would connote a warm feeling.

Genre Practice Answer:

The product I am going to talk about in relation to genre is my music video. For my music video I used the song 'Autumn Leaves' by Ed Sheeran, which was an indie-acoustic song. The video itself was a hybrid-type containing elements of performance and narrative. Genre is not fixed, especially as hybrid media products are becoming more popular by combining elements from more than one genre, such as Rom-Com films (Romantic/Comedy). The indie genre in terms of music is traditionally seen as more like rock music, but typically identifies artists who do not have a set, particular 'style' of music. Nowadays, indie music is often combined with other genres such as indie-rock, indie-pop or indie-metal, to create hybrid music genres. It was important to understand genre because it made writing and constructing my product easier, as there is already a set 'structure' for generic music videos. For example, Andrew Goodwin stated that, "narrative music videos will have actions which match the lyrics and pace of the song, whilst performance videos typically show the artist playing the song to an audience from start to finish".

In helping to identify a particular genre, Lacey suggested a 'Repertoire of Elements' to help analysis of media texts; Setting, Character, Narrative, Style and Iconography, and like Steve Neale, "didn't see genre as fixed, but as dynamic and changing over time."During my research and planning stage, I analysed existing music videos, especially those who combined narrative and performance to attempt to break down the structure into these said elements. I was however, limited, as there were fewer examples to analysis which also came under the indie-acoustic genre, which in a sense, did allow me to challenge and develop genre conventions more as I had little knowledge to go by. Important examples for me were music videos from the likes of Mumford and Sons, Ben Howard, The Script and Ed Sheeran as they all often conformed to the indie genre, even if the hybrid genres were slightly different (e.g. Mumford and Sons are more folky) and all applied various levels of performance as this has become a norm to do so with this genre. 

In terms of setting, the majority of videos all took place outside, in locations such as the beach, the forest, by the river etc. This is because it becomes symbolic of the Earth and peace, two themes which are more commonly being used for inspiration for indie music; Ben Howard - 'Old Pine', 'The Wolves'; Ed Sheeran - 'Little Bird', 'Sunburn'; The Script - 'Science and Faith', 'Hurricanes'. If there were any characters featured at all, aside from the performers/artist, they would typically be two individuals, whether it be a love relationship or a close friendship, and they would bond over a narrative of emotional life experiences, as opposed to the heavy fun, party scenes conventional of pop genre music videos. In terms of style and iconography, there would often be a festival, hipster/hippie vibe to the video, which would be reflected in the costume and props. In reference to Lacey, I applied all of these elements to suggest the indie-acoustic genre in my music video. The 'outdoors' featured heavily, focussing particularly on the forest location and props of flowers. Whilst my characters weren't always present in the shots themselves, the actions and props suggested an emotional bond; I used a constant reference to old photographs and the releasing of balloons at the end were used to symbolise the passing and remembrance of someone's life. Whilst I think these elements were effective in showing my genre, I feel like I could have looked to style and iconography more to suggest this. I perhaps should have given my two characters more screen-time to emphasise on costume; band merchandise, denim shorts, floral headbands were all genre conventions for the music videos I analysed, and would have been very simple to replicate and show in my work, so in that sense, I am disappointed.