Section A Exam overview

G325 Exam Overview

The purpose of this exam is to assess your knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, through your understanding of one contemporary media issue and your ability to evaluate your own practical work in reflective and theoretical ways.
The examination:
• two hours
• two compulsory questions
• Total marks available: 100 (two questions on production work marked out of 25 each, and the media theory question marked out of 50.)

There are two sections to this paper:

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production (50 marks)
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues (50 marks)

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
2 compulsory questions.

Question 1(a) describe and evaluate your skills development over the course of your production work, from Thriller Opening (AS) to Music Video (A2). The focus of this evaluation must be on skills development, and the question will require you to adapt this to one or two specific production practices. The list of practices to which questions will relate is as follows:

• Digital Technology
• Creativity
• Research and planning
• Post-production
• Using conventions from real media texts

Question 1(b) requires you to select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept. The list of concepts to which questions will relate is as follows:
• Genre
• Narrative
• Representation
• Audience
• Media language







EXAMPLE QUESTION
Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).
In this section you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units. You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).

1 (a) “Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers”. In your own experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions? [25]

(b) “Media texts rely on cultural experiences in order for audiences to easily make sense of narratives”. Explain how you used conventional and / or experimental narrative approaches in one of your production pieces. [25]

Representation

1(b) Representation

Definition: Re – presentation
The presentation of a form of reality in a media text.
—Representation is always a re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organized and narrated.
—By nature, media ‘mediates’ reality – it selects it and shows us only what the producer wants.

Media producers have no choice but to be selective in their choice of material, however naturalistic their approach
so….
texts will always represent individuals, groups and issues, whatever the intentions of the producer.

What is being represented in a music video?
-A form of reality?
-The lyrics of the song?
-The music?
-The artist?
-A theme within the narrative?
-A movement – feminism?

Stereotypes - why have they proved popular with:
—With audiences?
—With institutions (marketing and creative)?

How could stereotypical representations be seen as:
—Lazy?
—Dangerous?
—Offensive?
—Misleading?

David Gauntlett - constructing identity : Audiences and representationGauntlett says that we reconfirm or challenge our identity through watching media texts.
—We use texts as toolbox to check own identity

Gauntless described the Social construction of identity: how can you work out who you are through what you see in a media text? Your identity is not fixed: you will be shaped by what you watch.
--Identity as project – audience chooses the tools
-Conflicting media messages about identity
So.. When we watch a text we compare ourselves to the stereotypes presented within it.
Look at the use of stereotypes in your music video. How far could you say your music video encourages audiences to reconfirm or challenge who they are when watching your video?

Laura Mulvey - the male gaze
One theory in media studies is the idea of the ‘male gaze’. This explores the idea that the camera ‘sees’ images through male eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViwtNLUqkMY
“The message though was always the same: buy the product, get the girl; or buy the product to get to be like the girl so you can get your man” in other words, “‘Buy’ the image, ‘get’ the woman”
—What could this mean?
—Why might it be the case?
—How might this be evident in your music video?

Judith Butler - gender performance
—Butler argues that gender is a performance.
—It is what you do at particular times, rather than about who you are.
Apply this to your work….
Do the male characters behave typically masculine?
Do the female characters behave typically feminine?

Feminism / Post feminism
—Feminism = a movement (c. 1960s) promoting the rights of women to be equal to men and arguing that women should no longer dress and behave as men wish them to.

—Post-feminism = movement arguing that women have now achieved equality and should be free to dress and behave as they wish without doing so for the benefit of men.
Example: Girls Aloud.
Post-feminist icons?
Objects of male gaze?
Exploited or powerful?
Role models for women?

Verismilitude = the imitation of reality (techniques)
—Representation is always a re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organized and narrated.
—By nature, media ‘mediates’ reality – it selects it and shows us only what the producer wants.

The media makes use of various ‘scripts’ – like stereotypes for events rather than people
e.g. news programmes expect certain images and events to occur in coverage of protests, war, natural disaster, murder inquiries.
Fictional narratives use certain representations of issues and events
Eg relationships and break-ups, car chases, trials, police investigations, holidays.

Consider in your work how far you have created verismilitude using:
(a) Mise-en-scene
Classic Realism? (as if the camera is not there)
(b) Editing
Are we overly conscious of the editing? Does it seem fluent – continuity editing?
or
Does the editing form part of the narrative? Is it dramatic? Does it create pace and excitement?
(c) Narrative
Does the narrative flow as a chronological sequence of events? Does it present all aspects of the action to the audience? Are events constructed from one viewpoint – is this realistic? Do we move from equilibrium to disequilibrium and back? Is this realistic?

Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding texts
—Particular representations become established through repetition in the media e.g. villain characters / antagonists
-they develop a ‘common sense’ status through their ‘per formative nature’
-Hall focuses on issues of race and culture but his theory can be applied to any representation

How to construct your answer:

Introduction: Definition. Which product will you use to discuss? What is being represented within your music video? A form of reality? The lyrics of the song? The music? The artist? A theme within the narrative? A movement – feminism?
Paragraph 1: Stereotypes
What stereotypes have you represented? How have you done this (tie in with media language) What are the risks/benefits for audiences/institutions? Are there any stereotypes that are under represented/ misrepresented?
Gauntlett’s theory of reconfirming or challenging our identity through watching media texts. Using texts as toolbox. How does this relate your own work?
Paragraph 2: The attempt to create Verisimilitude
How far have you represented reality within your text? Why did you decide to do this? Explain how media selects and mediates reality. Consider how you made use of a narrative that ‘scripts’ reality. How did you create this reality / non reality through editing, mise-en-scene and narrative?
Paragraph 3: Stuart Hall - Preferred Readings and encoding/decoding texts
How might different audience ‘readings’ of texts affect how the representation of the text is formed. Stuart Hall’s theory of representations becoming established through ‘repetition’ and a ‘common sense status’ through the ‘performative nature’ of texts (we know what a car chase feels like because we have seen in within a media text).
Paragraph 4: Gender representation
Judith Butler Gender as a performance – masculine or feminine?
Laura Mulvey The Male Gaze
Conclusion
How have you made use of the issue of representation in your text? What are the advantages of representation within a media text for audiences? What limitations are there?

Audiences

1(b) AUDIENCE

In your introduction:
Who is the audience? How did you choose them?
What expectations might they have of your text?
How have you tried to meet these expectations?
What is their motivation for accessing texts like yours?

Linear models:
Sender Message Receiver
For example
(a) ‘Two Step Flow’ theory
Ideas travel from mass media – to opinion leaders – to passive individuals in society
(b) Hypodermic Syringe Theory
Audiences accept the messages that are ‘injected’ into them by the media they consume
Eg. Your thriller opening might suggest that psychotic murderers are bad people
This theory seem ‘outdated nowadays as audience are no longer passive. They are active audiences who enjoy being challenged by the media they consume and will not accept dominant readings neccessarily. They can give oppositional readings.

These theories were popular when mass media was developing. They are they now outdated

Task: 1(b) asks you to apply theory/media concepts to your coursework. But you may also suggest that some theories/media concepts DO NOT fit with your production work.
—How might these ‘linear models’ (two step flow and hypodermic syringe) be too limiting when evaluating the audience of your music video or your thriller?

Uses and Gratifications theory
- Described a number of uses an audience might make of a media text.
- Explained that media texts fulfil audiences’ needs in a number of ways. ee worksheet for details.
Why do you think some media theorists consider this model to be outdated?

Stuart Hall's Preferred Reading theory:
(also links with theory on Media Language)
Stuart Hall argues that media texts are constructed so that they have an intended or preferred reading, which will come from the producers’ own ideas and values. He suggests audiences decode texts in one of 4 ways:
Dominant – Negotiated – Oppositional - Aberrant

Gauntlett on Men's Magazines:
‘In post-traditional cultures, where identities are not ‘given’ but need to be constructed and negotiated, and where an individual has to establish their personal ethics and mode of living, the magazines offer some reassurance to men who are wondering “Is this right?” and “Am I doing this OK?”, enabling a more confident management of the narrative of the self.’
Example of audience negotiations with texts

Modern theory: Cultural Positioning
Another key debate in media is whether an audience can be forced to decode a text in a specific way, or whether an individual’s cultural positioning (could include gender, social group or individual experiences) determines the reading.
So who controls the reading?
Are media representations no longer fixed?
Can media construct audience’s identity?
Consider how the media helps us to create identities for ourselves:
— As individuals
— As a society
— As members of specific groups

Can we really separate people into specific groups or is this an artificial division?
Were these ‘differences’ between people originally there, or are they constructed by the media?

—Remind yourself: Who is the audience? How did you choose them?
—Might your target audience decode your text in different ways?
—How might your text and others like it play a part in shaping identities of individuals and groups?


Task:
2. Evaluating your own work with audiences
Choose one of your productions (main or ancillary, AS or A2) and explain how you selected and targeted a specific audience.
You could consider:
· How you chose a target audience in relation to the genre and form you selected.
· Whether you targeted an existing audience which already enjoys specific existing products like yours.
· How you made creative choices to appeal to this target audience.
· How you think your target audience will use your text (consider uses and gratifications here)
· How your media text could be marketed to the target audience (e.g. making use of social networking and other interactive technology).

1.Who is your target audience? How did you choose this audience?
2.(a) What expectations (uses/gratifications) might they have of your text?
(b) How have you tried to meet these expectations?
(c) What is their motivation for accessing texts like yours?
3. Under Stuart Hall’s theory of ‘Preferred Readings’ what type of ‘reading’ might this target audience give to your text?

Media Language

1(b) Media Language

Key concepts: Media Language

You may be asked to write about one of your production pieces in relation to the concept of Media Language. This could be seen as the trickiest concept to define as it is not immediately obvious from the name what you are being asked to discuss – you therefore need to be careful when reading the question to make sure you know what is expected of you. However it can also be seen as a broader category than the others, giving you the opportunity to write about a number of different elements and to discuss any of the other key concepts.

Media Language means the way that meaning is made, using the conventions of the particular medium and type of media product. It is about considering how media texts communicate. One way to look at it is in relation to written language: if writing uses words, nouns, adjectives, sentences, paragraphs, rhymes, rhythms and chapters to convey meaning, how does a media text do it? If a written text uses short sentences, adverbs and similes to convey a sense of danger, a film title sequence might use fast editing, signs such as shadows falling across a wall, carefully composed mise en scene to suggest imprisonment and a specific choice of font and transition for the titles to convey a sense of unease.

You could write about elements of semiotics, genre, narrative, design, structure, codes and conventions, time and space, aesthetics, spoken, written and visual language to name just a few examples.

Louis Saussure’s Semiotics:
žSignifier = the form in which the sign takes
žSignified = the concept it represents
Louis Saussure was interested in the relationship between the signifier and the signified and this is referred to as 'signification.’

žiconic sign = a mode in which the signifier resembles or imitates the signified (recognizably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or smelling like it) - being similar in possessing some of its qualities: e.g. a portrait, a cartoon, a scale-model, onomatopoeia, metaphors, 'realistic' sounds in 'programme music', sound effects in radio drama, a dubbed film soundtrack, imitative gestures;

žindexical sign = the signifier is directly connected in some way to the signified - this link can be observed or inferred:
e.g. 'natural signs' (smoke, thunder, footprints, echoes, non-synthetic odours and flavours), medical symptoms (pain, a rash, pulse-rate), measuring instruments (weathercock, thermometer, clock, spirit-level), 'signals' (a knock on a door, a phone ringing), pointers (a pointing 'index' finger, a directional signpost), recordings (a photograph, a film, video or television shot, an audio-recorded voice), personal 'trademarks' (handwriting, catchphrase)
Revise the following terms by writing one example of each from your production:
signifier
signified
detonated meaning
connoted meaning
iconic sign
indexical sign



Media Language Practice exam question 1b

“Media texts can communicate to their audiences in various ways.” Discuss the ways in which Media Language has been used within one of your productions.
Cover in your answer:
ž Louis Saussure’s Semiotics – indexical and iconic signs
ž Genre
ž Narrative
ž Design
ž Structure
ž codes and conventions
ž time and space
ž Aesthetics
ž Visual language

Practise taking a semiotic approach by evaluating one of your productions.
Focus on: Signs and their intended meaning
How they interact with each other – would a sign (e.g. the police hat) be read differently if placed in a different context? So how are elements affected by one another?
Anchorage text – how does the font/size/position convey meaning?
Drawing conclusions – what is the overall effect?

Example: Katy Perry's 'One of the Boys' album:What does the darkening sky signify? How does it affect our reading of the rest of the image?
Pink is used a great deal in the composition – overwhelmingly seen as a feminine colour and on first viewing it could seem that the artist is to be seen as traditional (note the 1950s clothes and pose), selling a nostalgic image to women and men. However, the anchorage text suggests…

A white picket fence is symbolic of a perfect home life in American culture– why is it used here? How do the other elements of the image affect our reading of it?
How are we invited to view this as an image of femininity? Consider all the elements of the image together and come to a conclusion. Nostalgic? Objectified? Empowered? Ironic?
Pink flamingos? How do they interact with the other pink elements? How do they affect the reading of the rest of the image?

Narrative

1(b) Narrative

Narrative = the way these events are put together
(Story = a sequence of events known as the plot)

This could include:
—who is telling the story and how reliable they are
—in what form the story is told e.g. video diary, flashback, series of images, voiceover.
—how events are selected and/or missed out to create a particular story
—how and in what order the events are imparted to the audience
—with which character (if any) the audience is encouraged to identify
—how much knowledge the audience is allowed to have in relation to the characters

—Media texts use codes and conventions to indicate a story – we might consider these as media ‘shorthand’.
How could you signal:
—Someone has a secret?
—Someone is being followed?
—Something bad is going to happen?

Narrative shapes material in terms of space and time - it defines where things take place, when they take place, how quickly they take place.
Narrative, especially that of film and TV, has an immense ability to manipulate our awareness of time and place e.g. flashbacks, replays of action, slow motion, speeding up, jumping between places and times.

NARRATIVE MODES There are two main modes of narrative which need to be structured.
1 . The narrative of events e.g. - A hero shoots an enemy agent, dives into a
lake, triggers a remote control device which will destroy the enemy submarine.
2. The narrative of drama e.g. - The heroine has a tense argument with the
Hero and decides he was never her type and she is going to leave. Nothing has really happened in terms of events but a lot has happened dramatically.

Texts often need to signal changes in chronology.
How could you signal:
—A few months has gone by?
—A flashback?
—An historical event?
—The next day?
—A memory?
—Night falling?

Audiences need to be able to work out where or in what sort of place an event takes place.
How could you signal:
—An urban location?
—An environment unfamiliar to the character?
—The next scene takes place in a different city?
—A journey?

—Open Narratives – a text which is open to a number of possible interpretations and stories, so the audience tends to create their own narratives around the text.
—Closed (or fixed) Narratives – a text which provides its audience with only one possible story.

Music video and narrativeWhat problems for narrative are presented by the form of the music video? Consider:
Characters repetition setting chorus dialogue pace chronology
So - can we read a music video as a straightforward narrative?
Should we not expect to?
Or should we expect to have to work harder to create a story for ourselves?

Todorov's theory of equlilibium
—Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period.
—Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet.
—This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end.
—The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred to as ‘Classic’ or ‘Hollywood’ narrative).

BARTHES’ ENIGMA CODEAn enigma = a mystery to draw the audience in and encourage questions.
Eg. the slow revealing of a character through delaying a shot of their face.
eg. a series of reaction shots before showing the audience the cause of the reaction
eg. the quick succession of image motifs to raise questions about the characteristics of a relationship
— The narrative will establish enigmas or mysteries as it goes along.
— Essentially, the narrative functions to establish and then solve these mysteries.

PROPP’S THEORY ON CHARACTER AND ACTIONVladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century.
He studied Russian fairytales and discovered that within a narrative there were always 8 types of characters evident.
These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father.
He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper.
There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION.
Propp provided a model of narrative where characters and events can be seen as constructs, which exist in order to ‘move along’ and drive a narrative momentum. Using fairy tales as his basis, Propp identified a set of interchangeable character types that have clear functions in order to fuel a narrative.
— · The hero, focused on a quest.
— · The villain hindering the hero on his/her quest
— · The donor, who gives the hero some magical key or information.
— · The helper, who assists the hero on his / her quest.
— · The heroine, who is used by the villain and is a reward for the hero.
In this model, the audience will identify with the hero and root for the successful completion of the quest, and therefore be apposed to the villain as hindering narrative closure and, thus, satisfaction.

LEVI-STRAUSS AND BINARY OPPOSITIONS
Claude Levi-Strauss identified a narrative system of ‘binary opposites’ in which symbols and ideas exist in relation to their opposites, with which they are in conflict. The theory is that a simplified set of meanings is drawn from a text, where an idea is considered only in relation to its opposite, pandering to a viewer’s need to side with a character which is ‘good’ against that which is ‘evil’. Binary oppositions can be seen in the following:
GOOD + EVIL
MALE + FEMALE
US + THEM
Following this model we can consider the way in which many narratives are told from the point of view of the main protagonist, and consider what they ‘are’ in relation to what they ‘are not’. For example many Hollywood narratives are told from the point of view of a white, male figure, the hero of the narrative. This necessarily puts him in a privileged position inside the fold of the narrative, therefore, using Levi-Strauss’ model, we can identify what he exists in opposition to.
The theory is interesting in that it draws attention to the fact that the world of a text is a constructed fiction, where simplified moral systems can operate (the grey area being removed).
Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. An example would be GOOD and EVIL – we understand the concept of GOOD as being the opposite of EVIL.
Levi –Strauss was not so interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He looked instead for deeper arrangements of themes. For example, if we look at Science Fiction films we can identify a series of binary oppositions which are created by the narrative:
Earth Space
Good Evil
Humans Aliens
Past Present
Normal Strange
Known Unknown

Practice exam Question:
“Storytelling- narrative- is central to how people communicate their understanding of the world” (Kevin Williams). Explain the role of narrative in one of your productions.
Key points to remember in your response:
· Remember that you can choose any production you have created over the AS and A2 courses – main task or preliminary/ancillary.

· Aim to include some relevant application of narrative theory (e.g. Propp/Barthes) to explain what you did.

· Evaluate your work, don’t just describe it – how well did your narrative techniques work? How similar or different is your finished product from other media texts you know, or from your initial ideas and expectations?

· Relate your work to your understanding of institutions – your decisions were at least partly based on what you know about promotion, distribution etc. as well as creativity.

Genre

1(b) Genre

Genre Definition: A way of categorising compositions/texts (film/TV/music/literature etc) based on a certain criteria – a check-list of expectations and conventions.

Steve Neal: Genre is…
“repetition with an underlying pattern of variations”

How is genre important?
It is a way of organising the huge of amounts of texts that are available.It can act as a set of audience of expectations.It creates a relationship between audiences and producers which minimises the risk of financial failure – consider the money put into production and marketing…It reinforces our ideas and valuesIt makes clear what ‘works’ artistically allowing for repetition.It acts as short-hand communication for audiences.It creates a structural framework that can be adhered to or played with.

How to identify genre. Janet Staiger
Film theorist Janet Staiger asserts that genre can be identified using the following methods
Idealist: Judging texts by a predetermined standard.
Empirical: Comparing texts to texts that are already assumed to be part of a certain genre. (This is what you have mainly done during your planning stage - comparing the Codes and Conventions of similar texts).
Social Conventions: Using an accepted cultural consensus. (Perhaps this is relevant if you did audience/market research).
A priori: Using common generic elements that are identified in advance.

Limitations of Genre
Genre is always subjective (one man’s comedy could be another man’s horror.)
Texts are often so sophisticated that it is hard to fit them into one category.
It should only be seen as a tool rather than an absolute.
Categories are constantly evolving and changing so there is no such thing as ‘typical’.

How Genre’s are created
Jane Feuer in her article ‘Genre Study and Television’ states that ‘genres are not organic in their conception - they are synthetic: artificial creations by intellectuals.’Genre can be seen as a retrospective way of categorising texts by identifying trends and patterns in media. These trends and patterns could be established by creators repeating what works and is successful or by the expression of shared experiences (social factors).For instance the ‘Saw’ films were successful, films that focused on the gratuitous torturing and suffering of entrapped people. Consequently a series of other films that shared the same delight in displaying human suffering followed such Hostel, Devil’s Rejects, Wolf Creek, Captivity and I Know Who Killed Me.This type of film became known as ‘Torture Porn’ after film critic David Edelstein first used the term when describing Hostel.‘Torture Porn is a term often used described these type of films, but they could easily be called ‘Splatter Films’ or ‘Horror’.

How Genres Evolve
Producers of mainstream texts have to ensure that they give the audience ‘what they want’ and so use what has been effective and successful before. However they have to keep things fresh to make sure that audiences are not continually being part of the same experience.This brings in the idea of ‘repetition and variation’ - repeating what is successful but adding enough variation to prevent it from seeming stale.Another way is creating hybrid genres – taking several elements from two or more genres to create a new experience. e.g. Westworld (Western/Sci-fi), Blade Runner (Film Noir/Sci-fi), Shaun of the Dead (Rom-Zom-Com).

‘Audiences want to have some idea what they are watching. They want to go into the theatre and know what kind of a film they are about to experience. It influences their expectations. But the dynamic quality of genre is also necessary to keep genres fresh. There are times when audiences’ expectations need to be altered. In short, filmmakers working within a genre need to walk a line: expand, develop, elaborate on the genre, but keep it under the overall structure of the specific genre umbrella.

’Charley McLean paraphrasing Thomas Schatz (Film Genre and Genre Film)

Genre conventions for Thriller opening:

•A build up to the action
•Creation of fear / apprehension / anticipation / unsettling feeling / confusion / doubt over a character
•Dark, shadowy atmosphere (use of light and dark images)
•Establishing mood and atmosphere throughout the film
•Delay in showing the face of a significant character, or the action of an important event by first showing the hand of the character for instance or a reaction of someone watching the event
•Creation of suspense using soundtrack music –eerie innocent music?
•Morally ambiguous central character – film noir (Seven)
•Murder encouraging a suspecting audience
•Realistic settings to create a sense of ‘the unusual’ occurring within a normal setting
•Flashbacks
•Hero(ine) in situation of threat or struggle
•Red Herrings (Hitchcock movies)
•Twists and unexpected turns (The Usual Suspects)
•Making and keeping the audience tense and on the edge of our seats.

Practice Exam question
1(b) “Genres are evolving.” Discuss your production in respect of the concept of genre.

Intro to section A pt2

• NARRATIVE - TERMS AND THEORIES

  • 22 May 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 716 views
  NARRATIVE

  A narrative is a story that is created in a constructed format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events.

  TODOROV’S STRUCTURE OF NARRATIVE

  Tzvetan Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:

  A state of equilibrium at the outset.

  A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.

  A recognition that there has been a disruption.

  Dealing with the disruption.

  A reinstatement of the equilibrium (usually a altered equilibrium from the one at the start).

  LEVIS STRAUSS - BINARY OPPOSITIONS

  Not only did Levi-Strauss make excellent jeans, but he also looked at narrative in a looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. An example would be GOOD and EVIL - we understand the concept of GOOD as being the opposite of EVIL.

  It is the establishing of these binary opposites that propels the narrative forward. The narrative can only end when this conflict is resolved.

  
  

  
  

  ROLAND BARTHES - FIVE CODES

  Roland Barthes (got killed by a laundry truck) argued that every narrative is interwoven with multiple codes. Although we impose temporal and generic structures onto texts, there are in fact marked by the multiple meanings suggested by the five codes.

  1. The Hermeneutic Code (HER)

  The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.

  The full truth is often avoided, for example in:

  Snares: deliberately avoiding the truth.

  Equivocations: partial or incomplete answers.

  Jammings: openly acknowledge that there is no answer to a problem.

  The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

  2. The Proairetic Code (ACT)

  The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

  The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested.

  3. The Semantic Code (SEM)

  This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.

  It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.

  4. The Symbolic Code (SYM)

  This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.

  This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

  5. The Cultural Code (REF)

  This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.

  (Typically this involves either science or religion, although other canons such as magical truths may be used in fantasy stories.)

  Using Barthes: if you can get your head around the five codes, great - go for it, however, if it's all a bit much concentrate on the first two. The Hermeneutic and Proairetic codes, should be especially relevant to your Thriller openings.

  LANGUAGE TO USE

  Diegesis

  The internal world created by the story that the characters themselves experience and encounter.

  Plot and Story (Bordwell & Thompson)

  Story - the set of all events in a narrative both explicit and those inferred.

  Plot - the arrangement and presentation of the story in the text.

  Narrative RangeUnrestricted – the audience knows more, sees more, hears, more than all the characters.

  Restricted – the characters and the audience learn story information at the same time.

  Narrative Depth

  Objective - the plot confines us to external behavior of its characters.

  Subjective – seeing things from the character’s point of view such as when we see images from the character’s mind: dreams, fantasies, memories.

  Narrative Time

  Diegectic – the passage of time that occurs within the world of the text.

  Real time – the time it takes to for the narrative to unfold.

  For example Harry Potter is set over a whole academic year at Hogwarts so the diegectic time is 9 months, the real time is 2hrs 30 mins.

  The relationship between the real and diegetic time is influenced in the following ways.

  Summary – e.g. passage of time shown in a montage of changing seasons

  Ellipsis – where intervening time between scenes is cut out

  Scene - where a scene is played out in real time

  Stretch - where diegetic time is stretched out in real time like in slow motion sequence

  Pause - where diegetic time stops as in a voice-over commenting on the action

  
  

  FURTHER READING

  http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID...

  http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/narratology/modules/barthescod...

  http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/articles/barthes_five_codes...

  http://www.scribd.com/doc/8332523/Narrative-theory-notes

  • TWEET

• EXAMPLAR ANSWERS

  • 17 May 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 604 views
  http://kingswooddave.posterous.com/a2-g325-past-responses-with-marks

  
  

  http://kingswoodryan.posterous.com/a2-exam-paper-exemplar

  • TWEET

• MEDIA LANGUAGE

  • 14 May 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 611 views
  Below is an thorough list of terminology which must be used when talking about the micro-elements, because the Media Language you use was the language of cinema and the moving image (for your openings and music video) which is all to with the combination of camerawork, sound, mise-en-scene and editing.

  Other things useful to mention would be how you used signs and codes to create meaning so talk about the denotation and connotation of the images you created.

  Media Language has been described as a 'catch all' concept, so feel free to use any of the other theories you've learned for the other sections to help you explain why your project works and how it creates meaning for the audience.

  
  

  (download)

  • TWEET

• DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

  • 11 May 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 598 views
  (download)

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • TWEET

• IDEAS ABOUT NARRATIVE

  • 11 May 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 145 views
  

  Some at Deviant Art has come up with this incredible periodic table of Story Telling - suggesting that story tellers pick and mix certain established elements to tell a new story

  Someone has illustrated the story of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the shape of a map.

  
  

  
  

  Deconstructing Narratives

  Separating Plot And Story

  Think of a feature film, and jot down a) the strict chronological order in which events occur b) the order in which each of the main characters finds out about these events a) shows story, b) shows plot construction. Plot keeps audiences interested eg) in whether the children will discover Mrs Doubtfire is really their father, or shocks them, eg) the 'twist in the tale" at the end of The Sixth Sense. Identifying Narrator Who is telling this story is a vital question to be asked when analysing any media text. Stories may be related in the first or third person, POVs may change, but the narrator will always

  • reveal the events which make up the story
  • mediate those events for the audience
  • evaluate those events for the audience

  The narrator also tends to POSITION the audience into a particular relationship with the characters on the screen.

  • TWEET

• SEMIOTICS

  • 30 Apr 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 128 views
  • TWEET

• IDEAS ABOUT GENRE

  • 30 Apr 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 136 views
  Here's an interesting powerpoint on what a thriller is about found from here.

  As you were asked to do a Thriller for your opening project it's interesting to look at how that influenced Representation, Narrative, Media Language, Audience etc.

  For instance, Thrillers created suspense by drip feeding information keeping the audience wanting to know more or they give us more information than the characters to make us fear for them - so all the time they are playing around with the narrative structure to make it more interesting.

  Then for representation characters can be obviously good or evil (Levi-Strauss, creating binary opposites) and so must be easily recognisable as. Characters must in shown as vulnerable or powerful to create fear. Or to create mystery characters are ambiguous. Which ever one you used, how these characters were represented was vital to the workings of the thriller.

  If you're answering a question on Media Language, Representation, Narrative or Audience, don't be afraid to include some thoughts on Genre as it is clearly very influence on all aspects of the project.

  • TWEET

• IDEAS ABOUT REPRESENTATION

  • 26 Apr 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 145 views
  • TWEET

• CREATIVITY

  • 27 Mar 2011
  • 0 Responses
  • 157 views
  
  

  Everything is a Remix Part 1 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

  Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

  
  

  Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

  
  

  
  

  Below is a great discussion on the idea of creativity that came from here on Flickr by someone who designs spaceships called nnenn. It's worth while going on to the flickr page as other users have placed idea on his constellation as to where they should go in terms of originality and creativity.

  

  
  

  CREATIVITY (...as dots) Imagine a diagram that looks like a star-field, with every dot representing some known thing, information packet, or idea. The center is thick with basic knowledge items but the edges thin out with recent discoveries. In this context, true creation can be defined as simply placing a new dot somewhere in the map's blank areas. But when these new dots do appear, they tend to cluster around other pre-existing dots... and are rarely distant enough to be considered ingenious.

  Now, a new dot appearing somewhere beyond the edge of the existing network might be considered extremely creative but is like a medieval peasant spontaneously inventing space travel: not likely. Unfortunately, this is how many perceive creativity... and either frustrate themselves in endless pursuit, or give-up altogether. If you take this approach, prepare for disappointment. There are, however, a few easier, alternative approaches that will get you your own dot... but all three rely on what's already known:

  1. Push

  Expand the current boundaries/limitations of some existing dot (usually involves a lot of time and effort.)

  2. Play

  Experiment wildly with some existing dot in hopes of discovering the previously hidden (odds are against you.)

  3. CombineIntegrate two existing dots that are not already connected in an obvious way (my personal recommendation.)

  
  

  Where Good Ideas come from - Steven Johnson

  
  

  All Creative Work is Derivative

  From filmmaker Nina Paley of Sita Sings The Blues fame comes a simple yet brilliantly conceived and beautifully executed case for the combinatorial nature of creativity. Paley photographed archaeological artifacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and animated them to illustrate her point: All creativity builds upon something that existed before and every work of art is essentially a derivative work. (This is swiped from the wonderful website brainpickings.org)