Theories- Media language

Roland Barthes//Semiotics//

• Barthes believes in the idea that texts communicate their messages through a process of signification and that 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 meanings associated with or suggested by the sign. 

• His theory could link to the Adele and Kendrick Lamar music covers that we studied, with the way they had a main title for their music cover, for Adele it was 25, just a simple title which communicates her hidden message through a process of signification, that signification is the true meaning behind her music album cover. Its the same with the Kendrick Lamar music cover, he has a hidden message within it and his text communicates that message. The two music overs also contain denotations and connotations, the obvious things that you can see that was on the cover and the connotations which was the hidden messages and what all the things that were specifically put there actually mean, which is exactly what we studied about within the task about Adele and Kendrick Lamar.

Tzvetan Todoror//Narratology//

• Todoror believes in the idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another. He also believes that in the way narratives are resolved can have a particular ideological significance.

• This theory could link to the water aid advert seeing as he follows the idea that structure involves movement from one state of equilibrium to another, which in my opinion  basically means movement within something means that there must be structure to it for it to carry on, with the water aid advert there is a lot of structure to the advert so they can get their message across which in this case is for them to help the children and get them a better future, without the structure, like the three aims they repeat which they're hoping to achieve, they wouldn't have a target goal.

Steve Neal //Genre theory//

•  Neal believes in the theory that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation and change. The idea that genres change, develop and vary as they borrow from and overlap with one another. He also believes that the genre of a film is defined by two things, firstly its how much it conforms to a genres stereotypes and conventions and how much the film subverts the genres stereotypes and conventions.  

• The kiss of the vampire could be linked to this theory in the way he defines the genre of a film on the stereotypes of it, within the movie poster there is s a blonde girl who has been took by the vampire so there is that stereotype of the girl always being the one who needs rescuing, the vampire who is in red suggesting blood and he's about to bite her which conveys the genre horror. But there is s a man who is on the floor looking like he's in need of help and the women is trying to rescue him which basically goes against his theory as society wouldn't associate a man being the one who needs rescuing.

Claude Levi Strauss  //Structuralism//

• Strauss believes in the idea that texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure and that the idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of opportunities, he also believes in the idea that the way in which these binary opposites are resolved can have particular ideological significance.

• The topic I think this theory link to is The kiss of the vampire, the reason for this is because the movie had a vampire as the villain and a man supposedly to be the hero but that's just how people perceive it stereotyping women being the ones that always need rescuing but in this case it is the man who needs rescuing as he's on the floor and the women is the ones who's fighting the vampire which goes against that stereotype. But there is always a villain and a hero without these there wouldn't really be a film, its all about how binary opposites are depended upon in things, without even knowing the genre of a film you can perceive what it is by looking at the characters and seeing if there's the villain character and the supposed hero. But you could rely on the codes and conventions, what we are expecting to see on a horror poster and what actually is there, we expect to see a man vs some kind of supernatural creature but this time its a women vs the creature. Pairs of oppositions which basically means Good vs evil.

Jean Baudrillard //Postmodernism//

• Baudrillards theory contains the thought that the idea in postmodern culture the boundaries between the 'real' world and the world of media have collapsed and this it is no longer possible to distinguish  between reality and simulation. In postmodern age of simulacra we are impressed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything "real". Also that media images have come to seem more "real" than the reality they supposedly represent (hyper reality).

• There are two topics this theory could link to in my opinion, firstly it could link to the tide print advert, the idea that she has about how media is kind of complete different to the everyday things that are going on which she represents as the "real" thing. In the the tide advert it contains a women with red lipstick, hair done up all nice and quite a lot of skin showing which signifies a bit of a sexual theme to the poster, back then women were looked down on if they wore things like the women in the poster, people now would automatically assume that women back then were all like this which wasn't the case but as Jean has said media images have become more "real" than reality, looking at this poster now all women would be represented like this as this is how they're putting women out to be even though maybe women were completely different this. The other topic I think links to this theory is the water aid advert, everybody assumes that the children are all fine when watching the advert as there shown with water and being happy which again there is her theory being shown, media is being more taken serious than actual reality, without that advert people wouldn't of taken any notice, some still don't as they don't perceive the children as being really desperate as the video (media) is showing them with water.

Designing Horror Movie Cover

With our assignment of creating out own Horror movie poster we designed four cover that we would get inspiration from when designing, we also went I to the schools green screen to capture out images that we would be using within our designs, I chose the puppet design and the scarecrow design to the photos of, I will be incorporating these images into my design. Im thinking of using the scarecrow design altogether, I like the setup of it with the house on top of the hill and the field of grass I think I could manipulate that into making my own horror poster. I wasn't that fond of the Balloon poster I thought ti was a bit plain and boring and the Zombie Vs Vampires didn't really catch my eye wither, the puppet design is another one I'm thinking of because there aren't that many horror films that consist of Killer Puppets compared to vampire and zombie films. Overall this provides me with a nice start so when it coms to designing I know what I'm doing.

Intertextuality

This PowerPoint is all about the topic intertextuality, what films contain intertextuality and what intertextuality is actually all about.

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/7lEgLzgy9ZaaQR

Water-aid audio visual advert presentation

This is my power point presentation explaining the different media techniques that were hidden within the video advert.

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/pvjPBvOPVx6p4F

Kiss of the vampire movie poster

This powerpoint contains all the media techniques that are hidden in the horror movie poster 'The kiss of a Vampire'


https://www.slideshare.net/benjijohnoo10/kiss-of-the-vampire-analysis-81363469

Tide Print advert

This Powerpoint contains slides based upon the Tide print advert, its like the horror poster, it contains all the hidden techniques within the print advert. Being honest this powerpoint needs improving more, the information could be improved bit more which I will aim to finish soon.

https://www.slideshare.net/benjijohnoo10/tide-print-advert-analysis

Decoded Written by Jay Z & Bing

Decoded written by Jay Z was shown to the world through an idea that hasn’t been used before. With all the pages scattered across the world it was able to view by a lot of people of different ages, genders and ethnicities. With the help from the century Bing it gained more attention due to all of the young people of the world getting aware through social media such as twitter and the internet if he didn’t use Bing for a bit more support than his book wouldn’t have gotten the same reaction as it has with him using Bing seeing as so many social groups are using the internet in todays society. The book itself represents Jay Z personally as interesting and creative as this wouldn’t usually be something that people would associate with him doing. With every page in a specific place representing the story on each of the pages interests and engages more of today’s society. With the alternative ways of media like billboards, plates, T-shirts and a car is more appealing to everyone seeing ass everyone’s used to seeing it on a commercial or the newspaper.

Denotation and Connotation// Adele and Kendrick Lamar

With this assignment we had to analyse the music cover for Adele 25 and Kendrick Lamar's 'Good kid in a bad city' I discussed the differences between them both and the denotation and connotation aspects of the album covers.

Adele 25 music cover

Looking at this album cover, it is different in certain ways to the album cover of Kendrick Lamar. But looking at Adele's cover there are a few things that people seem to miss when looking at it, there is a more meaningful reason to the design of this album. There are denotative and connotative elements to this music cover which can be seen completely different to everyone. The album itself is in black and white except for the number 25, the reason behind this is because she must want everyone to recognise how long she has been creating music for and that she is appreciative that everyone has stuck by her and listened to her music throughout her years doing it. Looking at the album the main focus is on her face seeing as it covers most of the page, there isn't anything on her face, no jewellery it's just plain and pure which could reflect on the type of music she has produced in this album. There isn't anything else on the music cover just her name in big writing, this signifies that main purpose of this album and how she only wants people to know that this is her, there nothing else to it she's just herself. Adele's eyes are have a hint of relation in them signifying how her music reflects her and her life. 

Kendrick Lamar Good kid in a mad city music cover

Kendrick Lamar's music album "Good kid in a mad city" represents another type of music genre, looking at the album cover the main thing that catches your attention is the title of the album, with putting it in large capital letters must signify the importance of this album to him as normally putting text into capitals usually means they're shouting something and in this case, it’s the title. The cover itself is very dark and depressing which could symbolise the time he had growing up. Kendrick on the album looks like he's thinking or dreaming about something, the use of him playing with his thumbs could also represents him contemplating. Kendrick is coloured so this denotes the type of music he must be presenting in this album which is Rap/R&B music and maybe smooth listening. Looking at Kendrick himself he's dressed quite smart, theres a slight image of a bracelet at the bottom of the cover and his hair is nice and smart, its not all messy its clean and short which connotes that he's wealthy thanks to his music. 

Similarities and differences 

Both of these artists are seeking different audiences and you   
can tell by their different covers, you could say their genders connotes the different audiences they're putting their music out to, but then it could be for both men and women. Adele normally produces music that’s very soulful and looking at the cover it’s very slick and clear which could signify soulful music, the cover doesn’t really give off a Rap vibe which separates their target audience. Kendrick's on the other hand gives off a Rap vibe not just because of the colour of his skin but because of how the album is set out and how he's dressed. There is also a parental advisory label on Kendrick's cover which is there to warn those under age that there is offensive language within the music so that could signify his target audience is aimed at more of the older social groups where as Adele's doesn't consist of any foul language so its open to all ages.

Welcome to my Media Studies blog...

Hello my name is Benjamin Johnson and this is my first blog post on my Media account.....