Dyer says that when considering the representation of a media product (i.e. your media production), we should ask the following questions:
1. What sense of the world is it making? (In other words, what representation of the world is the product making?)
2. What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or deviant? (In other words, what messages are the representations creating? Are these representations and messages familiar or unusual?)
3. Who is it speaking to? For whom? To whom? (In other words, who is the intended audience for this product and how do the representations attract and address them?)
4. What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to the representation? (In other words, what meanings and interpretations are created by the product? How do you and other people interpret the product?).
Remember that representation is very complex. For people it can involve gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ethnicity, regional identity, age, age and social class and status. These can be constructed through characteristics like appearance (e.g. hair, clothing, make-up, jewellery) , relationships, possessions, behaviour and actions, voice (e.g. tone, accent, dialect, sociolect), job, hobbies, values etc.
Representation is not just about people. For example, you may be able to analyse the representation of places, time periods and themes (such as betrayal or love).
Also see Stuart Hall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzMsPqssOY
See here for exemplars for representation: http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/179236-example-candidate-answers-from-june-2013.pdf
Genre - Daniel Chandler, Steve Neale, John Hartley, David Buckingham, Deborah Knight, Gunther Kress, Nicholas Abercrombie, Tom Ryall, John Fiske, Rick Altman, Jonathan Culler, David Bordwell
Watch the following slideshow http://www.slideshare.net/HeworthMedia/genre-theory-6920670
Which of the theorists says something about genre that connects with your own product and the points you want to make about it?
Here are some of the key points:
Chandler
- Conventions of content and/or form
- Assumption of the 'ideal reader'
- 'Interpretive community' can share a genre
Neale
- Repetition and difference
- Guarantee of meanings and pleasure (for audience)
- Audience expectations of what a genre will provide
Hartley
- Films often have the conventions of more than one genre
Knight
- We enjoy genres because we anticipate what is going to happen
Ryall
- Genre is a structural framework for producer and viewer
Altman
- Media language (meaning) and iconography defines genres
Culler
- Genre conventions establish a 'contract' of shared understanding between creator and reader
Use these framework for analysing your own product in terms of genre: http://social.ocr.org.uk/files/ocr/Generic%20Markers.pdf
Media Language - Michael Wohl
Michael Wohl is a film maker, author and software designer. Read his explanation of the 'language of film' and see if his examples relate to your production.
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/language_of_film.html
His explanation of how camerawork creates meaning is very useful. He breaks it down as follows:
- Who - the CU of a character
- What (is going on) - the MS showing a character performing actions
- Where - the LS showing the location
- When - shots that tell the viewer the overall point in the story that has been reached or the time of day or the time period
- Why - the ECU or BCU that suggests what a character is thinking
- How - MCUs of a character perorming an action or a series of CUs or ECUs of actions
- With whom - relationships and interaction (two shot, OTS shot, wide shot etc.)
He also makes some very good points about editing but he does not write so much about sound or mise-en-scene.
Audience - Stuart Hall
Read about Hall's three interpretative codes here: http://www.slideshare.net/dphillips4363/reception-theory-presentation-833299 How did you intend audiences to interpret your product? How did they interpret it?
Narrative - Todorov and Levi-Strauss
See here http://howardschoolmedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Narrative
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