Media Language essay

1b. Evaluate your media coursework in relation to a media concept

Media Language

In this essay I will assessing my chosen media products and discussing how it relates to the term ‘media language’. I will be looking at my music video for this essay. When looking  at media language i would agree with the Theorist John Fiske (1982), who suggests that  denotation is what i  photographed  (filmed)  and connotation   is how  it is photographed.

The video begins with several close-ups of the DJ mixer. The opening few shots are jumpcuts, meaning the editing is very fast and punchy with some zooming in and out. The sound is parallel as it relates to the visuals and is quick and punchy. The camera work here connotes an energetic style to the song and relates to the dance genre. The two shot framing denotes the band together, this gives the viewer an understanding of the relationship between the male DJ and female singer. Another element of media language is body language. In the two shot frame the girl is dancing around as she is the singer and remains the ‘star’. However the DJ remains aloof and doesn’t make eye contact with the camera. This connotes reality as the DJ in a band isn’t normally as involved or showed in the video as much as the singer. The distance of the DJ is re-enforced with the close-ups on his face that denote no eye contact with the audience, which connotes a disconnected band member.

There is some interesting editing used in the video and editing can lead to various connotations. The denotation of Re-winding when the is girl singing ‘oh no’ as the music is staggered and whilst the DJ’s hand flicks up and down not only displays visible editing but displays the sound as synchronous. The audience believe that the sound is coming from the DJ as the music breaks and his hand action mirrors the break. In some ways the editing has two extremes, a slow-motion effect is applied as the music slows which denotes the girl (singer) dancing in-front of a black and white background. The slow motion effect could relate to the male gaze as we only see the girl dancing, not the male DJ. The slow motion editing also reflects a relaxed part of the song and creates the illusion that the girl weaving in and out of the lined background. The other extreme of editing is the denotation of fast-forwarding. This was used on some shots of the   DJ in order to make him look more active, which then connoted a faster pace to this certain part of the video. Some more unnoticeable editing is the enhancement of colour on some of the black and white background shots or plain white background shots. The brightness and clarity of the white shots have been enhanced using 'alien lab' effect.

The lighting in the video deems very crucial as the denotation of colourful background really aid to the connotation that the video is fun and energetic. The pink and green backgrounds at the start of the video were edited in to achieve a really bright and eye-catching start to the video in the hope that people continuing watching. The pink and green colours also work well and connote the female and male genders of the band. However the green and pink backgrounds shown with the female singing in-front of them were actually part of the lighting. All of the backgrounds were achieved by using a projector screen. This denoted the different colours and made the video look more interesting as the mise en scene was fairly unidentified/ unrecognisable. Therefore the colourful background could actually be joined to the mise en scene. The actually location of the video is internal, therefore artificial lighting was necessary.

The overall appearance of the band denotes a casual style and the Body language of the dancing the girl, connotes a quirky fun style and juxtaposes from the DJ's vague movement. The video shows self-reflexivity as the girl holds her hands up as the song finishes. This video displays a quirky and stylistic approach to contribute to media language.