Media Language Essay

During the creation of our cross-media package for our A-Level Media project we made sure to focus heavily on conveying the appropriate meaning to the audience through the camera work, sound, editing and mise-en-scene of our music video and ancillary tasks. 

One key message which we were able to portray through the choice and execution of the mise-en-scene was the unstable mental state of our artist in the music video. We did this by meticulously controlling every element of her appearance and her surroundings as well as her attitude and facial expressions. In the opening few shots of the music video you can see our artist dressed in all black with very minimalistic makeup and hair. We chose to dress her and present her in this way as this would create a huge contrast to how our artist, Ivory, is presented later in the music video. The simplicity of her image at the beginning of the music video was chosen to convey her calm, and stable mental state which is paralleled by the slow start to the song, as well as to provide the appropriate contrast to her later, unhinged image. Furthermore, we wanted to convey her mental state and personality through her surroundings which can be seen to change as her mental state changes with the development of the song. She starts out singing in very open and rural surroundings which was a very important code to have present throughout the opening of the song. We chose to have her in these surroundings because it represents her clear and open mind in the beginning of the song which is an image that is contrasted during the choruses of the song when Ivory can be seen in very rural but broken locations with wild scenery and foliage.
Her makeup, hair and clothing changes throughout the music video as the audience witnesses the change in Ivory’s mental state. In the first shot of the first chorus, the audience can see a dramatic change in Ivory’s image as she now has crazy, messed up and tangled hair as well as smudged red lipstick. There are also differences in her facial expressions and overall attitude as she adopts a deranged and crazy look in her eye as well as very angry and frustrated body and arm movements. The changes in her look (the messy hair and smudged lipstick) have connotations of an unhinged personality as she no longer cares about her appearance and so has visually adopted this new mental state.
Ivory’s two mental states which are explored during the music video can be attributed to Levi Strauss’ theory of binary opposites being crucial in order to make a narrative interesting. We found that, after conducting audience feedback, our target audience found the two binary opposites of Ivory’s mental states a very appealing narrative as it was different and interesting to watch unfold as the song went on. The combination of these changing factors amounts to the audience instantly understanding that Ivory has changed with the commencement of the first chorus (conveyed through the changes in clothing, makeup, hair and emotion).

The camera work was a very important tool for us to help convey meaning to the audience throughout the filming of our cross-media promotional package. We chose to have a wide variety of shot types throughout our music video including several close up and extreme close ups, mid shots and long shots. The consistent change in camera angles and shots helped us to convey the meaning of the music video as well as the thoughts and feelings of Ivory. Through the camera work we were able to break the fourth wall of media, establishing a new connection between the artist and the audience. One example of this is a close up shot at the beginning of the music video where Ivory is seen looking forward before staring directly at the camera. This subtle change in code allowed us to infer that Ivory is aware she is being filmed thus breaking the fourth barrier. The look to camera was made even more powerful and prominent during the editing stage as we were able to slow it down thus increasing its impact on the audience. This simple close up shot helped to establish the theme of this music video and gave early hints that not was all as it seemed and that Ivory was beginning to show signs of psychosis.

Furthermore, the camera work seen in this music video allowed us to demonstrate Levi Strauss’ theory of binary opposites by showing the unstable side to Ivory during the chorus and second verse.

When the chorus begins we chose to have a mid-shot of Ivory against the backdrop of the overgrown pond as we thought her appearance and actions mirrored her environment which was a meaning we wanted to get across to the audience through the choice of camera work. Similarly, within the chorus we consistently changed the camera angles and framing to keep the audience enthralled and invested in the music video thus providing an element of the escapism as explored by the uses and gratifications theory.

We did this by changing and cutting between different shots and camera angles including a mid-shot by the pond, a high angle close up and a high angle wide shot. By cutting between these meticulously planned camera shots were able to increase the tension and were able to sustain our audience’s interest throughout the chorus as we were constantly changing their view point of the artist. This was an important code for us to convey as keeping the audience entertained and interested would be crucial in ensuring Ivory’s future success as well as the success of this music video and single.

 

Finally, similar to breaking the fourth wall following the close up shot which features in the beginning of the music video, we continued to address the fourth wall throughout the music video; especially towards the end of the music video as Ivory became more unstable. On two occasions we used camera work to heighten tension and convey Ivory’s thoughts and feelings. After the first chorus Ivory can be seen smashing the camera upwards towards the sky with an angry emotion on her face. Similarly, to end the music video we chose to have Ivory smash the camera to the ground and walk past it into the distance. These two examples of Ivory, not only psychologically but physically, breaking the fourth wall were crucial in conveying the meaning of the entire music video. These two moments, especially the shot at the end, epitomise and are the defining moments of this music video as they convey the truth and unstable nature of Ivory’s personality.
Our choice to not only address but break the fourth wall was a way of interpreting and conveying Barthes’ theory of action needed to make a narrative interesting. By smashing the camera, we created a dramatic action which enticed and enthralled our audience, making them want to watch the whole music video to see what Ivory would do next.
Camera work was an extremely important tool in conveying the emotions of Ivory throughout this music video as our varied choice of shots and actions allowed us to establish and reaffirm the narrative of the music video.

The editing was another extremely important tool that helped us convey meaning to the active audience who would watch our music video. We wanted to explicitly get across Ivory’s deteriorating mental state as the song developed, which we were able to do successful through the editing.  We used a lot of standard cut editing but intertwined some creative and unique editing techniques which really enhanced the viewing experience and helped us to tell Ivory’s story. One example of this was in the first chorus when Ivory sings the line “You can’t wake up, this is not a dream”. When she sings this line we edited her hand and arm movements in a way which made them move faster and look more erratic. This was done using Adobe Premiere Pro and is a technique which can be seen more than once during the chorus and second verse as Ivory begins to show her unhinged nature. This was the perfect code to help convey the message we wanted to, thus we were using the theory of the hypodermic syringe as we slowly began to show the audience a different side to Ivory, through editing, camera and mise-en-scene, so that they would understand who Ivory really is.

We also studied Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory whilst coming up with the idea for our music video and concluded that his theory of thought beats would be addressed and demonstrated throughout our music video. We were able to do this through our editing of the clips in time with the beats of the song.
Before the second chorus there is a sequence of consecutive, quick beats which we used as the base for our thought beat editing. We cut a series of different, extreme close up shots in time with the beats to amplify and accentuate the beats of the song. This was an effective technique which we used multiple times throughout our music video to demonstrate our understanding of Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory as well as to convey certain meanings to the audience.

Similarly, our editing helped to amplify the meaning of the lyrics which further helped us to convey meaning to our audience. We were able to edit her hand actions in time with certain lyrics which we felt were important and needed to be amplified or defined. For example, when she sings the line “With your face so made up, living on a screen”, we edited her movements to make it seem like her head twitched which amplified the importance of this lyric. We were also able to keep her singing throughout which was extremely effective in conveying the meaning of this lyric to her and to the audience.

Editing was an extremely crucial tool in conveying meaning to our audience because, through intricate editing techniques and settings, we were able to amplify, and convince our audience of Ivory’s deteriorating mental state.

Sound is the final code we used to convey certain connotations which we deemed vital for the audience to understand whilst watching our music video. We used sound, combined with editing, to convey meaning and to correctly identify the arc of the narrative. After listening to the song and understanding when the beat dropped, the chorus began and when there

6+ were dramatic intervals we were able to determine where we would change the narrative and expose Ivory’s other side. This then helped us to properly storyboard and outline the arc of the narrative and when we would introduce the new image of Ivory to the audience (messy hair, dark clothes and smudge lipstick).
We also analysed the song to understand its genre and the artist we were creating around it. This was a vital part of our cross-media promotional package task as in order to understand the artist we were creating we had to ensure we got the song genre right. We concluded that the genre of the song was indie/pop which we derived from the lyrics, the tone and our analysis of similar artist’s songs. With this understanding of the genre we were able to influence our editing, camera work and mise-en-scene decisions throughout the music video project. Sound played a vital role in our media language as it influenced and determined much of our other choices which further helped us to convey meaning to our audience.

In conclusion, every single method of conveying meaning, camera work, editing, sound and mise-en-scene, was extremely important in doing so throughout our music video, ‘Like Me’. However if it was a choice between all four the most effective tool in conveying meaning would be mise-en-scene as it was the most visual way to highlight that Ivory’s personality had changed. Camera work, editing and sound were all extremely important in helping us to convey subtle messages but it was the definitive change in mise-en-scene (her hair, makeup, clothing and setting) which was the most important and effective in convincing our audience of the change in Ivory’s mental state.