Mediation – when you film it, it makes it different, can’t
film it without making decisions eg black and white, lighting. Creating an ad,
what audience to empathise with emotional pain, the audience being encouraged
towards concentrating on one aspect of the text and ignoring others.
Representation - By definition, all media texts are re-presentations
of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written,
framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers,
and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around
us. When studying the media it is vital to remember this – every media form,
from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone’s
concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be
read by an audience.
Bathes code theory:
‘Galaxy of signifiers’ gain access to the signified text
through many different entrances, unravel the text and narrative from a
different angle.
Hermeneutic code – story avoids telling the truth, drops
hints throughout. Eg close ups of mask to suggest they will see her face, vague backstory/flashbacks to subtextually
symbolise she has lost someone, creates the mystery that we don’t know her
face.
Enigma code – tension is build and the audience is left
guessing. Eg last shot is of the mask being taken off and then a close up of
the mask in her hand but you never see her face.
Semantic code – connotation/additional meaning. Eg mask has
meaning of hiding away from society and herself, red dress symbolises blood ‘if
you’re still bleeding’, black and white is meant to show her dull current life
and the colour symbolises how free she feels at the end, implying she has found
emotional freedom .
Verisimilitude:
Represents reality that the audience can experience. Shows
protagonist wearing a mask and travelling to find emotional freedom, whilst reminiscing
on past relationship. It also shows an example of trying to find her own
identity, as she wears the mask to imply she has lost a part of her identity
hence the mask, and the fact she takes it off. Subject is shown as looking
quite vulnerable too as the video is in black and white and she is on her own,
isolated. Feeling in this way also shows vulnerability.
This video shows reality as much as possible in that it is
her walking through London at a normal pace, dressed in casual clothing such as
a red dress, coat and shoes. The narration flows in a chronological sequence
which shows realism.
The only aspect of the video that is not realistic is the
fact that it is in black and white. The artist would not be viewing black and
white and therefore it is an effect to make it look more mellow and upsetting. As
well as the black box going against verisimilitude as it is very staged and is clearly
separate from the main narrative.
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.
