Question one will focus on one, two max of these concepts, but we don't know which. Ensure you are as comfortable on all of them, not just Media Forms.
Use the MIGRAIN grid to help you deconstruct a text.
Keep this one as a ‘holy grail’ template. Try not to write on it, so it can be used again.
Might be better to recreate its structure and layout in your note pages, and repeat each time we deconstruct a text.
Media Forms
Ideology
Genre
Representations
Institutions
Audiences
Narrative
Media Forms
- Mise-en-scene, costume, props, positioning, body language
- Sound (diagetic,non)
- Cinematography, camera angles, camera movement
- Editing, pace, rhythm, speed, jump cuts, length of shot, transactions.
- Lighting, low key, high key, mood, ambience, colour.
- Special Effects, CGI, titles.
Questions to help...
- All the technical devices used to produce the
text
- What are the denotations and connotations?
- What is the significance of the mis-en-scene?
- How is the soundtrack/language used in the text?
- What are the dominant images and iconography
used?
- What is their relevance to the major themes?
- What sound and visual techniques are used to
convey meaning?
- What camera angles, movement, editing, font,
colours are used and why?
- Are there references to other media texts? (intertexuality)
Institutions
- Who makes the product? What importance does that have? (E.g. production company, e.g. Disney, Fox, BBC, CH 4, The Daily Mirror)
- Budget, structure, private, public, profit driven, charity.
Questions to help...
- Identify the individuals who made the text
- Identify the organisations who funded the
production
- In what ways has the text been influenced or
shaped by the institution?
- What are their brand values and ideology?
- Is this evident in the way they have chosen to
represent the text? Bias?
- Who owns and controls the institution and does it
matter? Power?
- How has the text been distributed?
Genre
- (e.g. tv, film, advert, computer game, newspaper, lifestyle magazine, website, blog, web 2.0)
- Codes and conventions.
- Propps typical characters.
- Genre as an expectation or restriction. Examples of hybrids.
Questions to help...
- The category of media product to which the text
belongs
- What are the major generic conventions used
within the text?
- What are the major iconographic features of the
text?
- What are the major themes?
- To what extent are the characters generically
determined?
- What generic conventions are not utilised in the
text?
- To what extent are the audience’s generic
expectations of the text fulfilled?
- Does the text conform to the conventions of the
genre?
- If not, why?
Is it being ironic? Humorous?
- Does the text feature a convention strongly
associated with that genre?
- What meanings and associations does this bring?
- Are there references to other genre texts? (intertexuality)
Representation
- Gender Objectification
- Stereotypes?
- Countertypes?
- Mediation
- Barthes (semiotics) connotations and denotations
- Feminist theory
- Preferred, negotiated, oppositional readings, Stuart Hall.
- Star power. Stereotypes/Countertypes, Dyer, Medurst.
Questions to help...
- Who is being represented, in what way and why?
- Who is doing the representing (what institution)
- Why is the subject being represented in this way?
- Which social groups in society are portrayed, in
what way and why?
- Which social groups are not shown?
- What regions, countries, continents are
portrayed, in what way and why?
- Are the representations positive or negative?
- Does the text rely on stereotypes or do the
representations achieve reality?
- What are the possible effects of the representations?
Audience
- Active vs Passive
- USES AND GRATIFICATIONS?
- Target Audience. Demographics, Socio Economic
- Audience Gratifications, Personal Identity, Personal Relationship, Diversion/Escapism, Surveillance.
- Young and Rubicams. Tribe Theory.
Questions to help...
- Who is the text addressed to? Who is the target
audience?
- How does the text identify its audience?
- What assumptions about the audience are implied
by the text?
- In what situations are the audience expected to
receive the text?
- What are the possible and probable readings of
the text?
- How are they to interpret it?
- How will the audience react to the text?
- What do they expect to get from it?
What gratifications?
Ideology
- Beliefs, morals, values and viewpoints.
- What they want you to think.
- Brand values of product.
Questions to help...
- What does the text tell us about power relations
in society
- What major values, ideologies and assumptions
underpin the text?
- What view of society does the text reflect
- Whose view of society does the text reflect, why
- What moral position does the text demonstrate
- How has the text been affected by time & place when it was made
Narrative
- Proppian, Todorov
- Subverted narratives. Enigma codes.
- Binary oppositions.
Questions to help...
- The order in which meaning is created in a text
- How is the narrative organised and structured?
- How is the audience positioned in relation to the
narrative?
- What is the mode of address? Direct, indirect?
- How is chronology represented – linear/compressed/montage/flash-back
- Narrative conventions used by the text. Are there any enigma codes?
- Narrative theory – storytelling/characters. Propp, Syd Field.
- Technical devices in the editing used to create
meaning
- What techniques of identification and alienation
are employed?
- What is the role of the sound, music,
iconography, mis-en-scene?
- What are the media themes of the narrative?
PEE Paragraph suggested points...
- This could be evidence of Blulmer and Katz’ Audience Gratification Theory, in particular Personal Identity. An example of this could be…
- This could be evidence of Blulmer and Katz’ Audience Gratification Theory, in particular Personal Relationship. An example of this could be…
- This could be evidence of Blulmer and Katz’ Audience Gratification Theory, in particular Diversion/Escapism. An example of this could be…
- This could be evidence of Blulmer and Katz’ Audience Gratification Theory, in particular Surveillance. An example of this could be…
- According to Stuart Hall’s Encoding Theory, the dominant reading of this text could be…
- According to Stuart Hall’s Encoding Theory, a negotiated reading of this text could be…
- According to Stuart Hall’s Encoding Theory, an oppositional reading of this text could be…
- A feminist reading of this text could be…
- The text showcases a range of Brand Values, present in the institution’s ideology. These are… The effect of this on the audience is…
- The text showcases a range of enigma codes, present in the narrative. These are… The effect of this on the audience is…
- Mise-en-scene is used effectively to... in the text, in particular the use of props. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Mise-en-scene is used effectively to... in the text, in particular the use of costume. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Mise-en-scene is used effectively to... in the text, in particular the use of body language. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Mise-en-scene is used effectively to... in the text, in particular the use of actor positioning. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Low key lighting is used in the text. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- High key lighting is used in the text. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Non-diagetic sound is used in the text. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Diegetic sound is used in the text. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Editing is used in the text, in particular the frequency of jump cuts. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Editing is used in the text, in particular the lack of jump cuts. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Editing is used in the text, in particular the length of shots. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Editing is used in the text, in particular the pace and rhythm. An example of this is… This is effective because…
- Cinematography and the use of camera angles is used in the text, in particular the low/high/pan/tilt/zoom/close up/long shot/establishing shot. An example of this is… This is effective because…
