Key Assessment 1

Barthes' Semiotic codes: Hermeneutic codes, Proairetic codes and Symbolic codes.

Define Modes of Address: This is the way an advert is trying to put across its message or ideology,                                                for example the words it is using or the people represented in it. 

Define 'Lexis: This is the type of words or language that the advertisement is using, for example                                slang terms or proper English.

Theories accredited to Stuart Hall: The first of these is the theory of Representation, the second is                                                                the theory of Audience Reception.

How can media language communicate multiple meanings? Make reference to at least two of the following; the Tide print advertisement (1950's), the WaterAid audiovisual advertisement (2016) and the Kiss of the Vampire (1963) film poster.

In your answer you must:

Consider how genre conventions create meaning

Consider how audiences can respond to media language

Consider how media language incorporates various viewpoints and ideologies [30]

PLAN: 

• Introduction
• Para 1 - genre conventions. Discuss WaterAid and traditional charity advertising, then how their advert challenges this. Next, discuss how 'Kiss of the Vampire' conforms to many genre conventions including mise-en-scene and modes of address.
• Para 2 - ideologies. Write about the ideologies associated with 'Kiss of a Vampire', including stereotypes and symbolic codes. Begin to discuss ideologies held about Tide advert.
• Para 3 - audience response. This will include the way that the audience would respond to the 1950s Tide advert at the time, and how it now differs to modern points of view. Also talk about Hall's theory of reception, and how the audience reacts with the WaterAid advert.
• Conclusion 

ANSWER:

In advertising, producers will use many methods in order to come up with an advert that will appeal to their desired audience. For example, they will use the codes and conventions of the genre of their media product, before taking in consideration what modes of address they must use in order to appeal to who they want. Modes of address could include the mise-en-scene they use, such as makeup and costume as well as the setting they choose. It could also include the stereotypes they decide to stick to, for example the stereotypes of gender and gender archetypes. Media language is the way that the advert speaks to the audience, and this is key for producers as they must  make sure it suits their target audience. As well as this, producers will use a certain ideologies within their adverts, and an ideology is a commonly held belief about something. They could convey certain ideologies and conventions of genre, for example, and genre conventions would be what people expect of a certain genre, whether that be the setting or the storyline.

In the 'Kiss of a Vampire' advert (1963) we see that many horror conventions are withheld. For example, the mise-en-scene of the image is during the night, and pathetic fallacy is used with the overcast sky to create a desired atmosphere that feels chilling. There are also bats flying around in the image, which are stereotypes of the genre because the audience generally associates them with vampires. Another thing that is significant is the full moon used within this image. The connotations of this include monsters such as werewolves, which are typical of the horror genre, as well as it being a widely used piece of symbolic code within the horror genre of these monsters. However, in the WaterAid (2016) advert, not many conventions of the charity advert genre are met. For example, instead of the desaturated images we are used to, we are given images with bright and vibrant colours, generally connoting to happiness, rather than being distressing and upsetting to viewers. Hermeneutic codes are used at the start of the advert which connote to something sad, for example the pathetic fallacy of the rain and desaturated image of the radio, however this changes with the empty shot of the plains of Africa. Saying this, the advert does include a few genre stereotypes as at the end it shows writing which prompts people to donate. Rather than being a stereotypically sad advert, it has a much more positive meaning, in that it shows the positive impacts of donating rather that using the guilt of not donating.

Within the 'Kiss of a Vampire' advert, there are representations of commonly held ideologies of the time. For example, there is the ideology that men have power over women, as represented by the male vampire holding a female victim. However, there is also a challenge to this ideology, in that a proairetic code is used where the female vampire is in a position of power to a male victim. There is also the symbolism of the colour white, in that both female characters are wearing white dresses, generally symbolic of purity and virginity. This could be a link to the ideology of Vampires in that they only choose victims which are pure. In the 'Tide' advert (1950s) we can see there are many more ideologies represented within it. For example, there is a main image of a housewife, which matches the ideologies and stereotypes of the time that women were to stay at home and do general domestic jobs within the household. This advert has suggestions that women are seemingly in love with the product, as the colour red is used within it (typically symbolic of love) as well as the housewife hugging the product itself. This could suggest the ideology that women enjoy doing the cleaning, as that is what they are stereotypically supposed to do. There is also the cartoon of two women talking about the product itself, and this comes from a stereotype of women who enjoy gossiping, and this also presents the popularity of the product they are selling. The advert could seem, however, quite derogatory towards women, for example the modes of address and lexis used within it seem to sound as though they are ordering women to buy it, much like men would order a woman to do her jobs around the house. The lexis used at the top of the advert says "No wander you women..." and the used of the phrase 'you women' is quite derogatory in the sense that it seems quite detached from the women itself. The mise-en-scene of the housewife's tidy attire and neat hair and makeup also connote to ideologies of the perfect housewife or the perfect woman, as though if a woman were to use this product then she would become perfect. After all, an advert is there to try and persuade an audience that they need something in their lives that they are missing in order to improve it. 

The media language of the 'Tide' advert could've appealed to women at the time much more than it would now as that would've been the common stereotype about women of the time and therefore widely accepted however nowadays this advert would seem very sexist. This is because to a more modern audience, the image of the woman loving the wash product and the derogatory tone of 'you women' would imply that a woman's place is at home, which is an outdated ideology. Another thing that seems derogatory is the phrase "Tide's got what women want!" which would suggest that women don't concern themselves with anything other that their domestic jobs and that women hold washing as being more significant than it really is. It also uses the phrase 'washday', an unusual term nowadays because it isn't as much of a big event as it would've been at the time. During the 1950s, the concept of a washday would probably have been more prominent, however now people would do their washing when they felt they needed to. Stuart Hall was a theorist who theorised 'reception theory', and for the WaterAid advert there would be a dominant reception, that it is a happy advert showing the positivity of donations, however there could be an oppositional reading that the advert is creating a distorted view on reality. This could be because the main character is singing in English, and not a native language of her country, and therefore to some audiences it could be read that the audience is lying in order to get donations.

To conclude, both the 'Tide' and 'Kiss of the Vampire' adverts stick to the genre codes and conventions and the dominant ideologies that are held by audiences in order to appeal to them, however the 'WaterAid' advert strays from this in order to catch the audiences attention a different way. This could be because they are trying to reach to a wider audience, secondary audience rather than the audiences they would normally, whereas the other adverts are trying to appeal to their primary audience only.

Represenatation

Positioning is used in this 'Save the Children' advert in order to make the audience feel intimidated and afraid. This is because the mise-en-scene and setting here suggest a dangerous country, symbolised by the guns and the khaki attire of the soldiers. Proairetic codes are used here as the soldiers look ready to use their guns. Another thing that is quite prominent is the use of the image of a young boy within the museum display case, and this conforms to the charity's ideologies as it reinforces how they want to make child soldiers 'a thing of the past'. Young people are represented here as being in a position of danger, as the glass case could be used to represent a shield in order to protect the child from it's surroundings. There is also representations of soldiers, who are shown here as all being black and this is powerful because it shows how they are native to their country and do not have the help of white people from western countries, so much so they are turning to using whatever resources they can - in this case, a child.

This is different from the WaterAid advert, as we are positioned with the community and as walking with the character Claudia. Once again, there are only black people represented here, the natives of their country, and this establishes that we are in a more fortunate position as we are not in the country surrounded by famine. 

(unfinished)