Heaven - Media Language

  Heaven - Media Language



Starter

  • What is media language?
  • How is meaning constructed?
  • What do the producers want you to understand?




Semiotics Recap

Write down definitions for the following terms:
  • Sign
  • Signifier
  • Signified
  • Denotation
  • Connotation
  • Polysemic
  • Anchorage




Task 1

We are going to continue to refresh our memories of semiotics, but in relation to our Heaven music video, by undertaking the following task:

1. Identify a Sign within the Heaven music video, perhaps in relation to the representation of urban life, religion, or identity.
2. Write down the ICONIC meaning of this Sign
3. Write down the INDEXICAL meaning of this Sign
4. Write down the SYMBOLIC meaning of this Sign
5. Repeat with two more Signs.










TASK 2

Create a table in your books with 3 columns - landscape - just like the one below. Leave a third of a page for each section. Watch the Heaven music video on your own and identify as many different denotations as you can, along with their connotations.

Link this to theories listed below when applicable.

We will then go through Heaven together and combine our notes.

Links to Theory:

Semiotics - meaning is created by signs through connotation, which may naturalise dominant values and ideologies

Genre - codes and conventions are established and evolve through repetition within media products and intertextual relay

Structuralism - identifying binary oppositions can suggest the ideology of a text




Task 3

Now we will continue to consider the media language of Heaven through a series of questions.
  • What type of music video is Heaven? Identify as many conventions as you can.
  • What is the song about?
  • What message is embedded within the lyrics?
  • What imagery is encoded in the video?
  • What themes are connoted through media language?
  • What relationship does Heaven have with social realism?

Social Realism

The set of conventions by which audiences accept the plight of the poor and powerless. This term may imply a depiction of a social group or social truth and is under-represented in other media products.













Answers

Media language used in a music video will generally do one or more of the following:
  • reflect the tone of the song
  • comment of the song
  • reflect the public image of the artist
  • reflect the style of the producers


Semiotics Recap

Semiotics = the study of signs

Sign = Signifier + Signified:

Signifier = the form of the sign 

Signified = the meaning conveyed

Denotation = literal meaning [SIGN]

Connotation = meaning implied [mediated]

Our interpretation of these signs is dependent on our ideologies. 

Signs are polysemic - they can be interpreted in many different ways.

Anchorage - one meaning being fixed, chosen, anchored, out of multiple possible meanings by another sign, or another element of media language


What type of music video is 'Heaven'?

Hybrid = Performance & Narrative
Mainstream = features the artist

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