Here's a quick and straightforward example of textual analysis to get the ball rolling before we move on to the final wave of assessments (if you're in 2nd year, though remember 1st years: the final exam comes round surprisingly quickly!)
Remember why we do this: media language is the most important part of media studies. It's through media language that you can make whatever excellent point you wish to make, and the more comfortable you get with it the better!
Click here to watch the video
How does media language and intertextuality create meaning in this video?
- Opening/establishing shot, a closeup of the performers face, covered in blood, with a complete lack of non-diegetic sound, reinforcing and emphasizing the shocking mise-en-scene. This constructs a powerful enigma code for the target audience
- Shock cut to the mise-en-scene of a luxurious car speeding through the setting of the Las Vegas strip, with connotations of luxury
- A clear example of a non-linear narrative, providing the target audience with the pleasure and gratification of solving an enigma
- MES of film grain, providing a binary opposition to the harsh, neon digital shots elsewhere in video. Film grain here is connotative of a classic crime dramas and Hollywood cinema, and reinforces the notion that the song is classic and noteworthy
- Soundtrack utilizes a synth-heavy instrumentation, drawing intertextual reference to 80's synth pop and modern synthwave music. A hybrid genre of R&B and synthpop here allows the song to appeal to multiple audiences
- East Asian performer is established and represented through an establishing montage of close-up and mysterious mid shots, emphasizing her beautiful and exotic status to the audience. Presented as spectacle for a heterosexual male gaze, her mysterious 'power' is made evident through her ability to cause the performer to literally levitate off the ground. This digital special effect is also a clear intertextual reference to cartoons from the 1940's and further reinforces hegemonic gender stereotypes