Alex Hooseman

Representation in My Media Products

Towards the end of the sequence, the character is shown in a mid-shot, passionately singing to the lyric. In this shot, the character is portrayed as the generic type because of the minimal make-up applied as well as the somewhat smart casual clothing illustrates the realistic appeal of the character. The natural and realistic appearance of the character provides closure to the audience of the specific genre as well as the indie genre because this allows the character to act and believe as a person who follows the genre and its conventions. The sequence could feature the action code because of the movement and gestures of the character could represent the addition of suspense as the gestures could be as result of coming to terms with the character’s current situation.

Enigma Code: Why is he staring? What does this represent?In this shot, the character in the video is staring directly at the camera to interact with the audience. Direct interaction with the audience is represented and achieved through a close up of the eyes of the artist that look directly through the frame to specifically target the audience. Arguably, the symbolic code is also applied due to the makeup applied. The darkened colours and bags under the characters eyes could emphasise the struggle in which they are having with coping with the loss of his relationship and this direct appeal to the audience could show the aftermath of the relationship and show the results that it has led to for him. The facial expression appears natural to the viewer and generic as the minimal make up applied ensures that the character looks realistic to clearly illustrate the effects of the situation.

Enigma Code: What is this prop? Why is it here? What it the meaning of it? What does it represent?Again, this shot represents the character as the generic type due to the mise-en-scene included in the video and the way in which the character’s behaviour is portrayed. In this shot, it represents the character accepting the difference himself and his companion from the previous relationship. This representation is portrayed through the character nodding their head to the rhythm of the soundtrack to emphasise this acceptance. The movement by the character emphasises the symbolic code as his action of nodding his head symbolises the character’s acceptance. This representation is made to seem natural because I have tried to replicate a response of a person that is it a similar situation to the character in the video. The representation does not particularly target anyone of the target audience because the character’s actions do not resemble anyone of the target audience personally, due to the reaction of the situation. As said previously, I think that the action of the character represents acceptance for the end of his relationship, however to viewers of the video thought that the representation is different and slightly misleading. The difference in the accounts are because of my playing the role of the character, I understood the representation that I was trying to portray, whereas the response from the target audience was different as they did not understand fully without an explanation provided.

The music video represents the character shown as a generic type. A generic character type is where a character is familiar in appearance and actions in coordination to a particular genre of music. This is the only character that is portrayed in the video throughout, meaning that the character continuously represents a generic character type. With the electro/soul genre in mind, I had identified that the genre was niche and therefore it was difficult to follow conventions to the genre in terms of mise-en-scene and incorporate any potential intertextual references. On close inspection, it is evident that I have included an intertextual reference in this shot as I have followed the style of Tom Odell in his video, Another Love. The mise-en-scene includes a slow zoom, props, brick background and black clothing, to which I have attempted to replicate to represent the intertextual reference. This shot represents the character slowly drifting away from the previous relationship that is explained through the lyrics. This adds the element of narrative to the performance style of video to create a narrative performance, a video type that challenges conventions of the genre.