Glossary and AnalysisBy Ben White

Media textBasically, media text is any kind of media produced that can be analysed/read by anyone and deconstructed. This could be posters, trailers, films, newspapers, magazines, adverts etc. We can identify its meaning and discuss or think about what the media text is trying to tell us, how its trying to tell us, its narrative structure and connections with other texts.

We could analyse this media text to the left of the screen which portrays the Batman Begins movie poster. Firstly, we can establish that there is a dark main character who has a strong connection with bats, due to the large amount of bats to the left of the image. We can establish the man at the centre is batman and he is the main protagonist who also seems to be a super hero due to the costume and cape. When we look at the lighting and colour, we can see that the poster looks quite dull, so we can establish that this film may contain super hero violence, or something bad may occur, such as an antagonist may appear. The bright sun in the background symbolises the dawn of a new day, which could also portray to us that Batman is beginning a new journey, or something bad might happen to him. This also links with the title.

http://www.filmoria.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Batman-Begins.jpg

Media text

If we look at the Just Dance 2014 cover, we straight away notice its bright colours. This tells us the game is bright, vibrant and family friendly. The thick colours combine with the strong text to create a happy, entertaining and bold atmosphere.

On the Last of us cover, we can first notice the bright orange light behind the two characters. This engenders a sense of hope and survival when combine with the broken atmosphere two. It is evident that the two characters are on a mission to survive and get to a place of safety. A dull, broken setting is created.

There is a clear difference between the two games. Just dance presents a pleasant, friendly and colourful game, whereas the last of us is quite the opposite.

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols as well as their interpretation. For example, the diagram to the left is a good example of this. When people see a vectorised heart shape on a piece of media text, they assume that the article, film etc. is something to do with love or romance. However, it could just refer to the real thing which in this case would be a real human heart.

http://www.slideshare.net/marcusleaning/key-concepts-in-media-studies-lecture-3-semiotics

Genre

Genres refer to what category media falls into. For example, in the games industry, a game can be a survival, horror, action, adventure, RPG etc. genre or even a mix of multiple genres. Genres allow us to easily identify the form of media and can help us decide whether we want to watch, play or listen to it. These genres can apply to many things including music and film.

A list of game genres:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genres

The Last of us would have a combination of action, survival and horror genres, whereas Just dance would be related to fitness, sport, family and party game genres.

ContentThis refers to what is actually inside the media text and is what expresses some form of medium as speech, text or art etc. The content is what information the audience identify and quantify when they read any form of media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_(media)

From Just dance, we can see that the game has a strong focus on music as well as vibrant colours. The game creates a positive feel for its audience and we can tell that there is also a strong focus on the party and fitness genres. The if we look at the last of us, there is a strong focus on violence and aggression as well as its survival genre.

ConstructionThe construction aspect revolves around the narrative of the media as well as its layout and structure. This could be how the story of a game is setup and creates a basic structure of the games events which would deliver the information to you one step at a time. The last of us focuses strongly on its effective and emotional story, whereas Just dance has a small, basic narrative as it intends to focus more on entertainment through dance. The last of us has a linear, simplistic interface which serves its purpose quite well. The Just dance interface is quite well constructed too and focuses on the use of motion controls to create uniqueness.

Codes and conventions

These are a set of guidelines and signs that create meaning. Codes can be split into two sections, technical and symbolic. Technical is how the media portray the story on something such as the news and an example of this would be the camera work. Symbolic represents how the characters actions show what he is feeling. Conventions are generally accepted ways of doing things such as how a newspaper article is set out of what should and should not be included. Conventions could also be seen as sets of rules. Just dance has a diagrammatic and informative interface to let the user know if they have done something incorrectly/correctly. The game was also very well advertised as many people have heard of the game and have bought it. The Last of us was also very well advertised and its many in depth cut scenes and events help with the technical code. You would expect guns, blood and violence when you look at the last of us, but people would expect dancing, partying and group work if they saw just dance.

http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Codes-and-conventions

Modes of address

Modes of address is how the relevant media texts talk to the audience that surrounds it. This includes what it displays to them through the combination of its content, construction and genre etc. It can also be how they refer to their audience such as in the first person, second, third or even by a narrator. As well as this, modes of address also refers to whether it speaks to us formally or informally. A professional newspaper article would not want to speak informally to its audience. I believe The Last of Us would speak formally to its audience to convey its strong story and professional standard. Just Dance I believe would be more informal as the game is targeted mainly for teens in my opinion as it has a large focus on modern pop music in which teenagers mainly listen to as well as dance to. Both strongly use their content and genre to portray the game in its own unique way, such as just dance being a creative dancing game and the last of us insinuating a powerful, deep story that could be quite emotional the 3rd person perspective it is displayed, through the use of images and trailers mainly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQWD5W3fpPM

Target demographic

This refers to what age group and audience the media text or game is designed to be for. For the Last of us, I would say the age group most likely to play the game would be 13 – 40 year olds and mainly hard-core gamers. I would say that Just dance is targeted for 3 – 25 year olds and mainly people who haven’t played games before as well as casual gamers.

Extra Sources

http://www.ugrgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1400x960-H-Brands-JustDance-030744.jpg

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130503055111/thelastofus/images/2/27/The_Last_of_Us_Girl_with_Sniper_Rifle_HD_Game_Wallpaper-Vvallpaper.Net.jpg

http://i2.cdnds.net/12/50/618x780/gaming-the-last-of-us-cover-art.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91jMI4T1RDL._SL1500_.jpg

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--6yCTVLoK--/twi6msgzzzwqtzg2pkzc.png

http://www.gamechup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/the-last-of-us4.jpg