- How do visual elements create meaning in the music video Funky Friday by Dave?
‘Funky Friday’ is a music video by Dave made in 2018. The music video opens with an establishing shot of a modern super car driving down a road on a rainy, miserable day. This immediately sets the tone that Dave is living in the life of luxury and his mood cannot be swayed with the weather. Slow motion shots and close ups are used when he leaves his car, the audiences attention is therefore instantly drawn to his designer wardrobe, the speed of the scene played allows us to decode his outfit and name the designer labels. Fans of Dave and whoever is watching will be influenced by his attire and whole supposed living style (big cars, big house), following Gauntlett’s theory of identity, which suggests we create our own identities through tools we are presented with in the media, they are likely to associate this material items with happiness and success, therefore wanting the items themselves, this consequently makes the music video look like a advert for the brands shows like Gucci. This product placement will associate Dave to the quality companies and make his music seem more luxurious.
Within the music video women are seen as submissive and like another luxury item to show off. The women who appear lack a voice and one of them even has the bottom of her face covered showing how she is owned by the singer. The possessive nature of the men in the music video are shown throughout it, Dave’s line of “one hand on the girl I’m dating” hows how he literally has a hold of her. This possession of women has been constant throughout history, men seeing themselves as the greater sex. In addition to this negative portrayal of women is the idea that they exist only for materialistic purposes, applying Tunstall’s femininity theory we can see that women are seen as two dimensional beings with only one love for luxury. In the music video it seems like the women are attracted to Dave for his material items and wealth, this will teach the men watching the video, through Bandura’s media effects that to attract the opposite sex they need to flash their wealth and spend all their money, this is a bad life lesson to male audiences as it teaches them that there is no need to build on their personalities and that they can just buy themselves love.
The camerawork and editing of the music video is very varied and uses lots of fades and split screen shots, these create a more outlandish and abstract view of his life. The split screen lets us see two points in the narrative, the mans and the woman’s, this physically shows their separation and the idea that they are not equals. The use of slow motion gives the video a more professional vibe, it’s not being rushed and time is taken over things this links to the semantic field of luxury.
In addition to women, there are also animals used to establish Dave and Fredo’s wealth, the animals used are: monkeys, dogs and an eagle. The Eagle is a symbol of freedom, as Dave owns the creature his power is explicitly shown and his attraction to being surrounded by symbols of power, this is further enforced with the religious statues that appear behind him in several of the clips in the music video. Also their is a scene that shows Dave holding the bird as it spreads it wings to try to fly away, in not letting the bird be free we can link it to his treatment of women and see that he thinks he owns all that is with him.
Overall the music video shows a lot of negative meanings throughout, from the representation of women and animals, to Dave and Fredos idea that material items are the only symbol of happiness and success.
2) How do visual elements create meaning in this advertising extract from Warburtons?
‘Good Bagels’ is a advert for Warburtons Bagels made in 2019. Visual elements create a comedic meaning throughout the Warburtons advert. The advert stars popular actor Robert De Niro, he is known for his gangster movies and his celebrity endorsement of the product is bound to appeal to fans of his movies and the family audience that Warburtons typically targets. The intensity of the advert is what makes it funny to the audience, the binary oppositions of good vs evil is used in reflection of the factory owner and De Niro.
The advert opens with De Niro bursting into Mr Warburtons office to start telling his how he can improve his business. A non linear structure follows promptly and De Niro’s dream is depicted for the audience. Low key lighting is used to set the scene, the mood of the advert matches that of a mafia film and would be a more thrilling film if it was not centred around stealing Bagels, as a result of the reality, that they’re stealing and making Bagels, the advert is seen as funny. In addition to the lighting is the iconography which makes the adverts seem a lot like a mobster film, for example the duct tape and briefcases as well at the business attire of the actors.
The Kuleshov effect comes into play at one point in the advert, we see a happy employee greet De Niro with a light “here for the bakery tour!” but his expression changes after the camera pans to De Niro and his buddies with his crass “Shut up and drive”, the employees expression then changes to sad. Due to the happy “angelic” representation of the bakeries employees, we can tell that the company are trying not only to sell their products but the lifestyle of the company to their audience and potential employees. This positive representation of the staff will also appeal to their consumers who buy the product for the brands good name and not because of the price.
A typical scene in a mafia/gangster movie is the view of the henchmen burying someone/something, in the advert we see a low angle shot of the men burying their competitors products in order to make theirs the market leader. Red lighting is used to create an ominous tone as red connotes evil and danger, this idea is instantly dismissed as the camera pans to the bread being buried making the situation hilarious in a second.
To further create a comedic tone is the use of puns, these will appeal to the younger audience and the jokes will create a social talking point as they share them with their friends, consequently spreading the advertising of the product. At one point De Niro says he will “Watch the Dough roll in” both “bread” and “roll” are associated with Warburtons brand creating a pun, this is also said as Bagels are rolling across the screen so therefore the dough is literally rolling in. Another pun used in the advert is the headline on the newspaper in De Niro’s dream “Bagel boss on a roll” the use of “roll” has a similar effect to the last pun.
3) How do visual elements create meaning in the opening scene of the film Dunkirk?
‘Dunkirk’ is a war film set in the Second World War, directed by Christopher Nolan in 2017. The film opens with a scene of a few soldiers trying to get to the barricade at Dunkirk beach. A flyer falls from the sky with the words “we surround you” printed in bold, this creates an atmosphere of danger and an ominous setting that we are thrust into. As the flyers fall from above it is almost as it it is divine intervention and that it is a sign that the soldiers should give up, it is ignored by the soldiers as they are likely to be desensitised to this propaganda or have likely given up as it is nearing the end of the war. The soldiers look in various windows and on the street for any items they may want, this is likely to be food, drink and cigarettes. They have been living on rations for so long, whilst exerting energy by running for their lives so they have to resort to whatever they can get their hands on. One of the soldiers finds a hose pipe in the street, his lifts it to try and get any water out of it, this shows how he is completely desperate for anything and the harsh reality of war. Similarly in desperation another of the soldiers opens a window to find an ash tray, he finds a used cigarette and takes it to get a small hit of nicotine, as soon as he smells it shots are fired and they are under attack.
No sound comes from the men as they run from the bullets, they are used to the successive shots that come for them and know better than to give away their positions. This is more realistic than most action movies where the men run off screaming, the silence often drove men more mad than the war itself, this shows how the film is a historical action film and based on facts rather than made up dramatisations. In addition the the small details about the war that we can infer from the actions are the flashes of knowledge that is aired on the screen gradually throughout the scene, they tell us of the French and British being stuck on Dunkirk surrounded by the enemy, wishing for a way out. There is also no non-diegetic sound like a voice over of music, this creates a raw reality of war and doesn’t dramatise the events.
The idea that this film is realistic is mirrored throughout the first scene, the main character of the segment does not die, as seen in most action films, but he doesn’t have an easy time either, the reality of war is shown when they are shot at and he is the lone survivor, this shows how his is truly alone in war. In addition when he prepares to fight back his gun gets jammed, showing that the reality of war is a lot different to how it has been depicted in other movies where everything goes smoothly for the protagonist. After he jumps the wall to avoid being shot at the camera movement becomes more fluid and seems to mirror that of if we were following behind him, this personalisation lets us empathise with the character and get immersed in the scene as if we are there too.
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