Tag Archives: interpretation

VW – GETTING CLOSER

Our website is starting to come together quite nicely and cohesively. Over the period of time spent working on this assignment we have progressively honed in on themes of interpretation and re-contextualisation. The website is beginning to showcase signs of simplicity and cohesion, both important traits of advertising.

The progression of our website at the moment is as follows:

  • Home page – Introduces topic of Volkswagen advertising as text
  • Page 1 – Background info of DDB presented in an advertisement adapted from the original ‘Think Small’ advertisements, which made DDB and Volkswagen famous
  • Page 2 – Embedded ‘Great Escape’ commercial
  • Page 3 – Responses from people converted into a print advertisement with comments as tag-lines/slogans. Accompanying text discusses reactions and the use of music in the ‘Great Escape’ commercial
  • Page 4 – A cheesy Volkswagen commercial created by Chloe
  • Page 5 – Interpretations of this advertisement presented in a photoshopped advertisement featuring interpretations as accompanying text
  • Page 6 – Homemade abstract VW commercial using found footage
  • Page 7 – TBC
  • Page 8 – TBC

Some of our inspiration for the commercials has come from video’s created by adult swim. The way that they engage their viewers by toying with expectations is something we are trying to incorporate, whilst keeping a sense of cohesion about the website as a whole.

I am really happy with where we stand at the moment. We have a week before everything is due and i’d say we only have a few days of work left to complete.

– Gabriel

VOLKSWAGEN UPDATE WEEK 11

As a group, the biggest difficulty we have faced so far is that we have been working in separate areas, eliminating the aspect of collaboration. We’re in the process of widdling down our ideas to focus on our key concept of interpretation so the collaborative aspect is restored. We have decided that over the next few days we will film some footage for a light hearted Volkswagen commercial.

After completion, we will receive feedback, both filmed and written. From here, we can use these responses in advertisements we have created ourselves.

This is just one idea of a few to come…

– Gabriel

APPROACHING MEDIA TEXTS

Gill Branston, besides having a pretty sweet name, analyses text in ‘Approaching Media Text’. As Branston says, “‘text’ originally referred to sacred writings, such as the Bible”, but more recently, a text has been described as “anything which is to be investigated” (2010 p11). From this we can assume that texts surround everyone in everyday life, and cannot be avoided.

Branston refers to the semiotic analysis approach established by Ferdinand de Saussure (and later used by Roland Barthes) as a primary method for understanding texts. Semiotics is defined as “the study of signs, or of the social production of meanings and pleasures by sign systems, or the study of how things come to have significance” (Branston 2010, p12). Texts are filled with a variety of signs, signifiers, signifieds, referents, connotations and denotations which create meaning. These terms suggest that whilst there are intended messages, all texts are highly interpretable across different demographics and cultures.

Branston links the study of texts to the Structuralism theory prominent in Psychology. This theory deals with audiences subconscious responses to texts and how they react to them in ways that they aren’t fully aware of. This is the genius of advertising, pinpointing target demographics, and convincing them to purchase a specific product, or instilling subconscious beliefs.

What Branston provides is a variety of methods used to understand different media texts. He quotes McKee as saying “textual analysis [is] an educated guess at some of the most likely interpretations that might be made of [a] text” (2011). This sentence reinforces the notion of texts being very ’roundabout’ in nature. Although information is presented to an audience in a specific way, there’s no guarantee that the intended audience will fully comprehend the desired message.

Just as a side note on the topic of subliminal marketing, advertising and blatant brainwashing, a friend of mine showed me this video:

Source

“TRUST THE US GOVERNMENT”

The message doesn’t shock me as much as it first did. But I think that’s just because Tony Abbott is running the country.

References:

  •  Branston. Gill, Stafford, Roy. The Media Student’s book, (p, 9-26, 31) 5th ed. New York, NY : Routledge 2010

– Gabriel