Our exercise was the answer the following questions in relation to a similar example of a text which is a brooks brothers advertisement, i am unable currently to locate the image but when I do I shall attach it.
- In one sentence sum up the message the photograph is communicating to audiences
a man throwing a boy into a pool
- Identify all individual media component or signs within the text
- man – father figure
- boy – son
- laughing together – close relationship
- clothing – comfortable and can have fun in it
- pool- summer/fun/relaxing/holidays
- same colour palette – close relationship to each other
- consider the kinds of technical/social codes employed by the text
- age: young and old relationship
- gender: both males
- conventional: white (Caucasian)
- blue: masculine, boys
- anything else to note
We noted that this advertisement seems to be aimed at metrosexual, higher class men. The light colours and blue tones not only appeal to men who can relate to the subjects but its also associate happiness and is a bright colour thats engaging audiences. The font also communicates different things, the swirly is very exaggerated and represents a higher class perhaps more wealth and prestige, similarly the size of the font in particular the word “you” which is the largest word makes audiences pay attention in particular to this and draws them in. It in general anchors the photo to be like this man and his assumed son, which is selling both the clothes and the lifestyle.
We also looked at an image of a family and was asked how do you know this is a family photo, well in order to ask this we had to look at some codes. Social/ideological codes such as (family, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, age and nationality) its also formal codes such as (technical, shot scale, focus, composition, genre) we established that this image was of a family due to the composition and closeness of the subjects, they were all of similar ethnicity, and they fit the stereotypical ideals of a family, an older man and woman and younger people both male and female.
Source: http://poppinsfamilyservices.com
