I decided i should analyse my own artefact to see if it did meet my expectations. The sequence begins with us in a medium shot of character 1. This continues as character 2 walks in, characters make conversion and greet each other with a youthful ‘spud’, symbolizing they are friendlies. Adhering to popular culture, character 2 wears a t-shirt stating ‘supply high grade’ which is also a euphemism for the supply of marijuana, which is a well placed prop. The pan technique which involves the camera to move back and forth between characters engages the audience in the conversation and allows them to take a perspective as if they were there. Character 1 introduces to the narrative a dilemma, this dilemma is adopted by the audience, this prompts them to ask questions. Character 2 then prompts character 1 to make a decision, and the film freezes. Ten seconds are allowed for the audience to make their choice on what they would do rather than what they think is the socially acceptable. As this is anonymous audiences are more comfortable to make true choices.
Mise-en scene analysis: camera movement reflect the viewer’s perspective. Colour was warm and hospitable, it was natural and lighting was well balanced. A mug was used as an ash tray to reflect realities of student living. Acting seemed hesitant at times which added to the realism. This gave the viewer time to make up their decision, about the direction of the film. for easily readable concepts.
Content analysis of my artefact revealed items and images with manifest (internal) meanings, for example the mug, the joint, logos on jumper, logo on t-shirt of characters. The joint displays a latent meaning of an illegal substance used to create a desired state, the manifest meaning serves as a cue for action. The action is the response from the initiation of a pressured activity. Therefore the joint signifies a dilemma within itself to smoke or not to smoke?
In addition discourse analysis helped me to explore the natural occurring language of my piece and if it reflects the message. As character 1 describes his dilemma this projects the realism shows through his tone, speech breaks and hesitations. Noam Chomsky‘s study into language in the real world has found links to performance-related errors. Consequently, the latent meaning is expressed throughout the theme; the natural occurring cues are the purpose of conversation which in my own summary concludes a stressed student in need of positive inspiration who naturally socializes with a bud who could quite possibly offer this positive reinforcement. The main theme presents an idea that peers experience apprehension about their actions to receive or reject the proposal from the ‘pressurer’.
During the smoke it version a close up of joint smoking (containing tobacco) was taken at the end, this shows authenticity and because we cannot see the character the consequence is left to our imagination. The clip displays evidence of non verbal codes; such as when characters greeted by ‘spud’ this highlights the British youth culture which primarily was adopted from American youth culture.
Finally semiotic analysis codes which are agreed by society, portable laptop shows modern living student. As a media producer I deter from adding signs and symbols which are not present in contemporary society. When filming a natural shot, I let the audience interpret the message for what it is without hidden meanings and manifest content interrupting. If there is one thing I have learnt about audiences it is that they don’t like being deceived.
An important point to consider is ethical barriers in media production. Who may be harmed or affected by my video is question I asked myself. Well initially people may be swayed to make the decision to smoke it, but as it isn’t that interactive they will not have to wait until the situation arises in their future and takes them by surprise, in retrospect they may think back to the video and remember they have 2 choices. Consequently my artefact functions to educate the public by raising awareness and involve the youth of today in some decision making. The artefact matters to me as I have many times sat in the position of character 1.
