“Media is communication” Discuss the ways that you have used media language to create meanings in one of your media products

I used certain media language within my As coursework in order to create meaning, this meaning is important in order to fit the correct conventions of genre. For my AS brief I had to create a film opening based around the genre of film noir. Media language is important to think about when putting this together as you need the correct techniques in order to fit the conventions of the film noir genre.

I used the meaning of Mise en scene in my film noir piece. Mise en scene covers everything to do with what you see in the picture such as: setting, props, lighting and costume. The setting of my A2 noir piece was set on a pier. Long shots of the pier are often used in order to gain a sense of place, for example so you can see the quiet sea in the background and the long desolate pier. Mise en scene creates meaning here because noir revolves itself around the times of depression and great suspicion, therefore everything you usually see in noir films can create a sense of secrecy, therefore mise en scene adds to the sense of secrecy here. Mise en scene also uses dark lighting to add to the depressive and suspicious feel.

Mise en scene also connotes a man and a woman wearing extremely dark costume, the man is in a dark suit and jacket and the women is dressed in a long coat and heels. This creates meaning in two different ways, firstly to create a sense of suspicion using Barthes enigma codes as the dark colour scheme for the clothes reinforce this sense of enigma as being dressed in black makes the characters even more mysterious. The shots of the woman’s legs in heels also reinforce as sense of Laura Mulvey’s gaze theory as is promotes a sense of the woman being sexual as all you can see is her legs. The clothing is typical of the 1940’s and 50’s clothing again adding to the meaning as they are wearing what is typical of the time it is taking place.

Sound and music, through media language was also used to create meaning through my work. I used Non-diegetic music within the peace, the music I used fit conventions as it was made in the 1940’s, it had a slow tempo to add to the slow mysterious pace of the film. I slowed down the pace of the music even more to amplify what was going on, on screen. When the passing of the secret note took place I decided to slow the pace of the music down was the key scene within the film opening itself, as it reinforces Barthes enigma codes and this is critical because this is what would keep the viewer interested in watching.

I used media language to create meaning when editing my work. I used simple edits such as Fade out and fade ins to transit between shots, this is because film noir is suppose to be low key and using another type of transition shot wouldn’t be appropriate. Fiske says he sees genre as ‘a means of constructing both the audience and reading subject’ so when I use things such as editing the film with a black and white filter, it creates meaning by adding to audience expectation as this is what they expect from the film noir genre.



Camera work Close-ups and medium shots, long shots of the pier and the lady walking away centre screen into the night creates meaning revolving around storyline and genre. The lady walking into the distance denotes ideas about the male gaze and femme fatale and also enigma codes. This is because the shot centres on this woman walking away with a black fade, and the title ‘lady of the night’ over the top.