Mise-en-scene analysis Arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play, in film analysis, this term refers to everything in front of the camera, including set design, lighting and actors. The advertisement portrays how this cream will ‘attract women’ and putting it in your hair will put you higher up in the hierarchy and women will want to be around you. It’s a powerful masculine ‘scent’. The clothing the women are using is minimalist which suggests women could be seen as objects, but the fact there is a gun portrays how men are superior to women and the jungle setting could suggest the product is natural; men will feel powerful in wearing this product. The jungle is a dangerous place, a dominant white male is represented, maybe the advert was attempting to cling onto the idea of an empire. Laura Mulvey – Trying to appeal to the male gaze, wanting people to buy the hair cream product so that women will come to them, men will get pleasure in looking at the ad which will make them more likely to buy the product.
Production values and Aesthetics Production Values: The lighting, sound, scenery and props used to improve a film or play. An example of production values are the ways in which students set up the stage in a school play. Aesthetics: How pleasing something is to look at, and a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty The minimalist clothing used in the advert connotes how women were objectified in the 60’s and were seen as objects rather than people, there is a positive aesthetic and the props such as the gun the man is holding shows dominance and suggests this superiority. Humans are also portrayed as being ‘animal like’ through the use of scenery showing people will be like ‘animals’ when men use this cream as it is dominant.
Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings The nature and culture of an advert and sometimes hidden messages in adverts are shown through semiotics; any form of activity, conduct, or any process that involves signs, including the production of meaning. The outfits show cultural meaning as the advert was produced in the year that homosexuality was decriminalised and three years before the Equal Pay Act was initiated; this is radical to the dominant ideologies of the 1960’s. Women were shown to be sexualised and men were shown to be dominant to women; this is also seen in animals and in packs, there is always one dominant male in a pack.
How advertising conventions are socially and historically relative There is still a dominant ideology that women are inferior to men and there is always this stigma around males having the power and being in a higher position to females. This gives an insight into why the advert represents different genders in the way that it does. Women are represented as being weaker than males and are seen as objects in society.
The way in which media language incorporates viewpoints and ideologies
