Overview
During your media course there will be a number of media texts that you are required to study, which COULD be in your final A2 exams. They are called CSP’s (Close Study Products). For more information from the board follow this link or open the linked document below.
Task 1
Make 3 powerpoint slides. One has Tomb Radier cover, the second has Metroid cover, the last has the back cover of Tomb Raider. Identify as many different elements in each cover as possible. In other words, what can you see? Label everything you can see eg main image, age rating, manufacturer name etc. Identify all of the visual elements that support the main image eg colour boxes, background colours, textures, shapes, hard lines, other random / arbritary elements. Save you ppt slide as a JPEG and upload to the blog.
Use the following categories: Exam Prep, Semiotics, Metroid, Tomb Raider,
CSP 1 TOMB RAIDER
CSP 2 METROID
Try researching around Metroid . . .
For example, this article is headed “My childhood crush on Samus is probably why my ex looks like her“ seems to bring up some interesting ideas about our relationship between fictional representation and our factual lives.
Task 2
As part of your task above, apply the key semiotic terms (the 19 definitions you have previously completed). In other words, you should be able to break down all of the elements that have been used in each game cover as well as recognising what function or concept they are fulfilling.
For example, A is an iconic signifier because it resembles B. C is used as an indexical link towards D. E is a symbolic signifier and is used to . . .
Similarly, make sure you are clear as to whether the elements that are put together are radical or reactionary. In other words, what kind of representation is presented?
Language = Representation
Essentially what you are producing is a TEXTUAL ANALYSIS. That is you are analysing a media text. This means that you are identifying the individual specific elements (ie the Language of the products) towards what those elements mean when they are put together (ie the Representation of the product).
It may be useful to look at some (similar) work carried out by Feminist Fequency, for example this post (which includes the video below) about body language and The Male Gaze.