Green Media: How media makes meaning.

As usual read, follow links, watch. This week you are are to pay close attention to just a few seconds of a movie by watching it repeatedly.

How do sounds, images, words, text make meaning?

  • In context. For example:
    • The sound “No” by itself has no meaning. It needs context or multiple contexts: i.e.
      • The English language.
      • A situation, a child is about to run into a busy road, someone shouts,”No!”
      • A sentence, “There is no point in arguing.”
      • The context can make “No!” a scream of fear or an expression of laughing delight. So although I think humans know when no means no, we can also tell when it doesn’t.
  • By reference. Look at the first 12 seconds of Gasland by Josh Fox at this specific link. WATCH it at least TWICE.
    • You see:
      • the logo for HBO Documentary Films
      • the logo for WOW films with an aeroplane silhouetted behind it
  • What are the references with which you interpret these seconds?  WATCH them repeatedly.
    • Text – “HBO Documentary Film”
      • color: black and white, cool and edgy
      • movement: fractured text assembles,  connotes the process of assembling material
      • movement backwards then drifting to the right, means what?
    • Text – “International”, connotes sophistication but given what I know about this film, my thought processes go towards the left and the famous song of the socialist movement, the Internationale – here on Youtube (sung by Billy Bragg, excuse the capitalist advertising)
    • Text – “WOW” – an exclamation of excited surprise! For many the most immediate reference will be World of Warcraft. Maybe also Workers of the World? Ref: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies). I think both social activism and popular media are connoted here.
    • Image – something like a gas pipe/exhaust pipe silhouetted on the left –  referring to extractive industries, fossil fuels, gas pipelines
    • Image – airplane taking off –  referring to our collective use of fossil fuels, for business, pleasure – I think our collective responsibility is implied and will be contrasted with the lives of the people we will see in the film who are trashed by our collective demand for oil and gas.
    • Color – Sepia connotes old photographs, brown suggests earnestness?
    • Movement – the composition jumps and slides (more analysis of this kind of stylistic choice below)
  • FAQ: Isn’t it possible to over-interpret media?
    • My short answer is no. And especially no when we are talking short forms, logos and adverts that are often made by big companies with a lot of money – the producers think about how everything in every frame makes meaning.
    • We could analyze these 12 seconds a lot more exhaustively, timing, font, why is the plane in silhouette etc. etc. But don’t worry we are not going to analyze the whole movie second by second! But we will do the next bit, see below.
  • Summary – context and reference create meaning.
    • context: what is around a word, an image, a scene, a color, a web of ideas is part of the meaning
    • reference is made to the many systems of common knowledge in which we float, the mental frames mentioned in the book intro.
      • popular culture
      • science
      • politics
      • psychology
      • cultural norms
      • etc. etc. etc.
    • reference can made by form as well as content, by design and composition choices: colors, juxtaposition, pacing
    • reference includes our knowledge about color, style and media itself

Take a short break

What is a documentary?

  • Like all media, documentary has a historical context and it is a genre that changes over time.
  • Some Current Norms of Documentary are:
    • Non-fiction/Informational/Objective
    • Adheres to journalistic norms of representing truth/facts
      • show both “sides” (what if there are more than two?)
      • don’t photoshop the footage
    • Voice of authority narrates what is happening
    • Reveals world/situation that many do not have access to
    • Possible avenue for showing injustice and thereby influencing opinion
  • Some major debates for Documentary
    • How/Can truth be represented?
    • How can other people’s (or animal’s) lives really be represented?
    • Whose authority is that voice of authority?

Gasland and Gasland 2 as Documentary – some of Josh Fox’s choices

  • You watched either Gasland or Gasland 2 – we are going to pay close attention to just the first few seconds of Gasland to understand some of the choices Fox makes.
  • WATCH this version of Gasland from second 12 – second 36, repeatedly
    • you see/hear:
      • The background contrasts the natural beauty of mountains with polluting gas works.
      • Fox backs into shot wearing gas-mask and playing a banjo.
      • VO is his voice saying he has always had a lot of faith in people, that we won’t “succumb to frenzy or rage or greed …”
      • Lo fi cinematography
  • In this section –  before we even get to the  title  – we already see Fox’s choices about the kind of documentary this is and major themes: so analyzing  the points above in order.
  • The background contrast sets the major themes of the movie
    • natural beauty versus man-made devastation.
    • devastation impacts human health.
    • gas-mask connotes pollution and war – this is a fight.
  • Fox includes himself in Documentary
    • he is a participant/observer – not outside this situation
    • he is taking the position that it is more ethical to make clear your own position with regard to an issue than to pretend to some sort of objective truth
  • Where is the Voice of Authority in the film?
    • “I have a lot of faith in people …”: as it develops the story comes not from a single, objective authority but people on the ground – Fox is one of these people
    • there are scientific experts, but in this movie they mostly appear to be fighting authorities
    • the film contrasts these voices  with traditional voices of authority: clean and tidy government and corporate men in suits who do seem to  “succumb to frenzy or rage or greed …”
    • see list at the end of the experts and big corporations that would not speak to him
    • see moments all through of people in authority not speaking to him
    • underscores doubt in the objective voice of authority
  • Style: Shaky camera, much out of focus, low res, wandering about, fast cuts, jerking pans
    • more traditional documentaries may use a God’s eyeview, high resolution cinematography to underscore their objectivity and authority
    • Fox’s camera style connotes youtube videos of real events caught by any means possible – appealing to a different kind of street-level authority and authenticity.
    • Cinematography is fractured, uncertain, disturbing, broken  – as is the story he is telling and the people who are telling it – one interviewee says, don’t make it pretty.
    • WATCH  at 1 hour 38 minutes to the end, slower and steadier images here – why?
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