Sam Fender Media Language Flashcards
how can the lyrics be interpretated through the narrative?
Fender sings into the camera, involving the audience in the story and creating scenarios that relate to the experience of youth living in areas of social deprivation. this video has been used to raise awareness of social inequalities and issues.
what does the clothing connote?
the clothing is relatable to a young audience and carries cultural connotations in relation to the dual time frame and genere. Fender is wearing understated clothes to signify the genre but not draw attention to himself. he is a part of the group but is also distanced (the shot where he’s surrounded by people on a cliff but seems isolated).
what do the settings and iconography connote?
it’s filmed in real locations to create realism. urban streets, in the car, on the coast. the desaturated, earthy colour palette reinforces that real life happening. this juxtaposed with sunny beach scenes signify a more carefree time. darker shots echo the bleaker lyric (his mother, driving at night).
what do the expressions and gestures connote?
the focus of the track is introspective and signified through the code of expression of Fender. it’s serious with a direct mode of address, involving the audience in his thoughts and the narrative challenges them to listen.
what do the audio codes connote?
Fender’s Geordie accent is clear through his singing. his incorporation of north-east dialect words into his lyric. “bizzies”, “nowt” and “chanter” reinforces how the themes are defined by his local community and his experience in North-East England.
what do the close-up shots connote?
it enables Fender and the characters to engage with the audience and convey the raw emotion of the narrative. for example the bloodied knuckles and Fender’s solemn expression.
what do the establishing shots connote?
the urban, working class milieu anchor, the narrative in a realistic setting, suggesting the depiction of real life as a 17 year old. He is placed in the centre of his community.
what does a slow zoom connote?
the opening of the music video down a long street lined with terrace houses, a typical North-East mining town, draws the audience to the artist in the middle of the street, placed as a part of the environment.
what does the editing connote?
it cuts between the artist’s performance and naturalistic vignettes which conveys the disparate narrative of Fender’s youth, romance, friends, conflict all conveyed through the lyrics and visual signifiers.
what does the montage editing connote?
it conveys the chaos of being 17: clubbing, walking in the dark, friendships, girls fighting. the cuts become quicker and more frantic, matching the increased pace of the music signifying desperation.
what can be said about the narrative?
non-linear, flitting between past and present, featuring disruption and resolution (Fender’s dominant message of learning from mistakes of the past). these situations are universal and relatable to the audience regardless of where they live or their situation. as the video progresses, the artist grows larger than his environment to show he’s transcending the past and ending with a sense of hope.
what can be said about the different narrative strands?
they are dominated by the performance of the artist who acts as a storyteller, a typical convention of his style. the repititive lyrics of the chorus reinforces the narrative of his youth ‘I’m 17 going under’
what does the inclusion of his mother connote?
the shots of her with the crumpled letter and a bottle of gin is a direct criticism of the social systems that let her down when she was ill and couldn’t work to support them.
how can Barthes semiotics theory be applied?
the images illustrate the lyrics but connote deeper meanings in the relation of inequality and signifiers of place and class. for example, the terraced house and social housing blocks. the audience will attach meaning to their association with working class youth. ‘myth’ has become recognisable as a symbol of social status, contributing to stereotypes.
how can Levi-Strauss’s structuralism theory be applied?
the binary opposite between the personal older Fender and his angry and confused 17 year old. they convey being in cutting between the artist on the street, becoming distanced from his environment.
