'READING LYNX' MEDIA ANALYSIS LESSON

Today in class we looked at an article called 'Reading Lynx' in Media Magazine all about how to analyse adverts, and I learned a lot of new terms and words I hadn't heard before.

Firstly, I learnt about signs, relating to textual analysis. Signs tell you things about the place your in, a person, or in this case the advert. A choice has been made and this tells you something about the text. For example, you notice in the advert that the kitchen is not a modern one, but more 1950s retro with an old fashioned radio as opposed to an iPod. This instantly links you to a time when women were their husband's property and would do anything men wanted.

Next, we looked at substitution analysis. This is where you look at the signs around you and then replace them with other things, e.g. replacing hard, Formica classroom desks with carved mahogany wood. This latter example creates a luxurious feel, which the other reminds you of a school classroom. It is a good way to tell more about the place you are analysing.

We also talked about codes, two types of them. First, we looked at cultural codes. Codes are a way of communicating through adverts that rely on a certain knowledge or ideology, for instance this advert assumes the decoding will be doe by someone with a typically western ideology, who should find the advert sexy, glamorous and edgy. This is called the 'preferred decoding'. To any other group or culture this advert could appear as blasphemous, rude or inappropriate. This is known as the 'oppositional decoding'. The people creating the advert will have played on the preferred decoding to get their message across.

Technical codes were the next thing we learnt about. They include things such as lighting and camera angles, for example in a glamour shot like this back lighting is used to create a glowing effect on the skin and erase blemishes, so she looks flawless. Also a long or medium shot is used so that the whole body can be fitted into the shot.

I also learnt about Textual Analysis grids, which are a good way to start analysing the text. They work by picking out key art (main images) and key wording (main words), and then explaining the connotations associated with them. For instance if you took key art like the girl's parted red lips, the red connotes love and passion, and the parted lips suggests sexual availability or desire, which is what the Lynx team would have wanted to achieve.    

Finally, we looked at the rule of thirds, which allows us to analyse the framing of a shot by metaphorically cutting the picture into three equal parts horizontally or vertically. If we did this to the Lynx advert on the second page of the article, we would see that most of the shot (the middle, centre third) contains all the sexualised parts of her body like her bottom and breasts. Since these are right in the middle of the shot, you cannot miss them and your attention is drawn to them because of the way the shot has been framed. The right third is taken up with the product name, brand and slogan, so again a large part of the ad is filled with the brand name to make sure people's attention is drawn to it and it is memorable. However, you notice that her face only takes up the upper corner of the left third, so not so much attention is focused on it. The rule of thirds helps to analyse the framing of a shot and helps to utilise restricted space. You can also tell what the ad's (and company's) messages and values are by what takes up most of the shot and what your attention is immediately drawn to.

Overall I learnt a lot this lesson about media analysis and I think these key terms will be very helpful in the future.