Paper 2: Media Analysis
Step 1: Choose your subject.
Pick one piece of media containing visual material to analyze. This can be a television commercial, a movie trailer, or a printed advertisement from a newspaper or magazine. Be sure to give me either the printed advertisement or a link to your commercial or movie trailer when turning in your rough draft.
Step 2: Describe your material.
1. Tell me if you are analyzing a television commercial, an ad from a newspaper, an ad from a magazine, or a movie trailer. If you’re writing about a commercial or an ad, name the product being sold and the company/brand that makes it. If you choose a commercial that advertises a new movie, please name the movie.
2. Then, describe what you see in the ad or video. If you’re analyzing a commercial or movie trailer, give a brief synopsis of what happens in the video. If you’re analyzing a magazine or newspaper advertisement, describe the images and/or words that you see. Remember to only focus on the important details—you do not need to tell me everything.
Step 3: Analyze your material.
In this step, I want you to look deeper into what you see. Think back on how we analyzed the music videos, commercials, and magazine ads in class as a guide to how you should approach this step. Here are just some of the things you should be thinking about when analyzing your material:
What is being sold? Is one specific product being promoted, or is the ad designed to promote a brand?
What is the message of the ad/commercial, and how is this message being expressed?
What kind of images do you see? Are colors being used to create a mood or atmosphere? What is the message being conveyed by these images?
In short, I want you to pick apart the images that make up your piece of media and describe their message. Look at specific details, and describe how they form a message, or claim, about their product. Support all of your claims with specific details.
Step 4: Tell me why this…