Analysing the media language of our micro drama

ADOPTION, a RDEG/EGRD film

While we as the filmmakers have our own knowledge and preferred reading of this text, as a task we had to ignore our foreknowledge and analyse the semiotics from a neutral perspective. This was a good way for me to put myself in the mind of my teacher and the examiners, and added to understanding what they all expect from my film opening.

The opening shot establishes the home of the protagonist, with the large and shiny polished car signifying wealth, and the detached location from the other houses, again. With the trees around however still connote an urban area rather than a metropolitan one.

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The video is blurred, making it a shallow view. The titles have been wrongly edited so that they are cut off the end. This shot denotes shaky camera and  low budget, signyfying an amateur film company.

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The protagonist has entered her room, which at first glance appears to be the norm of a young teenage girl. The television screen in the right puts the film into a contemporary setting and is a further sign of wealth.  There are no signifiers to indicate whether this girl is attending or school or not. However, the juxtaposition of order and chaos with files and personal belongings, connote that the protagonist is orderly with work, but not in her private life. The poster on the left side is also not one of a stereotypical teenager. The film, “Pulp Fiction”, being from the 1990s, along with the chaos, can connote a rebellious attitude, as well as a retro interest in media.
Behind the scenes: We did not think at all . For example there is a poster of Ellie Goulding in the background, a very contemporary and also typically female music artist, so if we had shot that instead it would have signified a normal teenage girl with stereotypically feminine interests.

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This is the first time the protagonist has shown any emotion, her positive reaction and smile is supposed to attract sympathy from the audience, and her innocence is also connoted through that. There is another sign of wealth left near the mirror in form of an exotic totem.

There is a change of colour, giving an obscure and dark tone. The image is thereby deliberitely not shown, this information is being withheld from then audience, narrative enigma. Until now the audience has been used to a normally pronounced English. The exaggerated German accent is in  deep contrast to this, a binary opposition. 



The protagonist is holding her dog in a defensive position, with the black-dressed girl in a threatening position. The dog looks alarmed, signifying that the intentions of the blonde are malicious. With the two characters opposing the heroine, there is a repetetive theme of the black, stereotypically connotes evil. Along with the over the top-acting signifying a binary opposition, there text connotes a negative portrayal of foreigners