Super.Human Media Language Flashcards
1
Q
Iconography
A
- Drum set: ‘Play me’ -> symbol for what the athletes have to sacrifice
- Medals: symbol for the pressure to succeed. Literally weighs on the athlete’s chest.
- ‘Mr Puke Bucket’: Comic relief, but also demonstrates how hard the athletes work, to the point of bodily expellation.
2
Q
Colour Palette
A
- Grey, cool-toned colour palette perhaps reflecting the monotony and difficulties of intense training on the disabled athletes.
3
Q
Diegetic sound
A
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Alarm clock: sound interrupts the dream, jarring, unexpected. Alarm sound and reality. HIghlights pressues of being an elite athlete which have blurred into the subconcious minds of the athletes.
Groaning/Vomitting/Yelling/Grunting: anchorage the images of the athletes exerting themselves, reminds the audience they are still human. Also underscores the music, emphasising the battle of training e.g. grunts, groans and tape being applied. - News Broadcast sounds: Overwhelming, anchors the lighting, showcasing the immense pressure placed upon athletes.
- Doctor and Boris Johnson saying ‘You might as well quit’ alongside the lyrics of the song: Showcases how odds are steeped against disabled people, especially in terms of health and government institution.
4
Q
Lighting
A
- Beginning dream/nightmare scene: Flashing high-key lighting that is reminscent of flash photography. This illustrates the claustrophobia the athletes face, conveying the pressures of living up to the media’s expectations.
5
Q
Lexical Choices
A
- Slogan: ‘To be a paralympian, there’s got to be something wrong with you.’
- Powerful slogan uses typically negative language against those with disabilities.
- Shows comedy while simultaneously being motivational despite saying ‘there’s got to be something wrong with you.
- A play on words, ‘wrong’ commonly denoting incorrect or a mistake. In this context, the athletes are empowered in their humanising representation.
6
Q
Editing
A
- ## Training montage
7
Q
Camera Shots
A
- Close up shots of injuries: uncomfortable, gruelling. Evokes Sympathy.
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Close up shots of expressions to engage audiences and to portray aspects of disability in a non-victim way , emphasising that this a part of their lives.
-Slow motion: used to show the cycling track crash combinted with muting the sound for a dramatic effect, reinforcing the pressures and dangers of being a Paralympian -> an injury could set back progress or kill them.
8
Q
Camera Angles
A
- ## Wide angle shot of the paralympian positioned in the middle of the frame, making him seem small or insignificant.
9
Q
Symbolic codes
A
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10
Q
Referential Codes
A
- Hamster in a wheel
11
Q
Semantic Codes
A
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12
Q
Action Codes
A
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13
Q
Binary Opposition
A
- ## Ellie Simmons Black versus White swimming costume + Makeup/No-little Makeup –> Pressure to live up to expectations
14
Q
Camera Angles
A
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15
Q
Intertextuality
A
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