Urfana Alam - media blog

URFANA ALAM The 'WaterAid' advert is a well known charity advert that shines light on the lack of basic facilities some people have around the world. The advert starts off with cold colours showing a radio and plant pot by the window seal where you can see the rainy weather outside, there also seems to be murmuring of the weather lady on the news to notifies the person listening to the radio of the upcoming forecast. The ad then very quickly changes scenes into a land field of crops that look to be dry, however not completely dry and dying. The colour here is now warmer and minimal however as the time passes by in the advert more and more vibrant colours are added. The very first time we see Claudia, the camera is already close to her face almost as if it's trying to create that "up close and personal" type of feeling with the audience which does definitely work. It's important to get the target audience to feel a sense of connection with the people in the a...

URFANA ALAM What is the main narrative and message of the song and how is this added to or altered by the visual elements of the video and the techniques used? Does the video subvert or confirm the messages and content of the song? Dizzee Rascal plays with the imagery of black people in a white society in the music video “Dream” to represent the difference of culture between the two races. To many people, the music video may seem to very random with no actual meaning behind it however there are many hidden details in the music video that highlight stereotypes about black people. Dizzee Rascal is a black artist from England who rose to fame through his talent in music. Only at the age of 14, he became an amateur drum and base DJ and by age 16 he had self-produced his first single “I Luv U.” From here onward his fame kept growing as he was receiving more and more recognition for his music as time went by. However, Dizzee wanted to break the cycle of black artists being in the ra...

URFANA ALAM The media often portrays generic views on certain aspects of the industry, one of these aspects are gender. Often in music videos, advertisements, and in movies, genders are shown to have very different roles and morals in comparison to one and another, this keeps the stereotypical views about genders in society on going. Jason Derulo’s released a music video on the 21stof May in 2014 called ‘Wiggle’ which featured Snoop Dogg and was a global hit. The whole song is about women dancing and “wiggling” their body as the song contains lyrics such as “you know what to do with that big fat butt” and “your booty like two planets.” Not only the lyrics, but the music video also Derulo in the middle of the bed surrounded by 8 girls, indicating girls as being sex objects. While the men are dressed in gold chains, the women are given to fancy jewellery that stands out suggesting that the men are richer in this music video and have more power an authority over the girls as t...