In media representations there are always 'denotations' and 'connotations' (Kellner & Share, 2005). Denotations refer to what is specifically represented in the media. In the case of the selected text, the South Newcastle legal graffiti wall and skate park are denoted. Connotations refer to underlying cultural systems of beliefs, values and judgments - and are often more easily gauged once you know who created the message and why. The connotations embedded in the short film align with Neoliberalist ideals that value the commercialisation of public space: maximising corporate profit and consumer 'choice'. Connotations are represented through the subtle technical devices of different media forms: techniques that have a strong impact on the way media messages are received by audiences. Advocates of crticical media literacy in education, Kellner & Share (2005), warn that media texts are most damaging when messages are naturalised: presented as unproblematic truths. By aligning both connotations and denotations in the video, viewers are presented with an unchallenging and seemingly straightforward message. The following paragraphs will outline the recurring filmic techniques used by Ray & Totterman to naturalise their message.
The three obvious tools that have been used to construct the message:
1) Image: as represented through a variety of camera techniques and selections of subject matter.
2) Music: a dynamically varied soundtrack, marked most obviously through the contrast of calming and then chilling music.
3) Greg Ray (yep he's a tool too!): through his gestural and dynamically varied spoken language.
Throughout the entire sequence of the video these three elements move in a highly synchronized manner. At the start of the video Greg Ray narrates using a relaxed tone. His narration is also highly descriptive, drawing on a vocabulary of words characterised by their strong positive connotations: 'lovely', 'neat', 'clean' and 'amazing' among them. Underneath his voice you can hear a piano playing in a major arrangement (brightly toned) matching the relaxed and positive mood of Ray's dialogue. The introduction is supported by warm illustrations and historic photographic images of many people enjoying the South Newcastle beachfront. South Newcastle's beachfront is represented as a beautiful, once highly used and enjoyed gem of the Newcastle coastline.
As the visuals now denote the beachfront in the present day the warm piano tune begins to fade away, suddenly but softly spiraling into a moody dissonance as does, to an extent the mood of the narrator's dialogue. The camera gives us a panoramic sweep of an almost deserted Newcastle beach, rotating its view down toward the South end footpath. The piano playing is marked by a abrupt moody emphasis and then stops as the scene cuts to the upper and at the time of filming most neglected section of the legal graffiti wall. Through the use of carefully constructed and layered filmic techniques emotively targeting the senses of sight and sound, the viewer has been well primed for Ray's following portrayal of an 'uglified' South Newcastle beachfront.
Through word choice and tone Ray's narration shifts significantly. In the line 'Newcastle famous legal graffiti walls' we can hear an inflection that denotes sarcasm, mocking the fact that something so apparently 'shabby' and 'pungent' in smell could be legal. Camera sequences convey Ray walking through the graffiti zone. Subtle bodily gestures indicate that he is uncomfortable in and unimpressed by his surroundings. The urban hip hop groove used through this sequence denotes the kind of youth subculture that might occupy the space, skaters and graffiti writers. With the exception of one spray-can muralist, the implied sub-community is not present. As he states 'I don't think many people would find the result attractive [referring to the art of graffiti writers]' we can see that Greg positions himself in reflection of a supposed wider community view.
The next sequence is marked by a foreboding ominous soundcape background to a dark low angle shot depicting Ray as he enters what he describes only as a 'fairly dank underpass'.As Ray proceeds into the darkness with caution the chilling sound effects heighten the allusion of danger implied in the constructed representation of the area. A very specific camera shot cuts to the image of a tagged-over council sign. The employment of visual metaphor in this image confirms Ray's implied message that misuse and disorder among graffiti writers has led to the undesirable state of the beachfront. Nothing more is said through this sequence as Ray allows his gestural language to do the talking. He moves through with caution, stopping to pick up some litter, he examines it and throw it back to the ground. In his face Ray faintly expresses disgust. Gestural language is stronger here than at any other point in video. Upon analysis it becomes obvious that overt gestures and actions (picking up the litter) have been used to assert the notion that this area is in no state for public use.
Leading into the next sequence with the comparison of the area as "somewhere between a school quadrangle and a prison camp", some very kitsch sounding pop-punk and corny visuals of a skateboarder's perspective as he/she rides ramps and grinds rails all combine to trivialize the current use of the location. This short sequence has also been included to give the effect of journalistic balance, alleviating the viewer from Greg Ray's narration and point of view, but failing to give an actual skate park user's perspective on the place. The final example of graffiti selected in the edit is a tag depicting the words "SYDNEYZ FINEST VANDALZ". With a personal knowledge of the area I can see that tags have been overemphasised in the included imagery, with little depiction on the many dozens of well-executed murals that existed at the time.
Some inspirational contemporary music gains volume. Ray gazes up to lead a camera cut to a new image. 'Over the top of it all are the Mirvac cranes', he narrates, with a tonal inflection that he might characterize the way one speaks of their beloved spouse! The viewer is now presented with a range of warmly toned, crisp and clean images: apartment rooms overlooking a deep blue ocean and a southbound view along the Newcastle beach shoreline, no litter or seaweed in this shot. The Mirvac development is seen to intrinsically link with a cleaner, nicer, more user-friendly beachfront.
The following sequences roll out to employ the same recurring techniques. Contrasts in the mood of the narrator's dialogue, music and visual devices move together - the formula switching periodically depending on the denoted subject matter, be it the Southern beachfront as a skatepark and legal graffiti zone, or alternatively as a potential non-skate park / non-graffiti zone. This predictable pattern of technique combination serves to attempt to construct the maker's message as naturalised and unproblematic. The intended message is made obvious:
1) The South Newcastle beachfront has 'been particularly neglected and abused', with the implication that the graffiti zone and an inept city council are to blame.
2) The nearby Mirvac development supports the community's hope that the 'whole graffiti, weed-infested, concrete-cancered, broken-handrailed, littered, uglified mess' will get 'tidied up'.
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