Media Definitions
Media- is a way to communicate information between person to person.
Media Language- the way that meaning is made using the convections of a particular medium and type of media product.
Narrative- A spoke or written account of connected events, ie a story.
Mise en scene- Effectively what is known as a cliché, a widely recognisable part or characteristic of a film.
Editing- the process in which media is vetted and changed to provide more clarity or to present something in a different light.
Camera work- Work with a camera, this could include stuff like different angles to manipulate images and the way they are viewed.
Anchorage- Is when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the number of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily. For instance, in a newspaper, pictures are accompanied by a caption that allows us to understand what the picture is showing us.
Hall Theory of encoding and decoding
The theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages. The text is then decoded by the audience.
Different spectators will decode the text in different ways, not always in the way the producer intended. A text can be received in one of three ways;
Dominant or Preferred Reading
This is when the text is read in the way the producer intended the text to be read.
The audience agrees with the messages and ideology that the producer has placed behind the text.
Negotiated Reading
This is a compromise between the dominant reading and the oppositional reading of the text.
The audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own input and understanding of the text.
Oppositional Reading
The audience rejects the producers preferred reading and creates their own reading of the text, usually this is the opposite of what the producer intended.
The reader rejects the meaning completely as they do not agree with the message that is being presented to the audience.
Representation
Representation is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience.
Stereotypes,
These are a simplified representation of a person, groups of people or a place, through basic or obvious characteristics - which are often exaggerated.
Media Language- the way that meaning is made using the convections of a particular medium and type of media product.
Narrative- A spoke or written account of connected events, ie a story.
Mise en scene- Effectively what is known as a cliché, a widely recognisable part or characteristic of a film.
Editing- the process in which media is vetted and changed to provide more clarity or to present something in a different light.
Camera work- Work with a camera, this could include stuff like different angles to manipulate images and the way they are viewed.
Anchorage- Is when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the number of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily. For instance, in a newspaper, pictures are accompanied by a caption that allows us to understand what the picture is showing us.
Hall Theory of encoding and decoding
The theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages. The text is then decoded by the audience.
Different spectators will decode the text in different ways, not always in the way the producer intended. A text can be received in one of three ways;
Dominant or Preferred Reading
This is when the text is read in the way the producer intended the text to be read.
The audience agrees with the messages and ideology that the producer has placed behind the text.
Negotiated Reading
This is a compromise between the dominant reading and the oppositional reading of the text.
The audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own input and understanding of the text.
Oppositional Reading
The audience rejects the producers preferred reading and creates their own reading of the text, usually this is the opposite of what the producer intended.
The reader rejects the meaning completely as they do not agree with the message that is being presented to the audience.
Representation
Representation is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience.
Stereotypes,
These are a simplified representation of a person, groups of people or a place, through basic or obvious characteristics - which are often exaggerated.
Counter stereotypes
Are positive stereotypes. They Focus on positive elements of a group traditionally represented as bad.
Identity.
is a socially and historically constructed concept. ... Social and cultural identity is inextricably linked to issues of power, value systems, and ideology. The media uses representations—images, words, and characters or personae—to convey specific ideas and values related to culture and identity in society.
IdeoIlogy
These are ideas and beliefs, held by media producers, which are often represented in their media texts.
Social power
In social science and politics, power is the ability to influence or outright control the behaviour of people. The term "authority" is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure.
Mediation.
Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version of it.
Hegemony
Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become—and seek to remain—dominant in society.
The development of the term “hegemony” in media studies follows the work of Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall
Banners – Typically found at the top or bottom of a print media text.
Broadsheet - Large format newspapers that report news in depth, often with a serious tone and higher level language. The news is dominated by national and international events, politics, business, with less emphasis on celebrities and gossip. Examples: The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph
Byline - A journalist's name at the beginning of a story. Captions – Text below an image that describes the image or informs the audience who
took the image. Copy - Main text of a story.
Coverlines – Captions on a magazine front cover
Emotive Language – the use of language to generate specific emotional reactions in the target audience
Headlines – The text highlighting the main story being given priority by the producers of the print media text. Often designed to be eye-catching.
Inverted pyramid structure - Newspaper stories start with the main events. Then they give more details and eyewitness comments in short paragraphs. The paragraphs at the end of the story are less important than those at the beginning. This allows sub-editors to shorten stories by cutting paragraphs from the end.
Layout – How the print media text has been designed and formatted.
Masthead - The top section of a newspaper which gives the paper’s title, price and date
Sans Serif font – Font type which does not have lines perpendicular to the ends of letters e.g. Comic Sans – often seen as more contemporary. Think of Apple’s advertising.
Serif font – Font type which does have lines perpendicular to the ends of letters e.g. Times New Roman – generally seen as more traditional or higher class.
Splash – The front page story
Sub-headings – Smaller, typically one line headlines for other stories.
Tabloid - Smaller newspapers aimed at a large audience. News is reported in less depth and emphasises human interest stories. The language level is lower, paragraphs and stories shorter, with more use of images. Content often includes more celebrities, media news and gossip. Examples: The Sun, The Mail, The Mirror, The Express
Text to image ratio – This involves considering how weighted the print media text is with regards to text and image – you need to ask yourself why the ratio exists.
Typography – The collective term when considering elements of print media relating to the style of the text such as the font, colour, serif, sans serif etc.
sans-serif
san ˈsɛrɪf/
PRINTING
noun
- 1.a style of type without serifs.
adjective
- 1.without serifs.
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed.
Jack White - facing the camera, looking at you eye contact. Information, tag. Cover line.
The splash is the front cover page story. The puff is something that used to make text stand out, ie a circle with some text in it.
Yellow - happy - eye-catching
Dark unsaturated colours- gloomy, Battle, era that it was set in
Impact font in title - entertainment
Gal Gadot- A female actress that is generally petite, giving more power to the female gender
Looking straight at the camera - eye contact - direct mode of address
Skyline - bold sand serif - “free” - excite viewer - getting things for free
Power in position - her character as a powerful woman
Gold colours - shiny and attractive
Princess of themyscira
Dominant
Queen of Amazon
Only women on the island - doing everyone’s jobs - independent
Mid-shot
Colours show the oldness of when Wonder Woman was and the power she held in that time
Stereotypes - woman hero
Alliteration of Wonder Woman
Counter stereotyping women during her time (ww1)
Gauntlets on wrists - deflects bullets
Lasso of truth
Sword and shield
Weaponry - giving women power
Colours - serious tone - battle - era of ww1
Film about women being powerful
Perhaps loosing half audience - Wonder Woman wearing more clothing than before
More serious tone than before
Life without men- reflects societal changes
Overall wonder woman is meant to represent the societal changes, that are undergoing. She is an independent woman in a mans world, who constantly, cuts through to the problems at heart. She disregards men and proves how pointless and stupid they can be. She has great power and uses it to protect everyone with no regard for gender, ethnicity or age.
When the character was originally concepted, she looked like this.
Overall wonder woman is meant to represent the societal changes, that are undergoing. She is an independent woman in a mans world, who constantly, cuts through to the problems at heart. She disregards men and proves how pointless and stupid they can be. She has great power and uses it to protect everyone with no regard for gender, ethnicity or age.
When the character was originally concepted, she looked like this.
Here she seems more like a walking advertisement for America. She is also more sexualised with her breasts on display, and her legs clearly on show. Nowadays if this were the case, about half the audience would not watch this, as most women would find it offensive.
Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film:
voices of characters
sounds made by objects in the story
music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)
Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world
Non Diegetic sound. Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action:
narrator's commentary
sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
mood music
Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space.
Wide Shot
Used to show all of these characters
Close up shot
Used to show his emotion
Mid Shot
Used to Show their emotions and reactions
Wide shot
To show the number of people and power that the empire has.
Close Extreme
Used to show his anonymity
Close Extreme
Shows anger, and frustration
Wide Shot
Shows the Empire's power and numbers, but also to convey a position of authority
Mid Shot
Shows the anger, and emphasises the dark side
The music in the background the pew pew noises that make up the ships sounds, basically something that only the character can hear, but not the actor. Belongs to the story world.
The narration is also included.
Diegetic sound is the stuff that everyone can hear.
The reverse shot is when a shot goes from shot A, shot B, shot A, shot B etc.
It goes continuously back and forth between the 2 shots to show there is a connection between them
It is a form of eye-line matching if the character is looking at someone and the next shot is what they look at.
Contrast – to altar the lighting (or contrast = very light lights and dark darks sometimes with memories
Colour - to add a colour filter to show a specific mood
Example ‘The ring’ – many scenes are very blue-ish, which show sterile/coldness etc.
Animation – titles of shows or cartoons
CGI – computer generated images (example = avatar, planet of apes, polar express)
Fast forward/slow motion – speeding up or slowing down footage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIK4Uf9NhJA (fast) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eai1DZVqIRM (slow)
Ghost trail – see multiple actions (overlapped) to show someone drunk or on drugs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5xkFN-pOJc (ghost trail) ….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI3bnkWD0Fg (hallucination when stung by the bee at 2:06)
Blur – to show un-clarity, or fuzzy memory/flashback (bee sting scene – some is blurry when Peeta coming)
This Orangutang looks concerned and serious, he looks, like he is threatening someone. The area is dark, and the camerawork is a close up shot. the sound in this scene is quiet and foreboding, giving the impression of a scary atmosphere and a dangerous experience ahead.
Looks, both angry and scared.
The shot is close up, and the lighting is bright, and fiery, because...well there is a fire. The sound in this is that is dramatic and loud. This builds tension and tells the audience that something important is going to happen.
The shot is close up, and the lighting is bright, and fiery, because...well there is a fire. The sound in this is that is dramatic and loud. This builds tension and tells the audience that something important is going to happen.
Look of concern and worry, he is looking for something. He is also one of the good guys, and therefore must be worried for Mowglie He looks docile, but it is still clear that he is an animal at the same time.
The tiger has a look of frustration and anger. He is really annoyed by something. The camera work is that there is motion, in the form of blurred images. The sound is quiet before this, and he jumps out of the grass and, goes for Mowglie. The editing components of this, are the tiger himself, he is CGI.
Camera work of the Tiger is that he is looking down on people from above (lower angle), he is clearly in a position of authority. He is angry and is showing his power, that aim of this appears to be to scare people and to make them feel fear so he can maintain control of the jungle. The shot is a Mid shot and is meant to portray power. There are not many editing components apart from the CGI of the tiger. The sound is non-diegetic and is the roar of the tiger.
The tiger has a look of frustration and anger. He is really annoyed by something. The camera work is that there is motion, in the form of blurred images. The sound is quiet before this, and he jumps out of the grass and, goes for Mowglie. The editing components of this, are the tiger himself, he is CGI.
The Snake looks curios, and interested. she has seen something that she has either not seen before or does not see very often. The sound of the snake's voice is soothing and makes the whole scene seem more sinister. The camera shot is a mid shot, to emphasis how big the snake is.
The bear looks scared and docile, he is one of the people who helps in the film. He is one of the good guys. The camera shot is a mid shot, this shoes that he is scared but is prepared to defend himself.
The Antelope seems curious but also cautious.
The general idea behind this image is that Mowgli is in a dark environment, that is gloomy and scary. He is alone and is vulnerable.
intertextuality’ refers to the way aspects of a particular media product relate to another and thus accrue additional significance.
Theory: Cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid. Heavy viewers are exposed to more violence and therefore are effected by the Mean World Syndrome, the belief that the world is a far worse and dangerous place then it actually is. According to the theory heavy viewing of television is creating a homogeneous and fearful populace, however so many studies have been done in this area that really no one knows how or even if violence on TV or in film negatively or positively affects its audience.
Now cultivation theory has taken on a more general definition in regards to mass media. It now extends to encompass the idea that television colours our perception of the world. For example; if someone stays inside and watch news about crime all day, they might be inclined to believe that the crime rate is far higher than it actually is and they might easily become the victim of a crime. Or in another sense heavy viewership of any media can perpetuate stereotypes both positive and negative. It really comes down to the question of to what extent does reality shape TV and vice versa.
In the United Kingdom, the term "public service broadcasting" refers to broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than to serve purely commercial interests.
Media industry: How the media industries’ processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms.
Media audience: How media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to them and how members of audiences become producers themselves.
Digitally convergent media: Video games consoles are an excellent example of a digitally convergent device, you can not only play games but access social media, surf the internet, stream films and TV content and upload content into cloud based servers. Cross-media content helps maximise profits and also improve reach to new customers.
Production: This refers to all phases of designing, developing and making the media product;.
Distribution: This refers to all processes linked to delivering the media product to audiences both through tangible (disc) and digital (Cloud based) media.
Consumption: Explores the way in which the media text is used by audiences for pleasure but also explores the rise of user generated content across several platforms.
Sandbox game: A world that is free for the player to explore and change on their own terms. no rules or stories
Goodwin’s music video theory
Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos states that music videos contain some or all of the following elements:
A link between the visuals & lyrics (compliment, contradict or amplify)
Genre characteristics (heavy metal in industrialised settings; rap music in urban street contexts etc.)
Contain intertextual references (references to popular culture)
Contain notions of looking (e.g. screens within screens)
Include objectification of females (e.g. male gaze)
Include demands of the record label (close ups of lead singer, symbols or motifs associated with the band / performer etc.)
Video will be performance, narrative or concept based.
Neale’s genre theory of Repetition and Difference
Steve Neale states that though all genres are structured along the identical conventions of plot, narrative and mise-en-scene, success lies in their ability to manipulate and re-shape these elements.
In this sense, all genres all contain instances of repetition and difference – and difference is essential to the economy of the genre.
Neale’s model holds that a product’s genre is defined by:
How much it conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes. A product must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that genre if it is to attract that audience.
How much a product subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. The product must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of another product.
Neale's Theory
Steve Neale’s theory of Repetition and Difference.
Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference, difference is essential to the to the economy of the genre.
Neale states that the film and it’s genre is defined by two things:
How much is conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes. A film must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that genre.
How much a film subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. The film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film.
