Media Language: Terminology

Media Language Terminology

Mode - A way of a media text presenting it's story.

Codes - Techniques that are used in the media text to get the intended message across to the audience.

Media Language - Words, phrases and techniques the media uses in different media texts.

Representation - How different groups of people are represented within media texts.

Semiotics - The study of symbols and what they mean.

Mise en Scene - How a image is laid out in order to get an intended message to the audience.

Denotation and Connotattion

Denotation: What is there.

Connotations: What affects are created from something that is there.

Language: Modes

Modes

A mode is how a media producer presents their creation. So if a media producer created a TV show they would be presenting it through moving image and sound. An example of different modes being used can be seen below.

Media texts are becoming more multi-modal. For example: the breakfast show has a live stream and The Big Issue has a website.

Semiotics

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. It was created by Roland Barthes. He talks about meaning being constructed through signs.

Written language in it's self is a collection of signs.

We have always known that meaning is created through pictures, words, etc but Barthes and others brought terminology to it so that people could debate about in an intellectual and standard way that stood up to scrutiny.

Above is an example of how semiotics works.

We associate the symbols for toilets with males and females. Symbols are used because they are simple and more easily recognisable. In the middle symbols are used to create the word Pig but it does not represent a pig as much as a picture or a symbol of a pig would. Showing that our minds have been trained to react to symbols more. On the right we see a romantic date, this is a image rather than a symbol but it is so generic that our minds know what it is at first sight.

Reception Theory

Reception Theory

Reception theory, created by Stuart Hall, suggests that a text does not have one reading but a range of possibilities of readings which depend upon the person reading the text.


This image can be used as an example of reception theory. There are two readings of this image, lonely or peaceful. The image can be read in different ways by different people. Some may think it is about loneliness and others may think it is about peace. It all comes down to the reading of the image.






Preferred Reading and Oppositional Reading

The preferred reading is the reading that the text producer intended whereas a oppositional reading is a reading different or contrary to that intended by the producer.

Different Types of Media Camera Shots

Different types of shots used within movies and TV shows. Different shots may be used for different reason or effects.

Editing Techniques

Editing Techniques

Editing is when shots are cut together for a more linear flow, this creates continuity between scenes.

Film Editing

Straight

This is the most common way of moving from one shot to the next. A straight cut is a transition where one shot is instantly followed by another.

Jump Cut

An abrupt and jolting cut from one moment in a scene to the next, it is often used to indicate a shift in time or a processes.

Frequency/Speed

Frequency and speed are used to create different affects. Fast frequency can create tension and confusion and is often used in action scenes. Whereas slow frequency can create peace and calmness and is often used in peaceful scenes.

Match on Action

When an action is started in one shot and ends in the next, a visual 'bridge' is created which acts to disguise the cut from one to another.

Parallel Editing

A technique most often used to establish when action is happening in two separate locations.

Shot Reverse Shot

A film technique were one character is shown looking at another (often off-screen) and then the other charterer is showing looking back at the first character.

Eye-line Match

When a charterer is looking off screen and the next shot shows us what the charterer is looking at.

Graphic Match

A cut from one object to another object which is similarly shaped.

Cutaway

The interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else.

Transistions

A visual effect used to indicate a change in place or time.

Fade - A gradual brightening as a shot opens or a gradual darkening as a shot closes.

Dissolve- When the end of one shot overlaps the start of the next one to create a gradual scene transition

Montage

A technique in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time and information.

Sound Editing

Diegtic - sounds that the characters within a movie can hear themselves.

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Non-Diegtic - sounds that the characters within a movie can not hear themselves.

Media Language, Editing Examples Activity

Media Language, Editing Examples Activity

I will be looking through different film and TV clips in order to spot different editing techniques used within them and point them out.



Eye-line Match

Example: Lord of The Rings: Return of the King

An eye-line match is when the camera focuses on a character looking at something and then proceeds to show the audience what the character is looking at. In this example the camera shows a close-up of Gandalf looking at something in the distance only for the shot to change to the Fell Beast and showing the audience what Gandalf was looking at. This is an example of a eye-line match

Montage, Jump Cut and Match on Action.

Example: Hot Fuzz


In this example of a montage from Hot Fuzz it shows the characters experiencing a single day of police work. Each cut goes forward in time showing the process of the day making each cut a jump cut. Furthermore, each time the camera cuts it is during an action showing the technique match on action being used. So in this scene from Hot Fuzz there is the use of jump cuts, match on action cuts and the whole scene is a montage.



Parallel Editing


Example: American Sniper

Parallel editing is when two scenes happen a long side each other and the camera constantly switches between both scenes. In this example from American Sniper the camera switches between two scenes. One where we see the sniper at work and the other where we see the rest of the military coming in. This is an example of Parallel Editing.
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Straight Cut

There was a straight cut in all three of my previous examples. They are very common as they are simply the camera cutting away to a different shot. All the scenes i have covered above have an example of a straight cut