Definitions

Media Definitions

• Media is a way of communicating information from person to person.
• Constructive Media-The process by which a media text is shaped and given meaning through a process that is subject to a variety of decisions and is designed to keep the audience interested in the text.To say that all media messages are constructed, means that all media messages have been assembled by someone. 
• Anchorage is when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the amount of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily. 

•      Stereotype- a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
•  Caricature-a picture, description, or imitation of a person in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect.
• Media language is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience. 
• Editing- the process of correcting and adapting a text, such as an article or book
• Camera Work- the way in which cameras are used in a film or television programme.
• Mis en scene- the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a film.
• structured reality or scripted reality is the reality television format of putting people into scripted situations without scripted dialogue.
• 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 agree 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-the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.
• Representation in media- is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience.
• 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 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.
• Mediation-Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version of it.
• ideology-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.
• Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”
•  Working class- Those individuals engaged in manual work, often having low levels of educational achievement. The classic, traditional working class jobs include heavy labouring and factory based work. 
• Upper class- The elite class that controls the majority of wealth and power in British society.  
• Middle class-  Those individuals engaged in non-manual work, often having higher levels of educational achievement. Classic middle class jobs include everything from doctors and lawyers to clerical workers. 
• Denotation- the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
• Connotation- an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
• Semiotics- the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.
  
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• Masthead- the title of a newspaper or magazine at the head of the first or editorial page.
• Main cover line-  also known as 'puffs' tell us the stories that are in the magazine.
• a header- is some combination of text and image s that can be made to appear at the top of each page when displayed or printed.
• serif- a slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter in certain typefaces.
• sans serif-a style of type without serifs.
• A "media splash" is noticeable coverage in news media -- newspapers, TV, radio, online outlets, etc. 
• Puff - an incentive which is place on the cover to make something stand out. Usually by putting text around a shape.
• DECODING = understanding a media text.  
•  CODES can be visual (you can see them) or aural (you can hear them). Codes have symbolic value. For example in our society wearing a pair of glasses (glasses are the code) symbolises, or connotates, that you are clever. TV drama, magazines and videogames use these symbolic codes to generate character types and character archetypes.
• 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.  
• Diegetic sound- 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   
• Shot 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.
• An eyeline match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that an audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. An eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut of another object or person
• Cross Cutting is a technique of continuously alternating 2 or more scenes that often happen simultaneously (at same time) but in different locations. 
• The media text is any media product we wish to examine. Every description or representation of the world, fictional or otherwise, is an attempt to describe or definereality, and is in some way a construct of reality, a text.