Media Terminology

Media terminology

Media texts:

•   
In media we call any product we are discussing a media text 


•   This does not mean it has to be a print product with writing on it, any piece of media (Newspaper, magazine, podcast, billboard) will be referred as a media text


Media studies tools:

In media you can be helped out by this acronym: LIAR

Language – Codes and convention

•   Media texts follow the same rules depending on the platform they use

•   So TV/film follow the rules of visual media

•   Shot types

•   Mise-en-scene

•   Editing

•   Sound  

Institution

•   Institution is the ones who make media texts. They can range from being big companies and conglomerates to small independent companies


Audience

•   People who listen, watch, read or use media texts are called the audience


•   Audiences are grouped together by things such as their gender, age, how much money they earn and their interests


•   Institutions work hard to make their media texts appeal to the right audience



Representation

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The way real life is presented in the media is known as representation

•   Groups of people, based on things such as age, gender, race and social class, are often represented in a certain light so that people begin to believe all people in that group are like that. This is called stereotyping.

Genre

•   We separate media into genre type

•   The ‘genre’ comes from the French word meaning ‘type

•   Media genres can apply to all different types of media products such as the ‘horror’ film or the television ‘soap opera'

•   A genre can be recongised by its common set of distinguishing features

•   These features associated with a genres style and content may be, for example:

Style

Setting

Characters

Props

Colour

Lighting

Sub and hybrid genre

•   Genre can be more complex than one type at once


•   Sub genre- a sub category in a particular genre. Like vampire movies in the genre of horror  


•   Hybrid genre- two or more genres in the same text. Such as a rom-com (romantic and comedy)


Narrative

•   In media studies, it is important to tell the difference between narrative and story


•   Story – a sequence of events, known correctly as the plot


•   Narrative – the way those events are put together to be presented to an audience  


Linear narrative

•   As the name suggests, linear narratives follow a straight line 



Starting at the beginning, moving to the middle and proceeding to the end of the story


Non-linear narrative

•   A non-linear narrative is how a film uses different techniques to tell stories out of order to have greater effect, these may include:


Flashbacks

Out of sequence

Dream sequences

What a narrative needs?

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Narrative is delivered to the audience by expectation, suspense, tension and closure


•   The audience is led to expect certain things to happen which lead to tension and excitement