Useful Terms and Concepts

 

 

The following is not intended to be definitive, but represents the potential breadth and depth of

study to be encouraged in Media Studies at AS and Advanced GCE.

 

 

 

TERMS COMMON TO ALL MEDIA

 

Form - this term means the structure, or skeleton, of a text and the narrative framework that it is

constructed on. For example, a feature film commonly has a three-act structure. Some structures

are determined by a genre and its corresponding codes and conventions.

 

For example the form of a television soap opera dictates that it should have a continuous, neverending

and multi-stranded narrative, whose episodes commonly end with either a cliff-hanger or a

moment of realisation. The form of a magazine or a newspaper refers to the sections and the

order of the articles. It also refers to the means by which a medium communicates, through its

formal properties of written, verbal, aural and non-verbal communication, still and moving images,

graphics etc. Form works together with style and genre to create meaning for an audience but it

is considered helpful to candidates if they are isolated for close analysis.

 

Style - this refers to the "look" of a media text, its surface appearance. It can be created, as

appropriate to the medium, by colour, typography, graphic design and layout, vocabulary,

photography or illustration, mise-en-scène, lighting, music, camera angle, movement, framing,

dialogue, editing etc. Most print texts have a "house style", many film makers have an identifiable

style, as do some television channels or scheduling zones, as well as that used by particular

programme makers and writers. Style is very important in creating image, tone and mood as well

as attracting and retaining an audience. The term is also used to describe the characteristics of

music and sound.

 

Audience - all those who consume or interact with media products. A target audience may be

identified as either mass (or mainstream) or niche and the product may be marketed to reach

that audience; alternatively an audience may be constructed (e.g. a BBC 2 Comedy Zone

audience, a Guardian reader, an American indie-film fan). Various demographic models exist,

either by social or economic status (ABC1 etc. or the more recent 1a, b, c etc.), by lifestyle

("aspirer", "seeker" etc.) or media consumption preferences.

 

Candidates should study the purposes and processes of market research. They should also

examine the audience's complex and dynamic relationship with media products, rather than seeing

the audience as a passive and homogeneous entity. They should also have explored the

"pleasures", or uses and gratifications, the audience has from a text and the various functions it

performs for them, as well as its effectiveness or impact (emotional, visual, ideological etc.).

Particular audiences might have their own dominant/hegemonic, negotiated or oppositional

readings. They might not accept the producer's preferred meaning. The nature of the meanings

for, interpretations by and functions of, a particular text in relationship to different audiences should

be examined by the candidates.

 

Ideology - often referred to as the system of ideas, values and beliefs which an individual, group

or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture or society about how that

society should function. That which is seen to be shared, or perpetuated, by the most influential

social agents (the churches, the law, education, government, the media etc.) may be described as

dominant ideology.

 

For example, ideas about such topics as work ("It is important to have a job"), money ("It is

important to save money, buy insurance or a pension"), relationships ("Children should have

parents, a man and a woman, who are married"), gender ("Women are naturally better at raising

children") are all ideological viewpoints and correspond to a particular power relationship, political

perspective or agenda that has developed over time.

 

A common focus for ideological debate is the ways in which people are represented. However,

study should focus on other less tangible or obvious values behind the images, such as

materialism, celebrity, consumerism and patriotism, for example, which may be indirectly

expressed. Ideas that are different from these may be called, oppositional, alternative,

subversive, subordinate or counter to dominant ideology. The process by which dominant

ideology is maintained is called hegemony. There are various schools of ideological theory,

however, the most important point for candidates to grasp and explore (rather than quote

academics without understanding) is that all media texts, and audiences, bear evidence of

ideologies of one kind or another, whether directly or indirectly. They should also be encouraged

to examine their own personal ideologies which they bring to their consideration of media texts and

how and why this personal set of ideas, values and beliefs has been formed and the extent to

which it affects what they bring to what they watch, read and listen to.

 

Genre - this is the classification of any media text into a category or type, e.g. news, horror,

documentary, soap opera, docu-soap, science-fiction, lifestyle etc. Genres tend to have

identifiable codes and conventions which have developed over time and for which audiences may

have developed particular expectations, which may either be fulfilled or denied/diverted by the

producer. Candidates should consider typicality and subversion, as well as sub-genres or

generic hybrids. The significance of genre to audiences and producers, publishers, broadcasters

should also be carefully considered.

 

Representation - the process of making meaning in still or moving images and words/sounds. In

its simplest form, it means to present/show someone or something. However, as a concept for

debate, it is used to describe the process by which an image etc. may be used to represent/stand

for someone or something, for example a place or an idea. Inherent in this second definition is the

notion that there may be a responsibility on the part of the producer for any representation, with

regard to accuracy, "truth" and the viewpoints and opinions that such a representation may

perpetuate.

 

Therefore, debates commonly focus on the nature, positive or negative, radical or reactionary,

of representation of minorities (according to race, sexuality, disability) and how they might not be

beneficially served, politically or ideologically, by stereotypes/archetypes. These minorities may

also be referred to as belonging to social groups (to include gender, social class, nationality,

regionality, age, sexuality etc.). The concept of representation is not, however, exclusively related

to that of social or cultural minorities.

 

Study of the concept of representation should be linked to ideology and should examine the history

of the construction of particular stereotypes and its purposes, the processes of representation and

its effects. The concept is a complex and dynamic one and candidates should be discouraged

from simplistic and stereotypical responses, which solely see representation as a negative

process.

 

 

Realism is the dominant mode of representation in television, mainstream films and print, and

study should focus on the reasons for this and on how realism is constructed, as well as any

alternative/avant-garde modes. The mode of social realism, as it has developed since the

nineteenth century, could also be studied, in relationship to television and film documentary,

documentary drama and drama.

 

Intertextuality – often related to post-modernism and its culture and criticism. The notion being

that we now understand texts by their relationship or reference to another text, or that a text is

successful principally because of its intertextual references (for example, The Simpsons, Scream).

The effect on the audience of recognising intertextuality should be carefully examined (e.g. of

flattering their ability to recognise references and feel superior, or to feel part of a group who share

the same "joke").

 

Other terms and concepts – the following terms and concepts may also be studied: for example,

textual analysis (semiology - signifier/signified or deconstruction - denotation and connotation,

encoding and decoding), mediation, content analysis, qualitative/quantitative analysis, metonymy,

popular culture, sub-culture, the patterns of ownership (vertical integration etc.), censorship and

regulation of the press, television, radio, film and video (and the names and functions of these

companies and bodies - see the annual publications, The Guardian's Media Guide and the BFI

Film & Television Handbook for details and addresses), the market context of and competition

for any media product, alternative, emergent, independent, mainstream, convergence, discourse,

critical perspectives (Marxist, feminist/masculist, psychoanalytic, aesthetic, post-modern,

structuralist etc.), agenda-setting, social/ historical/ political/ cultural context of media texts.

 

TELEVISION

Mise-en-scène - literally everything that is "put in the scene", or frame, to be photographed

(appropriate to the time/era portrayed). This usually includes production design, set, location,

actors, costumes, make-up, gesture, proxemics/blocking, extras, props, lighting, shot

composition/framing, use of colour, contrast and filter, and sometimes also includes camera angle,

movement and sound. Lighting is often included within mise-en-scène.

 

Narrative - the way in which a plot or story is told, by whom and in what order. Flash

backs/forwards and ellipsis may be used as narrative devices.

 

Camera/Lighting Terms, for example - cinematography, extreme close-up, medium close-up,

medium shot, long shot, establishing shot, two-shot, pan, whip pan, zoom/reverse zoom, track, tilt,

crane, dolly, canted frame, point-of-view, steadicam, handheld, camera set-up, high angle shot,

aerial shot/bird's eye view, low angle shot/worm's eye view, film stock, video and digital video

formats, lenses (wide angle, telephoto), focus, depth of field, blue screen/chroma key, high/low key

and fill lighting, back-lighting.

 

Editing Terms, for example - continuity editing, shot-reverse shot, dissolve, superimpose, wipe,

fade in or out, fade to black/to white, sound mixing, dubbing, ambient sound, diegetic/non-diegetic

sound, synchronous/asynchronous sound, slow motion, eyeline match, match on action, rhythm,

180 degree rule, motivated editing, montage, jump cut, take, sequence, cross-cutting, SFX, CAD,

digital editing techniques.

 

 

Production roles, for example - e.g. the screenwriter (adaptation or original screenplay),

producers, the director, director of photography, editor, soundtrack composer, production designer,

grips etc.

 

Production processes - the stages of production (includes pre- and post-), distribution and

exhibition.

 

Other important terms and concepts - scene, sequence, continuity announcers, channel identity

("idents"), trailers, channel loyalty, sponsorship, scheduling, broadcast flow, inheritance factor,

hammocking, striping and stranding, time-shifting, production values, public service broadcasting,

ratings, BARB, producer/broadcaster, publisher or commissioner/broadcaster, vertical integration,

public-access television, commissioning, franchise, pay-per-view, subscription, mode of address,

storyboard, digital editing and delivery systems, terrestrial, satellite, cable, marketing, cross-media

ownership, regulation, advertising revenue.

 

FILM

Mise-en-scène - literally everything that is "put in the scene", or frame, to be photographed

(appropriate to the time/era portrayed). This usually includes production design, set, location,

actors, costumes, make-up, gesture, proxemics/blocking, extras, props, lighting, shot

composition/framing, use of colour, contrast and filter, and sometimes also includes camera angle,

movement and sound,. Directors in French films are called metteurs-en-scène. Lighting is often

included within mise-en-scène.

 

Narrative - the way in which a plot or story is told, by whom and in what order. Flash

backs/forwards and ellipsis may be used as narrative devices.

 

Camera Terms, for example - cinematography, extreme close-up, medium close-up, medium

shot, long shot, establishing shot, two-shot, pan, whip pan, zoom/reverse zoom, track, tilt, crane,

dolly, canted frame, point-of-view, steadicam, handheld, camera set-up, high angle shot, aerial

shot/bird's eye view, low angle shot/worm's eye view, film stock, video and digital video formats,

lenses (telephoto, wide angle), focus, depth of field, blue-screen, back projection, high/low key and

fill lighting, back lighting.

 

Editing Terms, for example - continuity editing, shot-reverse shot, dissolve, superimpose, wipe,

fade in or out, fade to black/to white, sound mixing, dubbing, ambient sound, diegetic/non-diegetic

sound, synchronous/asynchronous sound, slow motion, eyeline match, match on action, rhythm,

180 degree rule, montage, motivated editing, jump cut, take, sequence, cross-cutting, SFX, CAD,

digital editing techniques.

 

Production processes - the stages of production (includes pre- and post-), distribution and

exhibition.

 

Production roles, for example – for example, the screenwriter (adaptation or original screenplay),

producers, the director, director of photography, editor, soundtrack composer, production designer,

grips etc.

 

Other important terms and concepts - scene, sequence, set piece, framing, composition, plot,

sub-plot, theme, story, diegesis, production values, high-concept, marketing and promotion,

trailers, budget, product placement, public relations, spin-offs, merchandise, vertical integration,

direction and acting style, leitmotif, image system, auteur theory, enigma/quest/resolution,

equilibrium/disequilibrium/restoration of equilibrium, complication, conflict, binary opposition,

structuralism, protagonist, agent of change, chiaroscuro lighting, high/low key (lighting), high/low

 

.

PRINT

News gathering - the process by which news is collected from its source in order to be treated or

packaged for presentation.

 

News values - the process by which news stories or features are selected and their priority and

style of presentation, also referred to as gatekeeping. These are sometimes categorised as

"hard" or "soft". Galtung and Ruge's definitions (recency, currency, negativity etc.) are commonly

used to categorise news values in greater detail. The news values are usually determined by the

producers and editors to reflect the values of the target audience, what they are interested in

reading about or looking at. However, it could be asserted that they also influence and determine

the agenda of the readers.

 

Editing - copy and picture editing. The processes by which copy (and pictures) are selected,

written, re-written and re-organised to be fitted into pages to construct a magazine or newspaper.

Production roles, for example - publisher, editor-in-chief, editors of specific desks (features,

news, art, picture, music, forward planning, political, fashion etc.), sub-editors, art director,

advertising director/manager, press officers, sales directors.

 

Other important terms and concepts - tabloid, broadsheet, local, national, free newspapers,

supplements, bias, propaganda, mode of address, tone, register, news agency, stringer,

masthead, cover/sell lines, spine, strapline, byline, typography, ghosting, drop shadow, house

style, photography, photo enlarging and cropping, typeface, layout, double-page spread, standfirst,

gutter, white space, copy, body copy, caption copy, editorial, leader/lead article, advertorial,

feature, headline, sub-headline.