Glossary of key terms

Glossary

Media - The main means of mass communication, regarded collectively.


Media text - any media product we wish to examine


Layout - how the print media has been designed and formatted


Font - a set of type of one particular face and size


Colour - the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations to the eye


Masthead - the title of a newspaper/magazine at the head of the first page


Header - a line or block of text appearing at the top of each page


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.


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. 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.

Coverlines - Captions on a magazine front cover 


Sans Serif font - Font type which does not have lines perpendicular to the ends of letters

Serif font - Font type which does have lines perpendicular to the ends of letters e.g. Times

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

Text to image ratio - This involves considering how weighted the print media text is with

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.

Diegetic sound - a sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film

Editing - The stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised to construct an overall narrative

Match on action - 1 ACTION = MULTIPLE SHOTS, Is multiple cuts to show one continuous action. Match on action is part of invisible editing which creates flow when watching a scene. The cuts MATCH together so that the audience know it is one action.

Shot reverse shot - •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 It is often used in conversations so you see what both characters are saying

Cross cutting - Technique of continuously alternating 2 or more scenes that often happen simultaneously (at same time) but in different locations.

Eyeline match - Is a following shot that follows what character is looking at, makes cuts smoother the audience expects the cut to happen and is eager to see what happens next/what character sees.

SLOW	-to make slow/calm/still -little number of shots/cuts which are long -to make audience calm or bored (perhaps to pay attention to detail or to emphasize emotion)
MEDIUM	-to make normal and comfortable -average number shots/cuts which are medium time which could show realism
FAST	-to make intense, exciting and thrilling -lots of shots/cuts which are short -to make audience tense/excited

Production:  The making of the film; pre-production and funding; shoot (format); post-production (SFX).

Distribution - The way the film gets to screens; distribution company.

Exhibition - The way we view; getting the film to a paying audience.

Copy - Main text of a story

Anchorage - Fixing of meaning e.g. the copy text anchors (i.e. fixes to one spot) the meaning of an image

Sky line - An information panel on the front page which tells the reader about other stories

inside (usually right at the top)

Cover line - short statements found on the cover of the magazine

Main cover line - a cover line that is usually larger than the other cover lines

Strap line - a subsidiary heading or captioning a newspaper/magazine

Left third - the area of the magazine that is usually on show in shops

Semiotics - study of symbol and their meanings

Mise en scene - the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical 

production or on the set of a film.

media language - how the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques

communicate meanings

media representations - how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups

media industries - how the media industries’ processes of production, distribution and

circulation affect media forms and platforms

media audiences - how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences

interpret and respond to them and how members of audiences become producers

themselves.

‘media product’ - media texts, such as television programmes, newspapers, radio

programmes etc., as well as to online, social and participatory media platforms

‘intertextuality’ - the way aspects of a particular media product relate to another and thus

accrue additional significance.

Low-key lighting - predominately dull and dark

High-key lighting - predominately bright

Analogous colours - groups of three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel,

sharing a common color, with one being the dominant color, which tends to be a primary or

secondary color, and a tertiary. Red, orange, and red-orange are examples.

Complimentary colours - Colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel are

considered to be complementary colours (contrast each each other)

Verisimilitude - looking real

Decoding - understanding media text

Non Diegetic sound - a sound whose source is neither visible nor has been implied to be present in the action of the film

•B&w –often used to show memory or time period

•Contrast – to alter 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 

•Ghost trail – see multiple actions (overlapped) to show someone drunk or on drugs 

•Blur – to show un-clarity, or fuzzy memory/flashback  (bee sting scene – some is blurry when Peeta coming)

Stereotype - a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

archetype-a very typical example of a certain person or thing.

representation- the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented.

Allegory - a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

According to Said, Orientalism is a creation of the Western culture and allows the West to have domination over another culture because of the political power and force the West has cultivated

The West Said defined the West as being rational, virtuous, mature, and normal. We see most of these traits in the novel.

The Orient is represented; irrational, depraved, childlike, or different. Having this foundation for what it is to be the Orient or the Other.





Marketing - The process of raising awareness; targeting an audience; creating publicity through various methods, A distributor is responsible for marketing a film

Conglomerate - a thing consisting of a number of different and distinct parts or items that are grouped together.

circulation - the total number of copies of a magazine, newspaper, newsletter, or catalog that are distributed via direct mail or other channels.

Synergy - the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

Public service broadcasting - Broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than to serve purely commercial interests

GEARS - Gender, ethnicity, age, region, socio-economic group

Direct mode of address:

The model looks directly at the audience, or the writing speaks to ‘you’.

 Indirect mode of address:

The model looks away, or the writing refers to ‘people’ or ‘the public’.

 Formal mode of address:

Using formal phrasing and terminology.

 Informal mode of address:

Using more conversational language and slang.
underclass - the lowest social stratum in a country or community, consisting of the poor and unemployed.

•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; this process is addressed in this factsheet.
•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.

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.

•media language: how the media through their forms, codes, conventions, and techniques communicate meanings

•media representations: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups

•media industries: how the media industries’ processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms

•media audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to them and how members of audiences become producers themselves.

Media convention:  A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following: technical codes - all to do with the way a text is technically constructed - camera angles, framing, typography etc. verbal codes ...

A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.

In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:

•technical codes – all to do with the way a text is technically constructed – camera angles, framing, typography etc

•verbal codes – everything to do with language -either written or spoken

•symbolic codes – codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotational level

verbal codes ...

Genre:

A genre is basically the category of any type of art or literature, for example, categories of a movie would be a comedy, horror, thriller etc.

Genre Hybridity

Some media texts are hybrid genres, which means they share the conventions of more than one genre. For example, Dr. Who is a sci-fi action-adventure drama and Strictly Come Dancing is a talent, reality and entertainment show.

verbal codes ...

Synopsis  -   A brief summary of the major points of a written work

Open or closed?

texts may be

• ' open ' (i.e. unravelled in a lot of different ways) or

 ' closed ' (there is only•one obvious thread to pull on).

subvert - undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution).
semantics - "Semantics" has to do with considering the meanings of words. When someone says "that's just semantics," it's used idiomatically—a phrase repeated whole, parroted. It's a put-down. It means "You're about to talk about words, but words don't matter."

-The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.