Media Vocabulary

Binary Opposites:
A pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.

Diegetic/Non-Diegetic:

Diegetic – sounds that both the characters and the audience can hear. They are involved within the scene. Eg a bell ringing.

Non-Diegetic – Sounds with are in the background so the characters cannot hear them. They can create an atmosphere or build tension etc. Eg background music.

Hegemony:

Another way to say stereotypes within a certain genre or representational issue. Eg the hegemonic norm that women are seen as a sexual symbol.

Ideology:

An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes 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.

Intertextuality:

The relationship between texts, especially literary ones. The shaping of texts’ meanings by other texts.

Iconography:

Symbolic representation, especially the conventional meanings attached to an image or images.

Preferred Reading:
This is when audiences respond to the product the way media producers want/expect them to.

Oppositional Reading:

This is when the audience are in complete disagreement with the product’s message or setting.

Archetype:

A universal type or model of character that is found in many different texts, e.g. ingenue, anti-hero, wise old woman, hero-as-lover, hero-as-warrior, shadow trickster, mentor, loyal friend, temptress.

Stereotype:

Stereotypes are negative (usually) representations of people that rely on preconceived ideas about the group that person is perceived as belonging to. It is assumed that an individual shares personal characteristics with other members of that group eg blondes are all stupid, accountants are all boring.

Verisimilitude:

The appearance of being true or real.

High Key Lighting:

High-key lighting is a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios, but now is used to suggest an upbeat mood.

Low Key Lighting:

Low-key lighting is a style of lighting for photography, film or television. It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses a key light, a fill light, and a back light for illumination.

Contrapuntal Sound:

Composed of two or more relatively independent melodies sounded together.

Ambient Sound:

Ambient sound (AKA ambient audio, ambience, atmosphere, atmos or background noise) means the background sounds which are present in a scene or location. Common ambient sounds include wind, water, birds, crowds, office noises, traffic, etc.

Foley:

Relating to or concerned with the addition of recorded sound effects after the shooting of a film.

Dramatic Irony:

Irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.

Ellipsis:

The narrative device of omitting a portion of the sequence of events, allowing the reader to fill in the narrative gaps. Aside from its literary use, the ellipsis has a counterpart in film production. It is there to suggest an action by simply showing what happens before and after what is observed. The vast majority of films use ellipses to clear actions that add nothing to the narrative. Beyond these "convenience" ellipses, ellipses are also used to advance the story.

Propp’s Character Theory:

Vladimir Propp developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media:

·         The villain (struggles against the hero)

·         The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)

·         The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)

·         The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)

·         The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)

·         The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)

·         The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess

Todorov’s Narrative theory:

Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium. There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

·         A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)

·         A disruption of that order by an event.

·         A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

·         An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

·         A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium

Restricted Narrative:

Story presented via one character in particular. Mystery or surprise may be the effect of this form of narration.

Omniscient Narrative:

Story presented through a number of characters (the audience knows more than any one character). Suspense may be the effect.

Linear Narrative:

Linear narratives follow a straight line — starting at the beginning, moving to the middle and proceeding to the end of the story.

Episodic Narrative:

An "episodic narrative" is a story that is told through a series of episodes, or segments. A soap opera on television, for instance, is an episodic programme.

Above the Line Costs:

Above-the-line is the list of individuals who guide, influence and hopefully add to the creative direction, process and voice of a given narrative in a film and their related expenditures. These roles include but are not limited to the screenwriter, producer, director and actors.

Below the Line Costs:

Below-the-line crew refers to everybody else including (but not limited to). Eg Assistant Director, Art Director, Line Producer, Location manager, Best Boy Electric.

Diegesis:

A narrative or plot, typically in a film.

Enigma Code:

Enigma codes pose questions to the audience which are then answered shortly after or later on in the film. For example, who is she? Where is she going? Why is she doing that? They're questions enabling the audience to get intrigued with the film and wanting to find out the answers to these questions, therefore watching more of it. Enigma codes entice the audience to watch the rest of the film as they're curious as to what will happen next; they also help to move on the narrative.

Continuity Editing:

Continuity editing is the predominant style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of filmmaking of narrative films and television programs. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.

High Concept Film:

High-concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise. High-concept narratives are typically characterised by an overarching "what if?" scenario that acts as a catalyst for the following events.

Juxtaposition:

The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

Key Light:

The main source of light in a photograph or film.

Master Shot:

A master shot is a film recording of an entire dramatized scene, from start to finish, from an angle that keeps all the players in view. It is often a long shot and can sometimes perform a double function as an establishing shot.

Parallel Editing:

Parallel editing is a technique whereby cutting occurs between two or more related actions occurring at the same time in two separate locations or different points in time.

Reaction Shot:

It is a shot which cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character to it.

Polysemic:

Is the capacity for a sign (such as a word, phrase, or symbol) to have multiple meanings (that is, multiple semes or sememes and thus multiple senses), usually related by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field.

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.

Convergence:

The way in which technologies and institutions come together in order to create something new. Cinema is the result of the convergence of photography, moving pictures (the kinetoscope, zoetrope etc), and sound. The iPad represents the convergence of books, TV, maps, the internet and the mobile phone.

Horizontal Integration:

Is a strategy where a company creates or acquires production units for outputs which are alike - either complementary or competitive. One example would be when a company acquires competitors in the same industry doing the same stage of production for the creation of a monopoly.

Vertical Integration:

The combination in one firm of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate firms.

180 Degree Rule:

In film making, the 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.

Rule of Thirds:

The rule of thirds is a powerful compositional technique for making photos more interesting and dynamic. It's also perhaps one of the most well-known.

Aesthetics:

The cinematographer, the shots, the angles, lighting and colour symbolism (+ post production).

Arbitrary Signifiers:

Together, the signifier and signified make up the. Sign: the smallest unit of meaning. Anything that can be used to communicate (or to tell a lie). Symbolic (arbitrary) signs: signs where the relation between signifier and signified is purely conventional and culturally specific, e.g., most words.

Codes:

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

·         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 - all the things which draw upon our experience and understanding of other media texts, our cultural frame of reference.

Frame Composition:

In cinematography, composition refers to the frame of the image and how the elements of the mise-en-scène appear in it. Composition guidelines must be observed when telling stories visually, as in filmmaking.

Conglomerate:

A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet.

Connotation:

Way in which meaning is created — Connote = meaning by association, the deeper meaning (e.g. red connotes anger, passion, love, danger).

Cultural Codes:

A system of signs whose meaning is shared by members of a culture, eg dress/costume, gesture, mise-en-scene, intertextual reference. (Often associated with cultural assumptions.)

Effects Model:

A theory that relates how stories published in the media influence or amplify current trends. Borrowers or investors will read an article and be influenced to act quickly on the news. The media effect is often seen in the mortgage market, when prepayment rates can sharply increase following specific news stories.

Signifiers – Iconic, Indexical, Symbolic:

A sign's physical form (such as a sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning.