Lesson 6

• • Code - system of signs which can create a meaning; technical, written and symbolic tools used to construct or suggest meaning in media forms and product
• Examples of Codes

  • Technical Code: Specific techniques, conventions, and formats used in media production. Includes camera angles, lighting, sound effects, editing techniques, and special effects.
  • Audio Code: Background music, sound effects, and voice overs.
  • Written Code: Defines how the media content is structured, displayed, and interacted with by users. Examples include headline, captions, titles, and writing styles
  • Symbolic Code: Lives outside the media product, and is understood in similar ways in real life. It includes the setting, mise en scene, and acting and color.
• Symbolic Code

  Setting

  • environment in which the narrative takes place. It can be influential or less influential in the story.
  • Place
  • Time: historical, futuristic, contemporary. Can be more than 100 years or just 24 hours. 
  • Context: affects how a certain narrative takes place as people have different behavior at each time period.
• Functions of a Setting

  1. Extension of character: gives them time to reflect upon/emphasize a character.
  2. Contribute to a mood or atmosphere: may have a connection to the genre of the narrative and is connected to the audience expectations of what will happen in the story.
  3. Create tension: pressure or stress that causes a character to act in a certain way
• Mise en Scene

  • Literally means “everything within the frame”
  • All the objects within a frame of the media product and how they have been arranged.
• Elements of Mise en Scene

  1. Set Design: discusses how that setting is being presented; can be realistic or stylistic.
  2. Costume: wardrobe choices and make-up; can help signify the setting or era of the narrative, draw eye to one character, or point out differences in characters.
  3. Props: short for property; an object in the setting that has a function in the ongoing scene.

  • Motif: a prop that was repeatedly used throughout the narrative.

  1. Staging and Composition: visual composition; refers to how elements within the frame have been arranged for a particular effect.
• Flat Lighting

  • also known as front light 
  • the light source is directly in front of the subject.
• Broad Lighting

  • also known as side lighting 
  • one side of the subject is facing toward the camera.
• Short Lighting

  • also known as narrow lighting 
  • opposite of broad 
  • short indicates the side of the face receiving light
• Backlighting

  • create silhouettes
  • light comes from behind the subject
• Soft Lighting

  • makes the subject look more youthful
  • shadow edges are smooth and open
• Hard Lighting

  • reverse of soft light
  • bright light that creates a bright shadow with high contrast.
• Rim Lighting

  • a kind of backlighting
  • edge of the subject is highlighted, and it clearly shows the subject’s shape, separating it from the background
• Loop Lighting

  • glamour lighting
  • creates a loop shape shadow under and the side of the nose.
  • nose’s shadow must not make an entire triangle.
• Butterfly Lighting

  • paramount lighting
  • butterfly shadow under the subject’s nose
  • beautifully highlights the cheekbones.
  • create a slim look
• Split Lighting

  • half shadow effect on a portrait photo
  • light source is placed at a 90-degree angle with the subject.
  • Harder shadow, more dramatic
• Rembrandt Lighting

  • upside-down light creates a triangle under the eye.
  • dramatic and eye-catchy portraits
• Ambient Lighting

  • light is already available before setting up any other lighting
  • creates a soft and distributed light
• High Key Lighting

  • two or more lights to create a bright image
  • bright that no shadows are visible
  • background must be far brighter than the subject.
• Three Point Lighting

  • three different light sources: key light (set at 45 degree angle, main), fill light (opposite to key), backlight.
• • Acapella just voices without any music.
  • Ad abbreviation for advertisement
  • Ad-lib - improvisation
  • Back Announce - presenter talks about a song that has just played.
  • Back Time - technique of working out how much time is left before an event.
  • Call Sign/Call Letters - unique designation of transmitter broadcast stations.
  • Cue beginning of the track
• • Cue Light signal to the presenter that she/he can start broadcasting or to stand by, e.g. red light
  • DJ (Disc Jockey) - plays music on air.
  • Donut jingle that starts with singing, music in the middle, and singing again at the end.
  • Dubbing copying sounds from one medium to another
  • Fade In audio level of a track gradually becomes louder until it reaches its proper level.
  • Fade Out track gradually becomes quieter until it disappears
• • Intro start of a song, usually before the vocals.
  • Lead first sentence of a news story
  • Over Running - track or DJ exceeds the expected finish time.
  • Payola illegal practice of taking payment or other benefits to play certain songs on the radio and not identifying the sponsorship.
  • Playlist list of songs that a station has arranged and will play.
• • Radio Format - type of music and programming broadcast by a radio station.
  • Sibilance sounds like S, SH, or CH are emphasized.
  • Spot commercial
  • Sound Effects (SFX) - noises played during shows to add a layer of creativity
  • Tease brief phrase spoken immediately before playing a spot, songs, etc. to tell the listener about a story coming up late
• • Context set of facts and circumstances that surround a media text and help determine its Interpretation
  • Content material/matter/medium contained within the work that’s available for audience.
  • Convention standard or norm that acts as a rule governing behavior.
  • Image - iconic mental representation or picture.
  • Media Content - media produced and delivered to audiences.
  • Media Languages conventions, formats, symbols and narrative structures that indicate the meaning of media messages to an audience.
• • Narrative telling of a story or plot through a sequence of events. In the context of a media text, it is the coherent sequencing of events in time and space.
  • Representation constructed media text stands for, symbolizes, describes or represents people, places, events or ideas that are real and exist outside the text. It can also mean the relationship between actual places, people, events and ideas, and media content
• • Media Representation - refers to how the media portrays groups of individuals with different characteristics.
  • Symbolism use of symbols, including images, concepts and archetypes, to represent aspects of reality
  • Text refers to the individual results of media production, both written audio and video