Key terminology

• Visual code?

  The visual aspects of the product that construct meaning and are part of media language, for example clothing, expression, and gesture
• Viewpoint?

  Different perspectives in relation to values, attitudes, beliefs or ideologies
• Vertical integration?


  Companies own all or most of the chain of production and distribution for the product.
• Uses and gratification theory?

  Suggests that active audiences seek out and use different media texts in order to satisfy a need and experience different pleasures.
• Underrepresentation?


  Certain social groups (usually minority groups) may be rarely represented or be completely absent form media product
• Textual poaching?


  The way in which audiences or fans may take particular texts and interpret or reinvent them in different ways

  -Stuart Hall - reception theory
• Technical codes?


  The way in which the text has been produced to communicate meanings and are part of media language
• Target audience?


  The people at who the media text is aimed at
• Synergy?


  The combination of elements to maximise profits within a media organisation or product

  -E.G. Where a film soundtrack sells the film and the film sells the soundtrack
• Sub-genre?


  A genre that is sub-divided into smaller categories, each of which has their own set of conventions
• Stripped?


  A technique used in radio + TV whereby a certain program is broadcast at the same time everyday. This attracts an audience who associate a particular program with their daily routine

  -This attracts an audience who associate a particular program with their daily routine

  -E.G. driving home from school/work and listening to a specific radio station
• Specialised audience?


  A non-mass or niche, audience that may be defined by a particular social group or by a specific interest
• Action code?

  Something that happens in the narrative that tells the audience some action will follow.

  ->Roland Barthes - Semiotics
• Active audience?


  Audiences that actively engage in selecting media products to consume and interpreting their meanings
• Anchorage?


  The words that accompany an image that give the image a meaning.

  -> The audience cannot interpret it as they are given the correct meaning of the image

  ->Stuart Hall - reception theory
• Arc of transformation?


  The emotional changes a character goes through in the process of the narrative

  -> The events in the story means that they will 'transform' by the end of the story

  ->Todorov - Narratology
• Audience consumption?


  The way in which audience engage with the media products

  -> E.G. watching TV, playing a video game, reading a online article
• Audience interpretation?

  The way in which audiences 'read'/interpret the meanings of a media product

  -> Stuart Hall - reception theory (encoding + decoding)
• Audience positioning?

  he way in which media products place audiences in relation to a particular point of view

  ->Albert Bandura - Media effect theory

  ->George Gerbner - Cultivation theory
• Binary opposites?


  Where a media product incorporates opposite values

  ->Levi-Strauss - Structuralism
• Brand identity?

  The association the audience makes with the brand, that has been built over time and reinforcement by the advertising campaigns and their placements
• Camera angles?

  The angle of the camera in relation to the subject

  ->E.G. a high angle shot makes them seem more vulnerable
• Camera shots?

  The type of shot and framing in relation to the subject

  ->E.G. Close-up short are often used to express emotions
• Channel identity?

  The way in which a channel becomes recognisable to audiences and the different from any other channels

  ->Presenters, celebs, programme genres etc.
• Circulation?


  The dissemination (the action of spreading something, especially information, widely) of media products to audiences/users

  ->The method will depend on the media form
• Connotations?


  The suggested meanings attached to a sign

  ->E.G. red - blood, death, evil
• Conventions?

  What the audience expects to see in a particular media text

  ->Genres - crime dramas including detectives etc.

  ->Roland Barthes - semiotics
• Convergence?


  The coming together of previously separate media industries and/or platforms

  ->Due to advances in technology whereby one device or platform contains a range of different features

  ->E.G. Phones allow the downloading and listening of music, watching videos, messaging etc.
• Cross-platform marketing?

  A piece of text that is distributed and displayed across a range of media platforms or formats (Film, TV, print, radio etc.)
• Cultural capital?


  The medias preferences of an audience, traditionally linked to social class/background, culture/ethnicity
• Denotation?


  The literal meaning of a sign
• Diegetic sound

  Sound that comes from the fictional world

  ->conversation, cooking, cars etc.
• Discourse?


  The topics, language and meaning or values behind them within a media text

  ->E.G. discourse of a lifestyle magazine tends to revolve around body image and narcissism
• Distribution?

  The method by which media products are delivered to audiences.

  ->Will depend on the product
• Diversification?


  Where media organisations who have specialised in producing media product in one form, move into producing content across a range of forms