Glossary Flashcards
Action Codes
Something that happens in the narrative that tells the audience that some action will follow, for example in a scene from a soap opera, a couple are intimate in a bedroom and the camera shows The audience the husbands car pulling up at the front door of the house
Active Audience
Audiences actively engage in selecting media products to consume and interrupting their meanings
Anchorage
The words that accompany in image (still or moving) contribute to the meaning associated with that image. If the caption or voice-over is changed then so may the way in which the audience interprets the image. An image with an anchor is a closed text; the audience are given a preferred reading. A text without an anchor is an open text as the audience can interpret it as they wish.
The same image of a school in a local newspaper could include a negative or a positive headline, which may change the way in which the same image is viewed by the reader.
Appeal
The way in which products attract and interest an audience, e.g. through the use of stars, familiar genre conventions ect.
Arc of Transmission
The emotional changes a character goes through in the process of the narrative. The events in the story mean that they will ‘transform’ by the end of the story.
Aspirational
In terms of a media text, one that encourages the audience to want more money, up-market consumer items and a higher social position.
Attract
How media producers create appeal to audiences to encourage them to consume the product
Audience Categorisation
How media producers group audiences (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity) to target their products.
Audience Consumption
The way in which audiences engage with media products (e.g. viewing a TV programme, playing a video game, reading a blog or magazine). Methods of consumption have changed significantly due to the development of digital technologies.
Audience Interpretation
The way in which audiences ‘read’ the meanings in, and make sense of, media products.
Audience Positioning
The way in which media products place audiences (literally or metaphorically) in relation to a particular point of view. For example, audiences may be positioned with a particular character or positioned to adopt a specific ideological perspective.
Audiences Response
How audiences react to media products e.g. by accepting the intended meanings (preferred reading).
Audience Segmentation
Where s target audience is divided up due to the diversity and range of programmes and channels. This makes it difficult for one programme to attract a large target audience.
Audio
How sound is used to communicate meaning - voice over, dialogue, music, SFX, ect.
Avatar
A players representation within a game
