Key Aspect: Language - General

Question 1

What is the definition of Language in media studies?

Answer 1

Language is the use of specific techniques to create a piece of media (these techniques are known as technical and cultural codes).

Question 2

What are technical codes?

Answer 2

Technical codes are physical techniques used to create a media text (e.g. camera work, camera movement, typography etc)

Question 3

What are cultural codes?

Answer 3

Cultural codes are elements which appeal to an audience or help the audience make sense of what is being presented to them (e.g. costume, props, symbolism, mise-en-scene)

Question 4

Are technical and cultural codes completely seperate entities?

Answer 4

No.
Whilst we can talk about them individually, it is more meaningful/effective to consider them in combination e.g. the use of a horse and carriage (cultural) in a long shot (technical) to give the audience a sense of period.

Question 5

Name 7 technical codes

Answer 5

Camera shot
Camera Movement
Editing
Sound
Music
Lighting
Sound/"Foley" sound effects

Question 6

Name 8 cultural codes

Answer 6

Costume
Props
Symbols 
People
Places
Mise-en-scene
Body language
Tone of voice

Question 7

What does the acronym MUSCLE stand for?

Answer 7

Mise-en-scene
Use of camera (framing and movement)
Sound
Colour
Lighting
Editing

** Remember you can use MUSCLE to give supporting evidence when answering in the exam**

Question 8

How do we refer to SOUND which comes from a source which we can not identify on-screen?

Answer 8

Non-diegetic

e.g. a voiceover, narrator, an off-screen crash, background music

Question 9

How do we refer to SOUND for which we CAN identify the source on-screen?

Answer 9

Diegetic sound.

e.g. seeing a telephone in shot and hearing it ring.

Question 10

Your “key light” is your main source of light in a shot. Name THREE other types of light we have looked at which are used for visual effect.

Answer 10

HIGH KEY lighting (very bright - can look washed out)
e.g. a make-up add where the lighting is so bright we lose fine tonal values in the skin tone making the skin look more perfect.

LOW KEY Lighting (very dark - often used to create a sinister atmosphere) e.g. in the opening sequence of “The Usual Suspects”

VIGNETTE- darkening at the edges but bright in the centre (like an old photograph) - again often used to create atmosphere or focus out attention on a particular focal point e.g. in the second half of the Sandy Hook Promise PSA.