Key Terms: Media language

Question 1

Action Code

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Anchorage

Answer 2

The words that accompany an image (still or moving) and contribute to the meaning of that image.

Question 3

Arc of transformation

Answer 3

The emotional changes a character goes through in the process of the narrative. The events in the story mean they will ‘transform’/ have changed by the end of the narrative.

Question 4

Audio

Answer 4

How sound is used to communicate meaning.

E.g - voice-over, dialogue, music etc

Question 5

Avatar

Answer 5

A players representation of themselves within a game.

Question 6

Back Story

Answer 6

The experiences of a character or the circumstances of an event ( of which happened before the narrative) explained in/ as part of the narrative.

Question 7

Binary Opposites

Answer 7

Where texts incorporate examples of opposite values to move forward the narrative.
E.g - good versus evil

Question 8

Broadsheet

Answer 8

A larger newspaper that publishes more serious news.

Question 9

Camera angles

Answer 9

The angle of the camera in relation to the subject.

Question 10

Camera shots

Answer 10

The type of shot and framing used in relation to the subject.

Question 11

Caption

Answer 11

Words that accompany an image that help to explain its meaning.

Question 12

Connotation

Answer 12

The suggest meanings attached to a sign.

Question 13

Conventions (in media not generally)

Answer 13

What the audience expects to see in a particular media text.

Question 14

Cover lines

Answer 14

These suggest the content to the reader and often contain teasers and rhetorical questions.

Question 15

Denotation

Answer 15

The literal meaning of a sign.

Question 16

Diegetic sound

Answer 16

Sound that comes from the fictional world/ from within the diegesis.
E.g - the sound of a gun firing, cereal being poured into a bowl.

Question 17

Discourse

Answer 17

The topics, language and meanings or values behind them within a media text/ the thread of the conversation, text etc and how it changes.

Question 18

Editing

Answer 18

The way in which the shots move from one to the other.

Question 19

Encoding and Decoding

Answer 19

Media producers encode messages and meanings in products, that are decoded, or interpreted by audiences.

Question 20

Enigma Code

Answer 20

A narrative device which increases tension and audience interest by only releasing bits of information.

Question 21

Equilibrium

Answer 21

In relation to narrative, a state of balance or stability.

Question 22

Ethos

Answer 22

The beliefs, values and customs of media organisations (in this case).
E.g - In television, what a channel believes in and what it sees as its role.
BBC = role is to educate etc

Question 23

Feature

Answer 23

In magazine terms, the main/ one of the main articles in the magazine.

Question 24

Flexi - Narrative

Answer 24

A more complex narrative structure with layers of interweaving storylines.

Question 25

Genre

Answer 25

Media texts that all share the same conventions fit under one genre.

Question 26

Hegemony

Answer 26

Hegemony is the dominance of one group over another.

Question 27

House Style

Answer 27

The aspects of a magazine (in every issue) that makes that magazine recognisable to its readers.

Question 28

Hybrid Genre

Answer 28

Media texts that incorporate elements of more than one genre.

Question 29

Iconography

Answer 29

The props, costumes, objects and backgrounds associated with a particular genre.

Question 30

Ideology

Answer 30

A set of messages, values and beliefs that may be encoded into media products.

Question 31

Layout and Design

Answer 31

In which way a page has been designed to attract the target audience.

Question 32

Linear Narrative

Answer 32

Where the narrative unfolds in chronological order from beginning to end.

Question 33

Ludology

Answer 33

The study of games and those who play them.

Question 34

Media Language

Answer 34

The specific elements of a media product that communicate meanings to audiences.

Question 35

Mediation

Answer 35

The way in which a media text is constructed in order to represent a version of reality.

Question 36

Mise-en-Scene

Answer 36

How the combination of images in the frame creates meaning.

Question 37

Mode of Address

Answer 37

The way in which a media text ‘speaks’ to its target audience.

Question 38

Narrative

Answer 38

The ‘story’ that is told by the media text.

Question 39

News Agenda

Answer 39

The list of stories that may appear in a particular paper.

Question 40

Non-diegetic sound

Answer 40

Sound that comes form outside the fictional world/diegesis.

Music, voice-over.

Question 41

Non-linear Narrative

Answer 41

Where a narrative manipulates time and space.

It may begin in the middle for example.

Question 42

Open World

Answer 42

In an open world computer game the player can move freely through the virtual world and is not restricted by levels and other barriers to free roaming.

Question 43

Patriarchal culture

Answer 43

A society or culture that is Male dominated.

Question 44

Privileged Spectator Position

Answer 44

Where the camera places the audience in a superior position within the narrative.

Question 45

Production

Answer 45

The process by which media products are constructed.

Question 46

Products

Answer 46

Media texts, such as tv programmes, magazines, video games, newspapers.

Question 47

Realism

Answer 47

A style of presentation that claims to portray ‘real life’ accurately.