Keywords Flashcards
Action code
Something that happens in the narrative that tells the audience that some action will follow.
Active audience
Audiences actively engage in selecting media products to consume and interpreting their meanings.
Anchorage
The words that accompany an image contribute to the meaning associated with that image. An image with an anchor is a closed text; the audience are given a preferred reading.
Appeal
The way in which products attract and interest an audience, e.g. through the use of stars, familiar genre conventions etc.
Arc of transformation
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. by 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.
Audience response
How audiences react to media products e.g. by accepting the intended meanings (preferred reading).
Audience segmentation
Where a 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, etc.
Avatar
A player’s representation of themselves within a game.
Back story
Part of a narrative which may be the experiences of a character or the circumstances of an event that occur before the action or narrative of a media tex. It is a device that gives the audience more information and makes the main story more credible.
Binary Opposites
Where texts incorporate examples of opposite values; for example, good versus evil, villain versus hero. These can be apparent in the characters, narrative or themes.
Brand identity
The association the audience make with the brand, for example
Chanel or Nike, built up over time and reinforced by the
advertising campaigns and their placement.
Broadsheet
A larger newspaper that publishes more serious news, for example The Daily Telegraph has maintained its broadsheet format.
Camera angles
The angle of the camera in relation to the subject. For example, a high angle shot (shot of a character from above) may make them appear more vulnerable.
Camera shots
The type of shot and framing in relation to the subject, for example, close-up shots are often used to express emotion.
Caption
Words that accompany an image that help to explain its meaning.
Channel identity
That which makes the channel recognisable to audiences and
different from any other channel. Presenters, stars, programme
genres and specific programmes all contribute to a channel’s
identity.
Circulation
The dissemination of media products to audiences/users - the method will depend on the media form e.g. circulation of print magazines, broadcast of television programmes etc.
Connotation
The suggested meanings attached to a sign, e.g., the red car in the advert suggests speed and power.
Conventions
What the audience expects to see in a particular media text, for example the conventions of science fiction films may include: aliens, scientists, other worlds, gadgets, representations of good and evil, etc. Useful headings to discuss conventions are: characters, setting, iconography, narrative, technical codes and representation.
Convergence
The coming together of previously separate media industries and/or platforms; often the result of advances in technology whereby one device or platform contains a range of different features. The mobile phone, for example, allows the user to download and listen to music, view videos, tweet artists etc. All this can be done through one portable device.
Cover lines
These suggest the content to the reader and often contain teasers and rhetorical questions. These relate to the genre of the magazine.
Cross-platform marketing
In media terms, a text that is distributed and exhibited across a range of media formats or platforms. This may include film, television, print, radio and the Internet.
Cultural capital
The media tastes and preferences of an audience, traditionally linked to social class/background.
Demographic category
A group in which consumers are placed according to their age, sex, income, profession, etc. The categories range from A to E where categories A and B are the wealthiest and most influential members of society.
Denotation
The literal meaning of a sign, e.g. the car in the advert is red.
Diegetic sound
Sound that comes from the fictional world, for example the sound of a gun firing, the cereal being poured into the bowl in an advert, etc.
Discourse
The topics, language and meanings or values behind them within a media text. The discourse of lifestyle magazines, for example, tends to revolve around body image and narcissism
Distribution
The methods by which media products are delivered to audiences, including the marketing campaign. These methods will depend upon the product (for example, distribution companies in the film industry organise the release of the films, as well as their promotion).
Diversification
Where media organisations who have specialised in producing media products in one form move into producing content across a range of forms.
Editing
The way in which the shots move from one to the other (transitions), e.g. fade, cut, etc. Fast cutting may increase the pace and therefore the tension of the text, for example.
Encoding and decoding
Media producers encode messages and meanings in products
that are decoded, or interpreted, by audiences.
Enigma code
A narrative device which increases tension and audience interest by only releasing bits of information, for example teasers in a film trailer or narrative strands that are set up at the beginning of a drama/film that make the audience ask questions; part of a restricted narrative.
Equilibrium
In relation to narrative, a state of balance or stability (in Todorov’s theory the equilibrium is disrupted and ultimately restored).
Ethnocentric
A belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic group or culture. For example, a newspaper will be more concerned to cover stories that are closely related to the reader and their concerns. Tabloid and local papers only tend to cover international news stories if they can relate them specifically to their readers.
Ethos
The beliefs, values and customs of, for example, media organisations. In television, for example, what the channel believes in and what it sees as its role. The ethos is usually set out in the channel’s charter.
Fan
An enthusiast or aficionado of a particular media form or product.
Feature
In magazine terms, the main, or one of the main, stories in an edition. Features are generally located in the middle of the magazine, and cover more than one or two pages.
Flexi narrative
A more complex narrative structure with layers of interweaving storylines. This challenges the audience and keeps them watching.
Four Cs
This stands for Cross Cultural Consumer Characteristics and was a way of categorising consumers into groups through their motivational needs. The main groups were Mainstreamers, Aspirers, Explorers, Succeeders and Reformers.
Franchise
An entire series of, for example, a film including the original film and all those that follow.
Gate keepers
The people responsible for deciding the most appropriate stories to appear in newspapers. They may be the owner, editor or senior journalists. They will only let the stories most appropriate for the ideology of the paper ‘through the gate’.
Genre
Media texts can often be grouped into genres that all share similar conventions. Science fiction is a genre, as are teenage magazines, etc.
Global
Worldwide - e.g. a media product with global reach is a product that is distributed around the world.
Hegemony
This derives from the theory of cultural hegemony by Antonio Gramsci. Hegemony is the dominance of one group over another, often supported by legitimating norms and ideas. For example, the dominant social position in society is taken by men and the subordinate one by women.
Horizontal integration
Where a media conglomerate is made up of different companies that produce and sell similar products, often as a result of mergers. For example a company with interests in film, TV, magazines newspaper.
House style
The aspects that make a magazine recognisable to its readers every issue. The house style is established through the choice of colour, the layout and design, the font style, the content and the general ‘look’ of the publication.
Hybrid genre
Media texts that incorporate elements of more than one genre and are therefore more difficult to classify are genre hybrids. Dr Who, for example, is a science fiction/fantasy television drama.
Hypodermic needle model
Generally acknowledged to be an out of date media effects theory which suggests that an audience will have a mass response to a media text. The idea is that the media product injects an idea into the mind of an audience who are assumed to be passive and as a result will all respond in the same way.
Iconography
The props, costumes, objects and backgrounds associated with a particular genre; for example, in a police series you would expect to see, uniforms, blue flashing lights, scene of crime tape and police radios.
Ideology
A set of messages, values and beliefs that may be encoded into media products.
independent film
A film made outside of the financial and artistic control of a large mainstream film company. A truly independent film will be privately conceived and funded. However, few films made are really ‘independent’. This more commonly refers to a film that is made by a smaller film company on a low budget.
Independent record label
A record label that operates without the funding of, and that is not necessarily linked to, a major record label.
Intellectual property
A legal concept which refers to creations of the mind for which the owner’s rights are recognised. These rights cover such intangible assets as music, literary and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs.
Interactive audience
The ways in which audiences can become actively involved with a product, for example by posting a response to a blog or live tweeting during a television programme.
Intertextual
The ways in which audiences can become actively involved with a product, for example by posting a response to a blog or live tweeting during a television programme.
Intertextuality
Where one media product intertextually references another.
Layout and design
The way in which a page has been designed to attract the
target audience. This includes the font styles used, the positioning of text and images and the use of colour.
Linear narrative
Where the narrative unfolds in chronological order from beginning to end.
Ludology
The study of games and those who play them, relevant to video games.
Masculinity
The perceived characteristics generally considered to define what it is to be a man. These can change according to
sociological and cultural variations
Mass audience
The traditional idea of the audience as one large, homogenous group.
Media conglomerate
A company that owns other companies across a range of media platforms. This increases their domination of the market and their ability to distribute and exhibit their product.
Media forms
Types of media products, for example television, newspapers,advertising.
Media language
The specific elements of a media product that communicate meanings to audiences, e.g. visual codes, audio codes, technical codes, language.
Media platform
The range of different ways of communicating with an audience, for example newspapers, the Internet, and television.
Mediation
The way in which a media text is constructed in order to represent a version of reality; constructed through selection, organisation and focus.
Mise-en-scene
In analysis of moving image products, how the combination of images
in the frame creates meaning; how individual shots in a film or photograph have been composed.
Misrepresentation
Certain social groups (usually minority groups) may be represented in a way that is inappropriate and not based on reality.
MMORPG
Massively multi-player online role-playing game.
Mode of address
The way in which a media text ‘speaks to’ its target audience. For example, teenage magazines have a chatty informal mode of address; the news has a more formal mode of address.
Narrative
The ‘story’ that is told by the media text. All media texts, not just fictional texts, have a narrative. For example, magazines have a clear beginning, middle and end. Most narratives are linear and follow a specific structure (see Todorov).
News agenda
The list of stories that may appear in a particular paper. The items on the news agenda will reflect the style and ethos of the paper.
Niche audience
A relatively small audience with specialised interests, tastes, and backgrounds.
Non-diegetic sound
Sound that comes from outside the fictional world, for example a voiceover, romantic mood music etc.
Non-linear narrative
Here the narrative manipulates time and space. It may begin in the middle and then include flashbacks and other narrative devices.
Open world
In an open world computer game the player can move freely though the virtual world and is not restricted by levels and other barriers to free roaming.
Opinion leaders
People in society who may affect the way in which others interpret a particular media text. With regard to advertising, this may be a celebrity or other endorser recommending a product.
Passive audience
The idea (now widely regarded as outdated) that audiences do not actively engage with media products, but passively consume and accept the messages that producers communicate.
