keywords and definitions Flashcards
Media Codes
The tools used to create meaning in media texts, including technical, symbolic, and written codes.
Conventions
The widely accepted ways of constructing media texts, such as genre-specific elements, narrative structures, and stylistic features.
Mise-en-scène
The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing of a media text – actors, lighting, décor, props, and costume.
Diegetic Sound
Sound that is part of the film’s world and can be heard by the characters within the scene.
Non-diegetic Sound
Sound that is not part of the film’s world and cannot be heard by the characters, such as background music or a narrator’s commentary.
Narrative Structure
The organized way in which a story is told in a media text, including elements like equilibrium, disruption, and resolution.
Semiotics
The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation in media texts.
Genre
A category of media texts characterized by particular style, form, or content, such as horror, comedy, or drama.
Representation
The way in which media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective.
Media Conglomerate
A large corporation that owns numerous companies involved in various mass media enterprises, such as television, radio, publishing, and the internet.
Public Service Broadcasting (PSB)
Broadcasting intended to benefit the public rather than for commercial profit, typically funded by public money, e.g., the BBC.
Technological Convergence
The tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks, leading to the merging of media platforms.
Audience Theory
Theories that explore how audiences engage with, interpret, and respond to media texts.
Hypodermic Needle Theory
A model of communication suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the audience.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
A theory that suggests audiences actively choose media to satisfy specific needs, such as information, personal identity, integration, and entertainment.
Demographics
Statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it, such as age, gender, income, and education.
Psychographics
The study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles of audiences.
Reception Theory
The idea that media texts are encoded by the producer and decoded by audiences, who may interpret the text in different ways (dominant, negotiated, oppositional).
Stereotyping
The oversimplified and fixed idea of a particular type of person or thing, often used in media representations.
Cultural Imperialism
The dominance of one culture’s media products in the global market, potentially overshadowing local cultures and media.
Globalization
The process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale, affecting media distribution and consumption.
Media Literacy
The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in various forms, promoting critical thinking and informed consumption.
Vertical Integration
When a company owns different stages of production and distribution within the same industry.
Horizontal Integration
When a company owns multiple media outlets across different platforms or industries.
Independent Media
Media produced outside of the major media corporations, often characterized by more diverse or niche content.
Fandom
A community of enthusiasts and fans who share a common interest in a particular media text or cultural phenomenon.
Digital Natives
People who have grown up with digital technology and are comfortable using it from an early age.
Media Regulation
The oversight of the media industry to ensure fairness, accuracy, and protection of the public from harmful content.
Framing
The way in which elements within a media text are composed to create meaning and influence audience interpretation.
Gatekeeping
The process by which information is filtered for dissemination, be it publication, broadcasting, or the Internet.
Synergy
The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects, often used in media for cross-promotion.
Intertextuality
The relationship between texts and the way that similar or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from each other.
Ethical Issues in Media
Concerns about what is morally right or wrong in media practices, such as issues of privacy, representation, and truthfulness.
Anchorage
The way in which text is used to help pin down the meaning of an image in media.
Denotation
The literal or primary meaning of a word or image, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
Connotation
The ideas or feelings that a word or image invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Censorship
The suppression or prohibition of speech, public communication, or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, or sensitive as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body.
Audience Segmentation
The process of dividing a broad audience into more specific groups based on various characteristics to target them more effectively.
Propaganda
Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
Postmodernism
A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism that represents a departure from modernism and has a general distrust of grand theories and ideologies, emphasizing plurality and diversity in culture and media.
