MEDIA-ADVERTISMENT Flashcards
Lexis
The language used and choice of words
Written Language
Another word for lexis
Colloquial Language
Another word for slang
Alliteration
Words that start with the same letter
Pun
A play on words
Direct mode of address
Audience are spoken to directly-“ buy me now”
Personal/familiar mode of address
Informal language used
Strapline
Slogan After the product
Slogan
A product catch phrase
Mode of address
the language that has been chosen and how it talk to the audience
Conversational mode of address
Informal mode of address
Formal mode of address
Serious tone, spoke to more formally
Linguistic devices
A language technique used
High angle shot
It is a shot where the camera is looking down on the subject, shows character is weak or could be in danger
Low angle shot
It is a shot where the camera is looking up at the subject, shows the character is powerful and superior
Birds eye shot
it is a shot where the camera is directly above the subject
Extreme close up
shows the detail that will fill the the frame; eye mouth or significant other
Close up
shot of someone from the shoulders up
wide/long shot
where audience can see the person/object from head to toe
Canted angle/canted shot
duct shot/angle
it is a shot where horizon line isnt level
medium close up
a shot of someone from the chest up
mid-shot
shot of someone from the waist up
Medium long shot
shot where the audience can see from the knees upwards
Cut
the process of re-arranging shots
wipe
pushes shot out of screen, most used for a comedic purpose
continuity editing
editing that appears to be natural suspend the audience disbelief in logical order
Montage editing
editing together using jump cuts, can be used to compress time to show something to the audience quickly
Jump cuts
two picture together that dont fit together, used to compress time
shot>reverse>shot
used it show a conversation used to manipulated reality
fade/fade up/fade out/fade to black
a shot moves to colour screen or just a another shot
dissolve
a type of fade
pace of editing
how quick or slow something is editied
cross dissolve
when one host dissolves and appears on top of each other
eye line match
character eye line matches in different shots
cross-cutting
when the film maker cut between two strands of narrative
transitions
the way the editor moves from a shot to another shot
match on action
when the shots match
rule of third
screen can be divide into imaginary parts (main image in the centre of the screen)
aspect ratio
1.2.35>.1-1.85>1-1 shape of the screen
frame within a frame
frame within a frame, show the characters entrapment
Dolly
tracking shot on a bulit track
Tilt
vertical
Zoom
moving forward and backwards
Track
follows the action
pan
swish pan/whip pan
side to side horizontal`
Steadicam
helps balance and smooth out the movement when the camera is handheld
handheld
camera that is held
crane
camera that is on a long movable arm
360’ rule
camera goes in a full circle
180’ rule
cant pass imaginary line when two subject are being film-natural
Foley
the artificial creation of sound post production
diegetic sound
sound that are part of the world of the film characters can heat these sounds
pleanastic sounds
dietetic sound are exaggerated in a film imitates sound that are in the film
Orchestral
music played by an orchestra
silience
no sound can be heard
score
the theme music for a film or tv show
non-diegetic sound
sound that are artificial character can not hear these sounds
contrapuntal sounds
sound that dont hit the action on the screen non-diegetic sounds
artificial lighting
lighting that has been created artificially
mid-key
natural lighting
low key
dull/dark
high key
bright
chiaroscuro
another term for high contrast but extreme
front lighting
the object is lit from in front
side lighting
the object is lit from the side
natural lighting
light is natural
available light
when the director uses the light that is available
hard lighting
a strong shadow
soft lighting
shadows are soft not really noticeable;
high contrst
opposite to high contrast
overhead lighting
objects are lit from above, creates an unsetting, usual and unconventional look
under lighting
object lit from underneath, unnatural look
colour temp
how much red or blue is in an image Red-warm Blue-cold
lighting colour
how they change colour
3 point light
- 2 light on face
- 1 light on left side of face
- 1 light on right side of face
key lighting
main light used to light an object
fill light
fills in the shadows
back light
soften the edges of the object-classic hollywood light
silhouette
shadows of an object unable to see object face
back light
object is light from behind
props
object that are used in a media text
casting
the choice of actress/actors for a media text
performance/pose
movement?body language and dialogue
verisimilitude
another word for realism
suspense of disbelief
the process of media audience temporary forgetting that the media text has been created
hyperreality
it is more staged than reality itself
set
a set is something that has been artificially created
costume
the clothes that the characters wear includes make-up and hair
Mise-en-scene
a french term “put in the scene” everything the audience see
setting
location where the action takes places includes;
- time of day
- weather
prosthetic
artificial make up created to change actor/actress appearance “hell boy”
focus puller
the person that changes the depth of field
pull focus
depth of field changes during the shot
deep depth of field
everything in focus
shallow depth of field
one part of the scene is in focus
depth of field
amount of the shot that is in focus
ISO
how sensitive the film is to light
black and white film stock
media text are in black and white
low speed/low ISO/slow film stock
film stock that is very smooth and low grain
high contrast film stock
big difference between dark and light areas of a shot
high gain image
an effect on an image
high speed/high ISO/fast film stock
film stock that is very sensitive and means film makers can film low light conditions allowing more movement and more of a grainy look
colourisation
process of changing colour of the film-post production
low grain film stock
smooth
Production
the creating of the product
Distribution
the sharing of the product
Consumption
the using of the product
Pre-Production
planning before making the form of media
Post Production
after the media product was produced
Semiotics theory
Roland Barthes
Semiotics simply means the study and interpretation of signs and symbols. It is the idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification and codes – using the colour red and low key lighting for example uses signs or codes that an audience might associate with danger or fear. These signs within a text can function at the level of denotation, which is the ‘literal’ or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign.
According to Barthes these constructed meanings can come to seem self evident, achieving the status of myth or normality through a process of naturalisation. Barthes’ interest in the structure of texts and how these structures communicate meaning also lead him to identify five “codes” that are present in the structures of the narratives of many texts and engage audiences. These are:
- The Enigma or Hermeneutic code – the way tension is built up in a narrative, engaging an audience by holding back information or leaving clues to create a sense of mystery and anticipation and leaving the audience wanting to know what happens next.
- The Semantic code – the way objects, characters and settings take on additional meanings. The audience are engaged by understanding elements in the text that have symbolic meaning and go beyond what is simply denoted.
- The Symbolic code – the larger symbolism in a text, particularly the way that many narratives are constructed around a conflict between binary opposites (see Levi Strauss below).
- Proairetic or Action code – these are signs that tell the audience that something is about to happen, they are shorthand ways of advancing the action. For example a cowboy putting his hand on his gun, looking straight ahead and chewing on a matchstick tells the audience he is going to kill the other man in a shootout without it being explicitly stated.
- Cultural code – elements of a narrative that refer to the audience’s wider cultural knowledge. The audience need to have this knowledge to understand the reference.
In a nutshell: Barthes maintained that all elements of a media text are codes that need to be read and interpreted. These can all be understood as the thing they are (denotative level) and the responses they create (connotative level).
Structuralism Theory
Claude Levi Strauss
Structuralism is an intellectual movement which began in France in the 1950s. Structuralists, such as Claude Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes, believe that cultural texts (books, paintings, and in our case media texts such as films, TV programmes, adverts etc) can best be understood by breaking them down and examining their underlying structures and codes. One of Levi Strauss’s key observations in examining the structure of cultural texts is that meaning is often created through the conflict between “binary oppositions”. In simple terms this means that the narratives of many cultural or media texts are constructed around two opposing forces: night vs day, good vs evil; clean vs dirty etc. Levis Strauss maintained that the way in which these binary oppositions are resolved (i.e. whether or not good triumphs over evil by the end of a film or book or whether or not the washing powder washes away the dirt in an advert) can have particular ideological significance.
Representation/ Reception Theory
Stuart Hall
Cultural theorist Stuart Hall describes representation as the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture through the use of language, signs and images which stand for or represent things. Hall developed the idea that communication is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences. He stated that there are three hypothetical positions from which messages and meanings may be decoded: the preferred reading, the negotiated reading or the oppositional reading. The preferred reading is the producer’s intended message, the negotiated is when the audience understand the message but adapt it to suit their own values and the oppositional is where the audience disagrees with the preferred meaning. In a nutshell: producers want audiences to respond in a particular way to a text. Some audiences do (preferred reading), some audiences don’t (oppositional reading) and some are in the middle (negotiated reading).
Identity Theory
David Gauntlett
David Gauntlett maintains that the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities. Whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas. In a nutshell: we use the Internet and other media texts to help us to create our own sense of identity and work out who we are. We now have more of a variety of representations to identify with than in the past.
Feminist Theory
Liesbet Van Zonen
Liesbet Van Zonen maintains that gender is constructed through discourse (through social expectation, the way it is spoken about, and how it is represented in the media and culture more widely) and that its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context. Along with many other feminist critics Van Zonen also puts forward the idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture. She also states that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as
spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female.
Feminist Theory
Bell Hooks Bell Hooks argues that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination. She puts forward the idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice (something that you have to be committed to and fight for rather than something you can just label yourself as). She also states that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed. In a nutshell: according to Hooks feminism is a political struggle to end patriarchal domination and other factors affect this domination,including race and class.
Cultivation Theory
George Gerbner
The idea that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (i.e. cultivating particular views and opinions). The idea that cultivation reinforces or naturalises mainstream values (dominant ideologies/hegemonic values). In a nutshell: - The more we see the same representations and messages in the media or in the culture we live in more widely, the more we believe they are true.
