1. Media language.
Media language refers to the ways in which media producers make meaning in ways that
are specific to the medium in which they are working and how audiences come to be
literate in reading such meaning within the medium.
Media language- technical elements
Mise-en-scene
Camera
Editing
Sound
In media the work text is used to describe any media product such as television
programmes, photographs, adverts, film, newspaper adverts, radio programmes, web pages
etc.
One of the keys to understanding the meanings in text is the use of codes.
CODES- rules or conventions by which signs are put together to create meaning.
In most cases the text will use a variety of codes, visual, audio and written- that fit together
in a certain way to create meaning.
Mise en scene: everything that appears before the camera and its arrangements.
Setting
Performance/expression
Costume/ make up
Colour
Props
Lighting
Composition/ framing/ blocking
Camera
Framing: defines the position from which the image was created.
Angle: the angle of vision refers to the cameras angle in relation to the vertical.
Type: this refers to the shot type= long/medium/close.
Movement: this refers to the movement of the camera= pan/ track
Sound: used to tell the audience how to react at different points in the film or television
programme.
2. Distinctive sound devices are used for particular genre. It is an important device in
establishing the genre for an audience and getting them in the mood for watching
something.
Edit: refers to the join between shots.
The purpose of conventional editing is to make this join as smooth as possible- invisible.
The need for narrative flow to tell a story led to the development of the continuity system
of editing.
Semiotics: the study of signs.
This is an attempt to create a science of the study of sign systems and their role in the
construction and reconstruction of meaning in media texts.
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)
Signifier + signified= sign
The form which the sign takes the concept it represents
Open sign this shop is open
Charles Peirce (1839-1914)
Symbol (triangle) - a sign that represents an object or concept solely by the agreement of
the people who use it. Therefore symbolic signs have no obvious connection between then
sign and the object.
Iconic (rocks) – always resemble what they signify. Therefore is a physical similarity between
a photograph or good drawing of a dog and most people’s experiences of these animals.
Index (all) – lie between symbolic signs. Indexical signs have some sort of direct connection
with what is being signified.
Roland Barthes (1913-1980)
Barthes looked at how signs take on the dominant value systemof particular society and
make these values seemnatural. The dominant value systemof a society is known as
ideology a way of looking at things shared by the majority of society.
Barthes showed that Saussure’s sign can become a signifier to create not only a connotation
but a myth.
Another example is a red rose.
3. It is hard to understand a red rose on Valentine’s Day as anything other than meaning
romance it seems that what appears to be a denotation is actually a connotation.
If you are doing music videos they need to be performance, narrative, conceptual or a mix.
