This document outlines various elements that can be used to convey meaning and tell a story through visual media, including location/setting, costume, makeup, props, lighting, body language, decor, and facial expressions. It discusses how each element can be used to represent historical periods or genres, indicate characteristics about characters like age, gender, and psychological state, and contribute to the overall narrative, mood, and atmosphere of a scene.

2. WHAT TO INCLUDE
• LOCATION/ SETTING
• COSTUME
• MAKE UP
• PROPS
• LIGHTING
• BODY LANGUAGE
• DÉCOR
• FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

3. LOCATION/SETTING
• It can be a backdrop or an actual location
• Urban/ rural e.g. urban- london, new york. Rural- lake district, suburbs
• Stereotypes of Urban deprivation (mile end) – rubbish, graffiti,
homeless people
• Stereotypes of rural (lake district) – hills, greenery, lakes, farmers,
cottages
• Setting can also be the period it was set in
• Setting can also represent psychological state e.g. if its raining-
sadness, sunny- happiness

4. COSTUME
• Can represent a historical period or can create fantasy e.g.- dalek
costume
• It can indicate changes within a characters narrative e.g.- rags to riches
(cinderella) (this stereotypically happens within women characters)
• It can represent a characters age e.g. young people wearing hoodies,
old people wearing cardigans
• It can represent gender e.g.- a women in a tight dress, a man in a suit
• Color of costume can represent the narrative e.g. a red dress for danger
or lust
• Body exposure can also represent gender as the more revealed the
more erotic the character is portrayed e.g. women are usually shown in
tight dresses with legs or cleavage expose, representing them as a
sexual object

5. MAKE UP
• Can represent a historical period or fantasy like costume e.g. in the
walking dead they have zombie inspired make up (it is also used
especially in sci fi)
• It can also express gender e.g. a woman wearing making represents the
stereotype of their care for their appearance

6. PROPS
• They can contribute to the narrative of the story e.g. westerns use
cowboy hats and horses
• They can also provide an enigma code for the narrative or goal narrative
e.g. the doll at the start of chucky before the disequilibrium takes place

7. LIGHITING
• It can represent mood and atmosphere for characters and between
characters e.g. dim lighting- negativity
• It can represent narrative e.g. darkness= suspense
• The positioning of lighting can represent a character e.g. lighting form
below creates a darkness on the character representing them as scary
or a threat

8. BODY LANGUAGE
• Can represent how a character is feeling or their response to another
character e.g. slouching = sadness
• It can also enforce the narrative e.g. if a character creates a panicked
expression it suggests a disequilibrium

9. DECOR
How a room is decorated
• It can describe the character e.g. doctors surgery- a doctor
• It can describe the genre e.g futuristic furniture – sci fi
• It can create an atmosphere e.g. dark rooms with barely any furniture –
threatful atmosphere