This document defines several key terms and concepts in media analysis including typography, tag lines, technical codes, and iconography. It also summarizes theories of narrative and codes by Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes. Lévi-Strauss argued that all narratives can be reduced to binary opposites, while Barthes believed that texts can be interpreted through five codes: the hermeneutic code referring to mysteries; the proairetic code referring to plot actions; the semantic code giving additional meaning; the symbolic code organizing broader meanings; and the referential code founded on canonical works.

1. Terminology

2. Typography - noun
• The style and appearance of printed matter.
the art or procedure of arranging type or
processing data and printing from it

3. Tag line
• In entertainment, a tagline is a small amount
of text which serves to clarify a thought for
dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are
reiterated phrases associated with an
individual, social group, or product.

4. Technical codes
• Technical codes are codes that are created by
the technology of the medium. In film, there
are technical codes in the use of camera,
lighting, editing and sound. In print media,
there are technical codes in the use of
photography, fonts and lettering styles,
lighting, layout and cropping.

5. Iconography - noun
• A symbolic representation, especially the
conventional meanings attached to an image
or images or the study or analysis of subject
matter and its meaning in the visual arts;
iconology.
• A representation or a group of representations
of a person, place, or thing, as a portrait or a
collection of portraits.

6. Claude Lévi-Strauss
Narrative theory – binary opposition
• Strauss studied how stories unconsciously reflect
the values, beliefs and myths of culture.
• Strauss argued that all narratives could be
reduced down to binary opposites.
For example:
• Weak VS strong
• East VS west
• Good VS evil
• ‘backwards cultures VS modern cultures’

7. Roland Barthes
Codes theory
• He believes that a text (or film) can be
interpreted in many ways through signifiers,
not signifieds, it just needs to be ‘unravelled’.
• He says there are five codes that describe the
meaning of the text.

8. The five codes – Roland Barthes
• The hermeneutic/enigma code – refers to mysteries within a text,
clues are given but no clear answer
• Proairetic/action code - A Proairetic Code is a plot action that does
not directly raise particular questions - it is simply an action that is
caused by a previous event and which leads to other events. It is
not inherently mysterious, a person walks down street.
• Semantic code - This code refers to connotation within the story
that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of
the word.
• Symbolic code - This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts
at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and
deeper sets of meaning.
• Referential code - This code refers to anything that is founded on
some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged