Key Media Terms

Hi Guys,

Here are a few key media terms that I have learned. Hope you learn something that you didn't know before

Sound

• Diegetic Sound: Sound that is coming from the scene.
• Non-Diegetic Sound: Sound that is overlaid in post production e.g. music or narrative voice over.

Mise en scene 

• Mise-En-Scene: Everything in the shot – lighting /colour / setting / dress code / objects and props / pose / body language / facial expressions / make up / acting / camera movement.
• High Key Lighting: Lighting that is bright and illuminates a scene and help to construct mood/meaning.
• Diffuse Lighting: Softer lighting.
• Three Point Lighting: Three different types of lighting that illuminates a whole scene – Key lighting (main), Fill Lighting (from the side), Back Lighting.
• On Location: Where filming is in real life locations, not in a studio.
• HD: High Definition (viewing format).
• Connoting: A meaning that is established through interpretation of audio-visual symbols.

Camera editing and angles

• Two Shot: Often used to show two characters within the frame communication with each other, one of the left and the other on the right.
• Shot / Reverse Shot: A shot where the camera is placed behind the shoulder of one character, looking in talking to him/her and vice versa (the camera cuts to the next shot behind the shoulder of the other character again looking helping audiences understand the relationship between them).
• Reaction Shots: Where the camera cuts away to a person for a reaction to something in the narrative.
• High Angle Camera: A camera that is placed higher than a subject – stereotypically it can make them seem more vulnerable although this is not always the case.
• Aerial Shot / Top Shot: A camera that is directly above a subject to give a different perspective which can be voyeuristic.
• Steadicam: A camera that is held at the waist on spring suspension that gives the camera operator the chance to film without the frame moving. It also allows for the following of a character through space without the need for a cut.
• Intercutting: Where the camera alternates between cutting between scenes.
• Long Takes: A shot that is not edited or cut for a length of time.
• Low Brow Genre Television: Poor quality television.

Representation 

• Ensemble Cast: Where TV Drama for example has number of recognisable characters that often for part of tea.
• Star Marketing: Where an established star is cast in a particular role.
• Secondary Persona: The representation of a star / celebrity through other media.
• Multiculturalism: The positive referencing of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
• Anchoring: Giving something definite meaning.
• Voyeurism: The pleasure of looking at other people.
• Hybridised: A mix of two genres.
• Sub Genre: A division of a genre e.g. a genre within a genre (Medical Drama and TV Drama).
• Enigmatic: Little is known about a character, audiences are kept guessing.
• Intertextuality: Where one media text references another.
• Binary Opposition: Two very different things that are placed against each other to create meaning for audiences e.g. hero v villain.
• Cultural Stereotyping: A common, over generalised and often exaggerated representation based on limited information and often used for entertainment purposes.
• Male and Female Gaze: The male gaze is where women are sexually objectified in front of camera and the female gaze is when men are sexually objectified.
• Hyper Real: Exaggerated, non realist representations.
• Audience Identification: Where audiences recognise the narrative, genre conventions of issues of representation – they are familiar with it.

Marketing

• Critical Success: Success that is evidence by awards and positive reviews.
• Commercial Success: Where success is measured by financial gain e.g. DVD sales.
• Scheduling: Programmes are deliberately ‘scheduled’ to be broadcast at a certain time depending on their content.
• Prime Time: 6pm – 9pm.
• Ratings: How many viewers watch a programme.
• Clone: Copying the format.
• Brand Identity: Where audiences are aware of the name of a media text or in advertising, the name of the manufacturer of the product.
• Encode: How meaning is put in by the writer/producer of a media text.
• Mainstream: Traditional, dominant representations expected by a mass audience.
• High Production Values: Where a programme has significant funding which can be evidenced by things like Star Marketing, Set and Production Design.
• Post Watershed: A television programmed that is broadcast after 9pm.
• Mass, Mainstream Audiences: Lots of viewers!
• Demographic: A detailed breakdown of the target audience.
• In-House Marketing: Where all the advertising and marketing of a programme is by the organisation that made it e.g. BBC adverts on BBC on programmes.
• Synergy: The ability of two or more compatible forms to sell each other e.g. Casualty and Holby City.
• Convergence: Where links are available to other media forms – normally in digital media.

Other 

• Narrative Continuity: Where the storyline continues and audiences see no obvious break or interruption in this.
• Conventions: Common features found in TV Dramas like Medical Dramas.
• Narrative Arcs: Common themes that recur throughout a programme or series.
• Multi Stranded Narrative: Several storylines happening at the same time.
• Escapism: Where audiences can escape from the reality of their lives.

Thanks for reading