561. Shot types and movements link

click here

557. tv drama intro

click here

519. SIGNS, CODES and CONVENTIONS

MISE-EN-SCENE (French for ‘put in the scene’)

EDITING
Some important edits are called: continuity (or ‘Hollywood’) edits; MTV (’music television’) edits; cross-cuts; follow-cuts; match-cuts; jump cuts; eye-line matches; dissolves; fades; montages; bridging; flashbacks…

SHOT TYPES

Establishing shot / long-shot / mid-shot / close-up / point-of­ view shot / soft-focus…

Semiotics is the name given to the study of the way by which meaning is created in the world, especially in the mass media. It is based upon the Idea of ’signs’ and ‘codes’, ‘denotation’ and ‘connotation’.

A sign is the basic unit of meaning in semiotics. A sign is any individual thing that signifies meaning; for example, your clothes are a group of ‘fashion signs’ which signify meaning (perhaps you are trying to look ‘cool’?). There are two ways that signs create meaning: all signs have a literal meaning, which is called their denotation; but, depending on the context, many signs also suggest other ‘layers’ of meaning, which is called their connotation. For example, an image of a girl dressed all in white denotes just that, I.e. this is what you ’see’; but it may also connote innocence or purity (and all that this means in our society and culture), i.e. this is what you ‘think’.
Connotation, therefore, is always more than the denotation. Signs rarely work alone. They are most often combined with other signs to form a code.

A code is a group of signs that we recognise as going ‘naturally together’ to signify meaning (e.g. a rose is a sign; but being handed to a girl by a boy could create a ‘romance code’ and suggest love).

Film and TV codes are often called technical codes because technical equipment is used to create them.

There are three ways through which codes and signs can signify meaning: Iconicity: an iconic sign or code looks just like the thing it seems to represent, e.g. an image of a cowboy seems to be just that; but it is called iconic because it suggests far more than it should: for example, our culture tends to associate extra meanings with the idea of ‘cowboy’, such as toughness, heroism, masculinity, etc. Iconic signs are never reality: they are a representation of reality.

Indexicality (an indexical sign or code) in a sign directly suggests meaning because what it shows seems to be the result of something we associate with the thing it represents, e.g. smoke suggests fire, sweat suggests exercise, appearance can suggest wealth, etc. This can be a short-cut way for a film director to create meaning.

Symbolism (a symbolic sign or code) suggests meaning because we have learned this meaning in our culture; a symbol, in itself, has no association with what it means, e.g. a red heart shape suggests love; letters combine to make words, etc. The meaning we gain from codes is said to be culturally determined which .means that our culture ‘taught’ us that particular way to interpret the meaning. For example, when we see our national flag, the Union Jack, we see more than what it simply denotes – a piece of coloured cloth: patriotism and pride, etc.

An important code is an enigma code. These codes put a fascinating question in the mind of the audience that only watching the movie will answer. They tempt the audience to watch and are often used in trailers. A convention is simply a way of doing something that we are so used to we usually fail to notice it; conventions can seem ‘perfectly natural’ or ‘realistic’ yet are anything but. So: women in cowboys tend conventionally to be either ‘very good’ or ‘very bad’ – and this seems ‘normal’ within the genre of cowboy movies; the wheels of a car always screech; guns always kill outright; a punch always knocks a person out cold.

Genre and narrative are important media conventions that are covered later, as are editing techniques and-the use of certain shot types (such as an establishing shot sequence or montage – see later).

Cinema and TV codes are created within an area bounded by the edges of a screen. By controlling what objects and action are in this frame, a film director creates what is called a mise-en-scene.

Asking questions such as ‘who, what and where’ of the characters and objects and their relative positions, expressions, appearance, costume, make-up, scenery, props, lighting, sounds, etc. in a mise-en-scene will help you analyse it.

Try to consider what effects are created in a mise-en-scene’, what meaning they have (their denotation and, most importantly, connotation), how they have been created and why they were created (which will be the director’s purpose – perhaps to develop a character, a mood, the storyline or plot and sometimes to explore a deeper meaning or idea, i.e. a theme).

Editing is the placing of separate shots together. This allows a director to manipulate space and time ­hundreds of miles or weeks of time can be reduced to a few scenes that appear perfectly natural and believable to the audience. A montage is a most important editing technique. It is a series of shots that are edited together to create a kind of ‘individual unit’ of meaning.

Continuity edits – especially matched cuts – are called ‘Hollywood editing’. This creates a sequence that seems to flow naturally on from the previous one, and in which the edits are ‘invisible’. These have the effect of creating a realistic and seamless flow to a story or narrative (see below) where one event leads naturally onto the next.

Jump-cuts are dramatic edits; MTV edits are rapid sequences of fast jump cuts used to create a conscious effect as used first in pop-videos;

cross-cuts/parallel editing follow different actions such as two people talking; follow-cuts follow an action to its consequence, e.g. a character looking edits to what they look at

eye-line matches are a kind of follow cut).

A sound-bridge is a sound edit that allows sound from one shot to cross into the next to create continuity.

An establishing shot is usually the opening shot of a sequence; it ’sets the scene’ and locates the action. It is often followed by a mid-shot followed by a close-up shot.

A subjective point-of-view shot (POV) is at eye-level and appears as if you are viewing the scene from the character’s perspective (as in ‘Blair Witch’).

An objective point-of-view shot acts as if you are an observer secretly looking into a scene.

CAMERA ANGLE Eye-line match / high / low

CAMERA MOVEMENT Zooming / tracking / panning / hand-held

LIGHTING High key, neutral, low key

‘DIEGESIS’ AND SOUND

VISUAL EFFECTS / SFX

NARRATIVE

GENRE

ICONOGRAPHY

THE ‘STAR SYSTEM’

REALISM

‘Verisimilitude’

‘Generic verisimilitude’

‘Cultural verisimilitude’

Camera angles can signify meaning, e.g. a subjective POV high angle shot can crate a superior feel. Different camera movements can create significant meaning – a zoom or tracking shot into a close-up of a face can create emotion, a pan across a war scene can suggest violence; POV tracking shots and POV hand-held camera shot can create tension and involvement by making you feel as if you are a part of the action.

Lighting can create atmosphere and mood as well as signify meaning, e.g. in a horror movie, light and shade are important codes of meaning. High-key lighting is harsh; soft-key lighting creates a romantic atmosphere, spotlighting picks out a character from a group, etc.

Diegesis means the ‘world of the film’: if something seems to be a part of the ‘world of the film’, it is called ‘diegetic’. So, sound that is a part of the action is diegetic sound, e.g. wind noise, screeching cars, etc; but sound that is added’ to create, most often, mood or atmosphere is called non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sounds may also be added in after filming, or may be exaggerated for effect (e.g. loud footsteps).

SFX (special effects’) often use computer-generated graphics to create compelling realism and meaning.

The use of a narrative structure is a major convention of cinema and TV. We are all immersed in narratives and have been since childhood as we tell of or hear about the complex events of the world not in the form of long-winded complex details or bald information but as absorbing and interesting stories. Yet this way of explaining real as opposed to fictional events greatly oversimplifies reality whilst at the same time; paradoxically, appearing very realistic and believable. For instance, real events are rarely clearly ‘connected’ by such simple ’cause and effect’ relationships as in stories (i.e. this leads to that because…). Yet in narrative they always are. And in the real world people are not either good (i.e. ‘heroes’) or evil (i.e. ‘villains’); but in narrative they always are to some degree at least. And so on. For better or worse, we tell and hear of world events as narratives and media producers know this and use it to create media texts that rely on narrative structures and forms to be absorbing, compelling and convincingly realistic. Because of this, filmed narratives can easily trick us into thinking we are viewing a real ‘window on the world’.

Genre means the type/kind of narrative being told, e.g. detective, sci-fi, horror, etc. Genre defines a text by its similarities to other texts. Importantly, when we watch a genre film we have many pre-existing expectations of the types of characters, setting and events we want to see (prediction is a major aspect of our enjoyment of a film, and genre helps this). Genre conventions are an important way a director can create believable ‘versions of reality’ because we fail to see that what is shown is not reality at, all, but a media convention that we have become accustomed to seeing in that kind of film. So… we don’t mind the owner of a casino being horribly killed because we see him, in the gangster genre as naturally a ‘villain’. Film companies use genre to sell and make films: a popular genre creates a greater chance of commercial success; and genre can be cost effective, making it cheaper to write new stories and reducing the need for entirely new sets. Iconography is an important aspect of genre. We come to expect to see certain objects within the mise-en­-scene of a particular genre, for example, in a Western, we expect to see dusty lonely roads, saloon bars, cowboy hats and horses, jails, sheriffs badges, etc.; in a modern horror film, we expect lonely girls, ‘normal’ objects, use of dark and light, etc. These ‘genre indicators’ are called the iconography of the genre. Celebrities and film stars are an important part of the iconography of cinema and TV.

Different stars can be important signifiers of meaning. They can create expectations of character and action, help identify genre, and create powerful iconic representation of such as masculinity and femininity. Cinema and TV are able to offer high levels of ‘realism’: the bright screen, the clear and powerful Dolby sound, darkened room, etc. are highly compelling and persuasive. Such ‘appearance of reality’ is given the odd name of verisimilitude. This is yet another convention of course – there is nothing ‘realistic’ about an image on a flat screen.

There are two kinds of verisimilitude: generic verisimilitude is the ‘realism’ that convinces us because of the genre we are watching (in the horror genres it seems highly realistic for a vampire to sink his teeth into a person’s neck); cultural verisimilitude is the kind of reality that convinces us because it looks like the way things are or should

504. OCR Media Studies – Past papers link

click here

462. Media terms for revision

AUDIENCE
http://www.robertsmyth.co.uk/media/audience.htm
http://www.stevewlb.zen.co.uk/Frame.htm
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/audience.html
http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Audience.html

INSTITUTION

http://www.robertsmyth.co.uk/media/institution.htm
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/Institution.html

GENRE
http://www.robertsmyth.co.uk/media/genre.htm
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/genre.html

REPRESENTATION

http://www.robertsmyth.co.uk/media/representation.htm
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/representation.html
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html

NARRATIVE

http://www.robertsmyth.co.uk/media/narrative.html
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/narrative.html

SEMIOTICS
http://www.robertsmyth.co.uk/media/semiotics.htm

IDEOLOGY
http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/ideology.html

461. Media, Gender, Identity

http://theoryhead.com/gender/resources.htm

404. MIGRAIN Assignment: Please discuss the Media text you have just viewed in terms of the following:

http://reniermedia.blip.tv/#1496334

MIGRAIN Assignment: Please discuss the Media text you have just viewed in terms of the following:

Media Language-

• Images of the key settings and the main characters

1. What is the title of the film?
2. What can you say about the way in which the title graphics have been created?
3. Who is starring in the film?
4. Where are the stars’ names placed ?
5. Why?
6. Describe the key images in the film.
7. Why have they been chosen?
8. Talk about what images are used – stars, setting, colours, symbols, (mise-en-scene).
9. What do they suggest/signify?
10. What other images are used?
11. What are the most important colours in the film?
12. Why do you think these were chosen?
13. What do you think the film is about?
14. Who is the target audience?

Narrative:

1. What clues are there to the narrative?
2. What can you tell about the genre of the film and the types of characters from their facial expression, body language, stance, appearance and position?
3. What makes you say this?
4. Is their a key image for you from the film?

USP

1. What is the USP (the unique selling point) in the film?
2. What makes it different from other films?

Analysing Moving Image Texts: ‘Film Language’

21. SIGNS, CODES and CONVENTIONS Discuss the use of Denotation; connotation, iconic, icons; symbols,

22. MISE-EN-SCENE Discuss m-e-s in a certain scene (French for ‘put in the scene’)

23. EDITING. Discuss the role of editing in the film.

24. SHOT TYPES Discuss the role of shot types in the film.

25. LIGHTING Discuss the role of lighting in the film

26. VISUAL EFFECTS / SFX Discuss the role of Effects in the film

27. REALISM ‘Verisimilitude’ Discuss whether the film is realistic.

28. Why is this so?

29. Institutions- who produced it?

30. What influence this has on the text?

31. Genre. Discuss the kind of genre the film is about.

32. How can we identify the conventions of this kind of genre.

33. Representation- Discuss the representation of one person in terms of who?

34. What?

35. Where?

36. When?

37. Why?

38. Is it accurate/ biased/fair?

39 Audience - who its aimed at?

40. Made for?

41. Mode of address?

42. Ideologies and values – which ideas, beliefs and values of society underpin the text?

43. Narrative – Discuss how the narrative- develops e.g. texts structure e.g. , character roles and themes that arise.

397. G322 – Section A – exam preparation – from the spec

Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation

Candidates should be prepared to analyse and discuss the following: technical aspects of the
language and conventions of the moving image medium, in relation to the unseen moving image
extract, as appropriate to the genre and extract specified, in order to discuss the sequence’s
representation of individuals, groups, events or places:

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement and Composition
• Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial
shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.
• Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.
• Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.
• Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.

Editing
Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.
• Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting,
parallel editing, cutaway; insert.
• Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow
motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.

Sound
• Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects; sound
motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound
perspective.
• Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.

Mise-en-Scène
• Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties.
• Lighting; colour design.

It is acknowledged that not every one of the above technical areas will feature in equal measure in
any given extract. Therefore examiners are instructed to bear this in mind when marking the
candidates’ answers and will not expect each aspect will be covered in the same degree of detail,
but as appropriate to the extract provided and to the discussion of representation.

Candidates should be prepared to discuss, in response to the question, how these technical
elements create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to
articulate specific messages and values that have social significance. Particular areas of
representation that may be chosen are:

• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Sexuality
• Class and status
• Physical ability/disability
• Regional identity

390. AS Media and Film – the BIG ONE

011

372. Propp is fun!

http://www.brown.edu/Courses/FR0133/Fairytale_Generator/gen.html

371. Propp’s character archetypes

Propp’s character archetypes

• the villain, who struggles with the hero
• the donor, who prepares and/or provides hero with magical agent
• the helper, who assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero
• the Princess, a sought-for person (and/or her father), who exists as a goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain
• the dispatcher, who sends the hero off
• the hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to the donor and weds at end
• the false hero (or antihero or usurper), who claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero (ie by trying to marry the princess)

363. AS Media – link to Simon Hynd’s Virus

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A4764323

353. MIGRAIN – Media Key Concepts

migrain-lesson-1

67. Narrative structure of sitcom

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF TV SIT-COM

36. Exam help – Gender/Sitcom

 Gender and Television Situation Comedy  

The representation of gender in television situation comedy.
[British and US Television Situation Comedies]Representation of the construction of gender in characters; construction of characters by appearance and dialogue; the characters’ function in the themes and narratives of the programmes; stereotypes and archetypes; casting issues; characters’ values and beliefs and how they are positioned by the narrative and preferred reading of the programme. ·        The key assessment objective here is how the student demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the processes of representation in media texts. ·        They have to do this by comparing the messages, values and social signification, in respect of gender, in two texts (you can choose US or British programmes, or a combination of the two). Therefore, students need to be prepared thoroughly on what the concept of representation is – you can do this with reference to a wide variety of media texts, including opportunities for self-representation (self-portrait exercise). ·        As with all exams, students need to be thoroughly prepared for the demands of timed answers and on how to structure an answer to an exam question. ·        For example, students would be wise to address the key words in the exam question straight away in the first paragraph and ‘touch bases’ throughout each paragraph, finishing with a concluding paragraph which refers to the specific wording of the question again.   ·        Too many times, students prioritise the topic and completely ignore the focus of the question and rush straight into a pre-prepared answer, for which they cannot get full credit, as the Examiner’s mark scheme is tied directly to the degree to which the candidates answers the specific question. ·        Students need to develop clear revision notes about the main points that are related to the topic and be prepared with a range of examples from specific programmes to illustrate their answer and which provide evidence for their assertions.  ·        Students need to understand that characters in sit-coms are the result of a variety of processes of construction – ideological, institutional and production processes (such as in the writing, casting, acting, direction, narrative, mise-en-scène, audience interpretation etc.) and are not self-determining entities. To that end, students are discouraged from producing character sketches or descriptions of characters. ·        It would be sensible to choose two specific episodes of two sit-coms to focus their final analysis on for their exam answer, but they can certainly ‘pepper’ their answer with references to other texts as appropriate. ·        It would also be advisable for students to provide the following details in their answer, to show attention to detail (as per sound academic convention for all textual references in any exams):-                     Title of programme and date or title of episode-                     Names of writer, director, producer, main actors’ names (previous roles)-                     Production company name and other programmes made by them-                     Channel of broadcast and time in schedule (original or subsequent)-                     Names of writers whose critical work is quoted and their sources (observe academic conventions for quoting). ·        Students should also strive for a formal mode of address in their exam answers; don’t be deceived by the comic aspect of the topic into writing using slang or a casual mode of address.  Be formal and attend to issues of presentation, spelling/grammar/punctuation etc.

19. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 2731 Mock exam

Oxford Cambridge and RSA ExaminationsAdvanced Subsidiary GCE  MEDIA STUDIES 

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

2731Mock Examination Paper Additional materials: Answer paper 

TIME Total 2 hours:30 minutes for reading the question in Section A, viewing and making notes on the moving image extract.45  minutes for answering the question on the examination paper. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATESWrite your name, Centre number and candidate number in the spaces provided on the answer booklet. Write all your answers on the separate answer paper provided.If you use more than one sheet of paper, fasten the sheets together.Answer two questions in total. Answer the one question in Section A on the moving image extract.Answer one question from Section B on the topic you have studied.The total for the paper is 90 marks. Each question is marked out of 45 marks. 

Viewing the Unseen Moving Image Extract· You will be allowed to read the question for Section A before the extract is screened· The extract will be screened four times· First screening: watch the extract, no notes are to be made this time· Second screening: watch the extract and make notes· There will be a brief break for note-making· Third and fourth screening: watch the extract and make notes· Your notes for Section A are to be written in the answer booklet provided and must be handed in at the end of the examination.
 

Section A: Technical Aspects of Moving Image Language and ConventionsExtract: Action-adventure film[

The extract is a four minute sequence]Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract only.

1 Analyse the ways in which the following are used in The Action-adventure film to createatmosphere for the film:

1.    Camera Angle, Shot, Movement and Position

2.    Editing

3.    Sound

4.    Special Effects

5.    Mise-en-Scène.  [45 marks]                            

                            

WHY