Media Glossary

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Media Glossary   Anchorage The way words anchor
the meaning of an image in a particular
way.   Arbitrary signifier A signifier that
communicates meaning through being learned, such
as words in a language. They have no resemblance
to what they represent, unlike iconic
signifiers.   Audience Those who use a media
text, whether watching, listening or reading.  
Binary Opposition The idea that media texts and
narratives work through opposing elements in
conflict such as Youth and Age or Culture and
Nature, a theory developed by anthropologist
Claude Levi-Strauss.
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Code A set of conventions through which we make
sense of a media text. Various codes include
visual, technical, auditory and
written.   Connotations The ideas and feelings
associated with a text- more personal than
denotation.   Conventions Expected elements of a
media text because of its genre.   Cut The usual
way of going from one shot to another in a film
or television text.
Denotation What is actually shown in an
image.   Determinant A Media Determinant is a
factor that influences the shaping of a media
text. These include institutional, audience and
social determinants.
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Diegetic Sound Sound that arises from what is
being screened (Non-diegetic sound includes
super-imposed sound sources such as music and
voice-overs).   Effects Theory A theory of Media
Audiences that suggests the media can have a
harmful effect on peoples behaviour, especially
young people and children. This is a Passive
Theory of Audience.  
Film Noir A genre characterised by low key
lighting and lots of shady characters, it started
in the 1940s and was based on popular American
crime novels with hard-bitten private eyes and
dangerous femmes fatale.  
Frame The edges or border of an image, where the
producer of the image has decided to set its
limits. (Note that each single image in a film
is also called a frame)
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Genre The categories in which we put media
texts, such as Western, Comedy, and Science
Fiction.  
Graphic Match When a transition is enhanced by
matching elements of one shot with the next, such
as a globe cutting or dissolving to another round
object taking up the same amount of space in the
frame. High Key Lighting Film and Television
lighting that eliminates shadows by the use of a
Key Light.
Hypodermic Needle Theory A Passive Audience
Theory that suggests audiences passively take in
what the media produce- linked to Effects
Theory. Iconic signifier A signifier that
communicates through visually resembling what it
signifies, such as an image or an
icon.   Iconography The visual conventions of a
genre, such as space ships and futuristic weapons
in a science fiction film.
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Ideology A system of beliefs that frame and
influence behaviour. A societys Dominant
Ideologies will often be re-enforced by the
mainstream media and subverted by more radical
media institutions.   Image A visual
representation.   Indexical signifier A
signifier that communicates through indicating
what it represents, such as a smile indicating
happiness.
  Institution A media institution is an
organisation, and we need to be aware of issues
such as how an institution is funded, controlled
and regulated.   Intertextuality Aspects of a
media text that can only be fully understood by
reference to a different text, such as when an
advert deliberately refers to a film.
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Low Key Lighting Sometimes called Chiaroscuro
lighting (Literally Bright/Dark lighting), when
the key light is deliberately not used in order
to create strong shadows and dark corners, as
first used in Film Noir in the 1940s.
Media Text Any one media product that can be
analysed and deconstructed by media students,
such as an advert, a soap opera advert, a film or
a newspaper. It does not have to be written or
contain writing, though often will.   Mise-en-scèn
e How a scene is organised, lit and framed for
the camera, literally placed in scene.  
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  Narrative Almost interchangeable with story,
but emphasising the construction and structure of
a text that tells a story. Elements of narrative
structure include Enigma (raising questions),
Complication, Climax and Resolution. Todorovs
theory of narrative includes the idea of
Equilibrium and Disequilibrium, so a narrative
will only begin when an equilibrium is disrupted,
and ends when the equilibrium is restored or
changed. Propps theory is based on the idea
that all stories are based on a limited number of
characters and their functions within the
narrative.
News Values The characteristics of a news story
that make it newsworthy, including Recency,
Closeness to Home (or Ethnicity), Continuity,
Conflict, Celebrity (or Elite People), Elite
Nations, Size etc. Polysemic A word from
Semiology that describes a text that has many
possible meanings or ways of being interpreted,
such as an uncaptioned (or unanchored) image.
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Primary Use This is when an audience member is
giving 100 attention to a media text. There is
also Secondary Use, such as doing homework in
front of the television, and Tertiary Use, when
you are aware of a text but not consciously using
it, such as a radio on in the next room. Cinema
can be called a primary medium for this reason,
and radio a secondary medium.
Representation The act of communicating through
the use of symbols or codes standing for things,
people or events. In Media Studies we need to
realise that a representation is different from
the reality represented, and that representations
are controlled by media institutions.  Semiology
Or Semiotics, the study of signs and how they
signify or represent reality.
Shot A single take of a film or television
camera between transitions.
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Sign A combination of Signifier (the symbol or
code used to represent something) and Signified
(or what is represented).   Stereotype Easily
identifiable character often based on a history
of clichéd and usually negative representations
of a social group.   Sub-genre A development
from and within a major genre, so that Slasher
movies form a sub-genre of the Horror genre.
Technical Codes Codes that result from the way
in which a media text has been constructed, and
would include lighting, editing, transitions,
special effects etc.  
Transitions The ways in which a film or
television text move from one shot to another.
The most common transition is the cut, but there
is also the dissolve (when one shot merges with
the next), the fade (when a shot gradually goes
to black and the next shot emerges from the
black) and the wipe (when a shot is replaced by
the next shot using a moving line or graphic).
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Uses and Gratification Theory An Audience Theory
based on the idea that audiences use the media to
meet four basic needs Escapism (or
entertainment), Surveillance (or information),
Identification (or comparing your situation with
that of a media representation) and Socialising
(or being able to talk with friends about a
shared experience). This is an Active Audience
Theory, unlike Effects Theory and The Hypodermic
Needle Theory.  
  Visual Codes It is important to recognise the
various visual codes that are at work when
denoting an image, including Dress Codes, Object
Codes, Background Codes, Position Codes,
Expression Codes and Gesture Codes.   Voice-over
Speech added to film and television images after
shooting in the form of a commentary.
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