Media language V5E02

Unit I

Media Language

This is how the media communicates to the audience. There are different types of media languages which
include written, verbal, non-verbal, visual and aural.

Definition

Media language is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience.
Each medium has its own language or grammar that works to convey meaning in a unique way.
Language in this sense means the technical and symbolic ingredients or codes and conventions that
media and information professionals may select and use in an effort to communicate ideas, information
and knowledge.

Signs and symbols in media texts are polysemic(having more than one meaning; having multiple
meanings; also called) which means they are open to many interpretations. The different possible meanings in
media texts depend on two things. The first is the way the signs and symbols in the text are read. The second is the
cultural background of the person reading the text.
For film and television media language includes the way meaning comes across through the pictures and through the
words or dialogue. Seeing the characters in a moving image text allows meaning to come across as non verbal
communication. This includes the gestures, facial expressions, clothing and props in a film as well as where the
characters are placed in the frame.

Media language includes the way the camera sees the scene through shot size and camera angle. It is also possible
under the heading of media language to analyse the way the actors interpret the script.

Camera Work
Where the camera is placed is very important for how the audience understands a scene. The camera angle is the
exact position of the camera. e.g. a high angle.

Written Language

In print-based media, also in text such as captions for photographs. The language chosen generates
meaning. Captions allow the publication to present a story in a particular way.

Verbal Language

In media areas such as television, radio and film. How the language is delivered and its context used
are important factors in the way meaning is generated for the audience.
Non Verbal Language

This is in terms of body language: gestures and actions. The meaning received by the audience is
seen through how the actor uses their body.

Visual Language

Television and film. What is on the screen has been chosen specifically to generate a series of effects
and meanings (semiotics). Specific camera angles and movement are chosen to tell the story and
meaning of that scene.

Aural Language

Diegetic/non-diegetic sound. Sound can help create a scene and construct the environment,
atmosphere and mood. The aural language of a media text can also help us to define the genre of a
piece.

Semiotics

The study of signs and symbols, discusses the literal and potential meanings. There are two identified
orders of signification, denotation and connotation.

Codes and conventions

What are codes?

Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories
technical and symbolic.

Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for
example the camera work in a film.

Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character's
actions show you how the character is feeling.

Some codes fit both categories music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

What are conventions?

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions
in any medium, such as the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also
genre specific.

How codes and conventions apply in media studies

Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre it is not enough to discuss a
technical code used such as camera work, without saying how it is conventionally used in a
genre.
For example, the technical code of lighting is used in some way in all film genres. It is a
convention of the horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and suspense
an integral part of any horror movie.

A way of constructing meaning in media texts to communicate ideas and impressions for an
audience. Technical codes include camera angles, sound and lighting (how technology is used to
create meaning). Symbolic codes include the language, dress and actions of characters (mise-en-
scene).

Code

In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to

convert informationsuch as a letter, word, sound, image, or gestureinto another form or
representation, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a channel or storage in
a medium. An early example is the invention of language which enabled a person, through speech, to
communicate what he or she saw, heard, felt, or thought to others.

Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music,
whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria.

Types of genre
 Action.
Adventure.
Comedy.
Crime.
Drama.
Fantasy.
Historical.

Choices of Media

Types of Media
Newspapers
Printed media usually distributed weekly or daily in the form of a folded book of papers. The
publication is typically sectioned off based on subject and content. The most important or
interesting news will be displayed on the front page of the publication. Newspapers may also
include advertisements, opinions, entertainment and other general interest news.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/newspaper.html

Most companies spend their budgets on major mass communication methods such as print, radio
and television. Newspaper advertising was the main channel of communication for many years, but
the increase in other technological advertising methods has decreased its usage tremendously.
There are some advantages to using newspaper advertising that the marketing team should be
aware of before they make their final decision.

Magazines
A magazine is a publication, usually a periodical publication, which is printed or electronically published
(sometimes referred to as an online magazine). Magazines are generally published on a regular schedule
and contain a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising,
One of the benefits of using magazine advertising for Ninja Corp. would be the ability to target
specialized markets. For example, they could advertise in martial arts magazines. The cost is high,
and they have to deal with long lead times to get their message out to the audience.

Radio
Radio is the technology of using radio waves to carry information, such as sound, by
systematically modulating properties of electromagnetic energy waves transmitted through space,
such as their amplitude, frequency, phase, or pulse width.

Television
Television can be a tremendous force for good. It can educate great numbers of people about the
world around them. It can show us how much we have in common with our neighbours, near and
far. And, it can shed light on the dark corners, where ignorance and hatred fester. The television
industry is also in a unique position to promote mutual understanding and tolerance - with content
that tells the stories not just about the powerful, but about the powerless, and not just about life in
the worlds richest pockets, but also in the developing countries that are home to the majority of the
worlds population.

Digital media

Digital media, which includes photos, video and music, distributed over the Internet, which are either
non-copyrighted or copyrighted materials provided either freely or for a fee.

What is Genre Theory?

A film genre is a motion picture category based on similarities in either the narrative elements or the
emotional response to the film (namely, serious, comic, etc.). Most theories of film genre are borrowed
from literary genre criticism. The basic genres include fiction and documentary, from which subgenres
have emerged, such as docufiction and docudrama

Meanings.
How do media use different forms of language to convey ideas or
meanings?

Conventions.
How do these uses of language become familiar and generally
accepted?

Codes.
How are the grammatical rules of media established? What happens
when they are broken?
Genres.
How do these conventions and codes operate in different types of
media texts
such as news or horror?

Choices.
What are the effects of choosing certain forms of language such as
a particular type of camera shot?

Combinations.
How is meaning conveyed through the combination or sequencing of
images, sounds or words?

Multimedia is content that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio,
images, animations, video and interactive content. Multimedia contrasts with media that use only
rudimentary computer displays such as text-only or traditional forms of printed or hand-produced
material.

Multimedia can be recorded and played, displayed, interacted with or accessed by information
content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of
a live performance. Multimedia devices are electronic media devices used to store and
experience multimedia content.

Technologies.
How do technologies affect the meanings that can be created?
technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems
is a simple definition;
the current state of humanitys knowledge of how to combine resources to produce
desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants is a more complex and
grandiose definition (and has a smugness about it that I think is undeserved technology
often does the opposite of satisfy wants, for instance.).
In terms of educational technology we have to consider a broad definition of technology. The technology
of the Internet involves more than just a collection of tools, but a system that combines computers,
telecommunications, software and rules and procedures or protocols.

text: textbooks, novels, poems

graphics: diagrams, photographs, drawings, posters, graffiti
audio: sounds, speech
video: television programs, YouTube clips, talking heads
computing: animation, simulations, online discussion forums, virtual worlds.