1a - Theorist questions on digi-tech, creativity, research and planning, post production, or codes and conventions.
1b - media language, narrative, genre, etc.
Q2 - Youth culture question, how they're represented in the media.
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Audience theory
Encoding/Decoding
Encoding is when you create something with a meaning, like using colour connotations in an image.
Decoding is when the audience takes in those codes and breaks them down, like when you see red and you think things like; passion, violence, rage or blood.
Hypothermic Needle Effect
Gamsci's Theory
Gamsci believed that the media influences the audience to follow the status quo. The media is used to enforce the support of a government.
Hegemony
Reception Theory
Readers/Viewers/Audiences reception of texts.
Stuart Hall developed the theory that readers have opinions in what they take in from the media, meanings can be opinionated and negotiated.
Two Step Flow
The media we watch has an effect on the information we get.
The uses and Gratifications Model
The base functions of mass communication: surveillance, correlation, transmissions, entertainment,
Surveillance of the environment refers to the medias collection and distribution of information, for example the news tells you its cold so you wear a coat.
Correlation of parts of society refers to the medias interpretations and analytical activities. For example when a charity appears on television that tells you about environmental damage so you donate to save the environment. To convey messages on the outside world.
Transmissions are when the media transmits the social heritage or norms to the audience. For example watching downtown abbey would transmit the social hierarchy to the people watching. It transmits values telling the audience who people are through the connotations.
Entertainment is the ability entertain or amuse audiences, basically keep the viewers happy. For example cartoons are made to entertain young children for hours on end.
Blumler and Katz five base assumptions.
1. The audience is active, the audience has goals in mind when looking to consume mediated information.
2. In mass communication audiences use their own initiative to a degree. We choose what we want to consume specifically, we don't sit by and watch whatever comes on.
3. The media competes with other activities in your life to keep your attention for as long as possible. The media tries to keep you from eating, sleeping, exercising, and even other forms of media.
4. Many of the goals of mass media use can be derived from data supplied by individual audience members themselves.
5. A value judgement on mass media products is null as there are others who would disagree with those judgements, if you don't like something then you should at least try to understand why others would consume those forms of media.
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Genre Theory
Steve Neal:
'Genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations' or more simply referred to as repetition with variety, he is essentially saying that genres are a set of rules that can be used repeatedly but with some differences to make it original.
Steve argues that 'pleasure is derived from repetition and difference', which means doing something you like time and time again will keep you happy as long as you are doing that good thing and having different events occur, making it a new experience.
Daniel Chandler:
Genre is defined by the conventions that various texts share that are considered as the same "genre".
John Hartley:
The same text can be part of several genres. This is supported by the existence of sub-genres and/or hybrid genres.
David Buckingham:
'Genre isn't simply given by the culture; its more like a constant process of negotiation and change.' This is David basically saying that genre is something that isn't set by a culture, its used as a base with room for compromise.
This is supported by Tom Ryall's quote that states; 'Genre provides a framework of structuring rules, in the shape of patterns which act as a form of "supervision" over the work of production of filmmakers and the wok of reading by the audience.'
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Narrative theory
Film Structures
Linear Structure - ABCD
Non Linear - CABD
Binary Opposition - Levi-Strauss
Focusing on the different sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of the media texts.
Stages of a Story - Equilibrium Theory - Todorov
Equilibrium --> Disruption --> Conflict --> Climax --> New Equilibrium
Character Theory - Propps
The Hero - the character who brings equilibrium to the world
The Villain - the enemy who will interfere with the equilibrium and the hero's plans, an obstacle
The Dispatcher - the one who sends the hero on there way to regaining equilibrium, usually a father/father figure
The Donor/Mentor - the donor gives the hero something to help him/her/them on their journey
The Helper - an ally to the hero
The Heroine - usually a love interest that is passive and is threatened by the villain
The False Hero - essentially a traitor
Barthes Enigma Code
A question that is presented to he audience that is answered at a media texts conclusion.
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Media Language
Preface - How meanings in media texts are created.
Ferdinand de Saussure - the signifier and signified
The signifier is what is there to provide the meanings, signified is referring to what we associate with the signifier. For example the colour green is the signifier and to a driver it signifies that they should go.
Iconic signs are signs that look like what they mean, an obvious sign.
Indexical signs are signs that have a connection to something else, for example smoke means fire was there.
Symbolic signs are signs that have disconnected meanings where they don't have a logical connection to what they mean. For example the love heart means love but real hearts aren't loving at all. metaphorical signs.
Roland Barthes - denotations and connotations
A denotation is something that is in the media text, an object in the world of the text. Connotations are the meanings he audience tale away from that object.
Connotations are different from the signifier and signified because the signified is a singular meaning, but connotations have multiple possible meanings.
Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding
Media texts have intended messages for the audience to pick up on, the messages themselves are encoded by the author or maker, etc, the meanings are then decoded by the audience.
This theory is more about personal values rather than literal signs and meanings.
Preferred meaning is when the audience gets the intended meanings from the text
Negotiated meanings are when the audience is partly accepted
Oppositional readings are when the meanings are completely rejected.
Chekov's Gun
Polysemy - When something has many possible meanings
Juxtaposition - contrasting meanings, for example a gift is a good thing but a bomb is inside which is bad.
Anchorage - to hold meanings to something, for example if headlines and captions anchor meanings to things, like if lady gaga were to appear on a gaming website; people would be intrigued and then see the headline that justifies her presence on the website.
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Subjects of the Questions (Prepare For Each of These)
Digi-tech: Talk about improvements in final cut pro from AS to A2. Use of more sophisticated technology like the Roxio capture system and improved skills in adobe photoshop.
Use of blogger and apps to demonstrate organisational skills
Creativity: Talk about the colour schemes of the website as apposed to the darker, more dramatic tone of the short film.
Tonal shift from comedic drama, to pure entertainment
Research and Planning: The inspirations for the short film and the website.
How specifically and how efficiently did I study for the A2 and AS tasks.
Use of blogger and apps to demonstrate organisational skills.
Post-Production: Talk about the production of video content to accompany the websites written content.
The editing style of the short film compared to the gaming videos.
Codes and Conventions: The use of colour coordination.
Use of stereotypes and character archetypes.
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