Key Media Concepts

FORMS

Genre

-Iconography- Hybrids- Subgenre- Codes and conventions

Genre Debate: Is genre good or bad? Innovation Vs Formula? Is genre only a vehicle for marketing?

Narrative.Linear narrative, cause and effect.Multi layered narrative – e.g. soap opera, cliff hangers and mini resolutions, character, theme, props

Media Language

AudioBeds, levels, fades, mix

Moving image: Mise-en-scene, lighting, sound, editing, camera shots and movement

PrintImage, caption, columns, font, eye line match

WebLinks, buttons, navigation, image

Institutions

Commercial Funded by advertising

Regulation & LawOFCOM, BBFC, Monopolies and Mergers, Press Complaints Commission

SubscriptionConsumers pay to receive the channel

ConglomeratesVertical and Horizontal integration

Institution Debate:Concentration of ownership and the link to control. Who has power over media institutions?

Audiences

Target Audience

Mode of AddressHow is the target audience being appealed to?

Audience Debate:Are audiences Active or Passive?

Audience SegmentationRace, gender, age, class, subculture, sexuality

Audience ResponsesIdentification, aspiration, gratification, participation,

Representations

Stereotypes & Countertypes

Proportionate or Disproportionate?

The SubjectWhat is being represented? – Gender, race, age, class, subculture, sexuality

RealismIs the text attempting to represent something as real?

InterpretationDo you read the text according to dominant ideology, or is there an alternative reading?

Ideology & ValuesDoes a text represent dominant or alternative ideology?