Media: Summary of Key Theory and Terminology

Laura Barsby

How the camera angle can represent a character. If the camera is at a high angle looking down on the character/s it will make them look small. If the camera is at a low angle looking up it can show the character is dominant and confident. If the angle is neither of these it will be a mid angle. The focus and framing on a character can show how important a character is. How the costume can represent a character. The colours that a character wears can show their personality. If the character is supposed to be particularly rich or poor this could be shown through what they wear. The same goes for age groups and different cultural groups. A lot of this is based on stereotypes. How the mise-en-scene can represent a character. The mise-en-scene has a lot to do with how a character is shown. This could be the colour most prominent within a scene or a set or the dcor around the character. Props could also give things away about the characters personality. How a place can be represented. Representation isnt exclusively about a person or people, a place will be represented in a certain way too. The lighting and editing helps to achieve this.

Representation

Sound: Non Diegetic, Diegetic, Asynchronous, Contrapuntal. Camera: Birds eye view, High angle, Low angle, Extreme long shot, Long shot, Mid shot, Close up, Extreme Close up, Panning, Tracking. Codes: Actions and Enigma Codes. Narrative: Non-Linear and Linear.

Media Language

What is a target audience? Every film or television programme will have a certain target audience and this can be as broad or as small as the company decide. How an audience can be reached. There are certain things within a film or television programme that will interest certain people and these will need to be maximised and advertised in order to reach the audience. They need to be able to sympathise and relate to the characters within the show.

Audience

Action Films, Biographical Films, Animated Films, Adventure Films, Comedy Films, Detective & Mystery Films, Childrens /Family-Oriented Films, Crime & Gangster Films, Disaster Films, Classic Films, Fantasy Films, Epics/Historical Films, Horror Films, Musicals (Dance) Films, Science Fiction Films, War (Anti-War) Films, Romance Films, Westerns.

Genre

The narrative of a film or show is the storyline and the plot. The story can be set out in a linear, chronological way or in a non -linear way. What happens, the characters, interruptions, problems, reasons, cause and effect, the beginning, middle and end, redemption, outcome.

Narrative