MIL ♡ 3

Disseminating Information

Media Codes and Convention

• Symbolic Codes

• Technical Codes

• Written Codes

• Conventions

Symbolic Codes

• Setting

• Mis en Scene

• Acting

• Color

Technical Codes

• Camerawork

• Editing

• Audio

• Lighting

Written Codes

• Printed Language

• Spoken Language

Conventions

• Form Conventions

• Story Conventions

• Genre Conventions

Symbolic Codes

• codes that are social in nature

• these codes exist outside media product themselves

• would be understood by audience in general

Setting

• time and place of the narrative

• where the story or a specific scene took place

Mise En Scene

• French term that means

  • everything within the frame

• all the objects within a frame the way they are arranged

• set design, costume, props, staging, & composition

Acting

• ____ portray a variety of characters that contribute to character development

  • creating tension or interpreting the narrative

• elements: facial expression, body language, vocal qualities, movement, & body contact

Color

• has strong cultural connotations

• dominant color, contrasting foils, & color

  symbolism

Technical Codes

• The second kind of codes are specific to a media form and do not live as a separate entity.

• To help you analyze this, look at different camera shots and their connotations in films and photographs.

Camerawork

• how the camera is operated, positioned, and moved to achieve certain effects

  • positioning

  • movement

  • framing

  • exposure

  • choice of lens

Editing

• process of choosing, manipulating, and arranging images and sound

• done for:

  • graphic edits

  • rhythmic edits

  • spatial edits

  • temporal edits

Audio

• using sound expressively or naturalistically

• three aspects:

  • dialogue

  • sound effects

  • music

Lighting

• either natural or artificial

• to selectively highlight specific elements of certain scenes

• one of the important elements of media

• elements:

  • quality

  • direction

  • source

  • color

Written Codes

• code that is written

• usually includes formal written language used in media

• used to interpret a narrative and communicate information regarding a character

  • printed and spoken languages

Conventions

• to use media codes in some sort of a norm

• where it is accepted by everybody, there has to be a convention

• closely connected to what the audience expects

  from media

Form Conventions

• distinct ways that audiences expect codes to be

  arranged in media

  • title of the film at the beginning

  • credits at the end

Story Conventions

• common narrative structures and expectations from media

• examples:

  • narrative structures

  • cause and effect

  • character construction

  • point of view

Genre Conventions

• common use of tropes, characters, settings or themes in a certain media

• can be formal or thematic