Visual & Technical Codes • Camera Angles: • Low Angle: Makes the subject look powerful, heroic, or intimidating. • High Angle: Makes the subject look vulnerable, small, or insignificant. • Canted/Dutched Angle: A tilted shot used to suggest unease, madness, or a world out of balance. • Camera Shots: • Extreme Close-Up (ECU): Focuses on a specific detail (eyes, a product logo) to create intense emotion or focus. • Establishing Shot: Usually a Wide Shot at the start to show the setting/context. • Lighting & Color: • High-Key Lighting: Bright and even; used in upbeat ads (perfume, tech) to suggest happiness or clarity. • Low-Key Lighting: Shadows and contrast; suggests mystery, drama, or "gritty" realism. • Color Palette: Warm tones (reds/yellows) suggest comfort or passion; cool tones (blues) suggest clinical precision or sadness. Audio Codes • Diegetic Sound: Sound that exists within the world of the media (e.g., a character speaking, a car door slamming). • Non-Diegetic Sound: Sound added for the audience only (e.g., a dramatic musical score, an omniscient voice-over). • Sound Bridge: When the audio from one scene carries over into the next, creating a link between ideas. Editing & Mise-en-Scène • Continuity Editing: Making the story flow naturally so the audience doesn't notice the cuts. • Jump Cuts: Sudden breaks in time; used in music videos to create energy or a "frenetic" feel. • Mise-en-Scène: Everything in the frame (Props, Costume, Expression, Setting). • Example: A "messy bedroom" mise-en-scène in Submarine tells us about Oliver's internal chaos without saying a word. 2. Core Theorists for Section A You don't need a million theories, just 3-4 that you can apply to anything

Low Angle

Makes the subject look powerful, heroic, or intimidating.

High Angle

Makes the subject look vulnerable, small, or insignificant.

Canted/Dutched Angle

A tilted shot used to suggest unease, madness, or a world out of balance.

Extreme Close-Up (ECU)

Focuses on a specific detail (eyes, a product logo) to create intense emotion or focus.

Establishing Shot

Usually a Wide Shot at the start to show the setting/context.

High-Key Lighting

Bright and even; used in upbeat ads to suggest happiness or clarity.

Low-Key Lighting

Shadows and contrast; suggests mystery, drama, or 'gritty' realism.

Color Palette

Warm tones suggest comfort or passion; cool tones suggest clinical precision or sadness.

Diegetic Sound

Sound that exists within the world of the media (e.g., a character speaking, a car door slamming).

Non-Diegetic Sound

Sound added for the audience only (e.g., a dramatic musical score).

Sound Bridge

When the audio from one scene carries over into the next, creating a link between ideas.

Continuity Editing

Making the story flow naturally so the audience doesn’t notice the cuts.

Jump Cuts

Sudden breaks in time; used in music videos to create energy or a 'frenetic' feel.

Mise-en-Scène

Everything in the frame (Props, Costume, Expression, Setting).

Roland Barthes

Semiotics: Analyze Signifiers and what they Signify; look for "Myths" or hidden meanings.

Stuart Hall

Representation: Media is a construction, not a mirror; examine stereotypes and their subversion.

Liesbet van Zoonen

Feminist Theory: Focus on the representation of the female body as an object to be looked at.

bell hooks

Intersectionality: The struggle to end patriarchal oppression, analyzing race and class with gender.

David Gauntlett

Identity: Media provides tools for audiences to construct their own identities.

Steve Neale

Genre Theory: Genres are instances of Repetition and Difference.