Media Studies and Film Theory Practice Flashcards

These flashcards provide essential vocabulary and definitions from the lecture notes, covering media language, film techniques, semiotic theories, and documentary styles.

Media Language

The visual language of media including images, layout, colour, and shapes used to influence opinions, shape norms, and affect behavior.

Symbols

Key elements of media language used to convey complex ideas and concepts.

Codes

Media elements including cinematography, sounds, editing, and mise en scene.

Narratives

The way a story is told, which can be linear, non-linear, circular, interactive, or fragmented.

Ferdinand de Saussure

Linguist who laid the foundation of semiotics, defining a sign as the combination of a signifier and a signified.

Signifier

The physical part of a sign or the external stimulus, such as an object we see or hear.

Signified

The psychological part of a sign or the internal mental concept provoked in the mind by the signifier.

Polysemic

A characteristic of signs having many possible meanings depending on cultural ideas, media forms, and context.

Diegetic Sound

Sound that characters within the film world can hear.

Non-diegetic Sound

Sound that only the audience hears and is not heard by the characters, such as an eerie theme.

Parallel Sound

Sound that fits the mood or action of a scene.

Contrapuntal Sound

Sound that clashes with or contrasts the visuals of a scene.

Hyperbolic Sound

Sound that is over-the-top and unrealistic for effect.

Metonymic Meaning

A relationship based on association where one part is mentioned but refers to the whole, such as 'the press' for journalists.

Denotation

The primary direct 'given' literal meaning a sign has.

Connotation

The secondary indirect meaning derived from what a sign suggests based on cultural associations.

Enigma Code

A principal structuring device by Roland Barthes that sparks audience interest by withholding and strategically delaying narrative information.

Action (Proairetic) Code

Signs belonging to patterns of actions that make up the narrative, signifying decisions rather than just movement.

Symbolic Code

Refers to the way audience reception is determined by organizing experience into patterns of antitheses like good/bad or hero/villain.

Cultural (Referential) Code

References to a body of shared assumptions and things already 'known' and codified by a particular culture.

Documentary

Defined by John Grierson as 'The creative treatment of actuality' where the filmmaker shapes and interprets real life.

Social Actors

Real people being themselves in a documentary rather than fictional characters.

Mockumentary

A fictional story presented as a documentary for the purpose of satire or comedy, such as 'The Office'.

Pseudo-documentary

Fiction presented in a documentary style to feel real, often used in horror or thrillers, such as 'found footage'.

Focalisation

When the viewer adopts the point of view of a specific character to develop empathy.

Continuity Style

A style of shooting and editing geared toward making film narratives easier to understand by making the camerawork and editing unobtrusive.

Three-Act Structure

A narrative framework consisting of Act I (Setup), Act II (Plot thickens), and Act III (Resolution).

High Key Lighting

Lighting that features bright, even illumination and few conspicuous shadows.

Low Key Lighting

Lighting that features diffused shadows and atmospheric pools of light.

Oblique Angle

A shot where the camera is tilted laterally, also known as canted or Dutch angles.

Telephoto Lens

A lens that draws objects closer but diminishes the illusion of depth.

Wide-angle Lens

A lens that takes in a broad area and increases the illusion of depth but may distort image edges.

Leitmotif

A recurring musical theme associated with a particular character, place, or idea, such as Darth Vader’s theme.

Asynchronous Sound

Music or sound that does not correspond directly to the action, often adding irony or emotional complexity.

Omniscient Narration

An unseen narrator whose voice carries absolute authority and claims to deliver truth without a personal perspective.

Foley Process

A process created by Jack Foley where artists match and record sound effects (like footsteps) to the projected film image.

Walla

The term used for background crowd noises in a movie or television show.

Auteur Theory

A theory originating from 1950s France suggesting the director is the true 'author' of a film, marked by consistent themes and visual style.

Animation

A mode of filmmaking creating the illusion of movement from static images where every element is deliberately constructed.