Media & Information Languages – Core Review

Constructedness & Representation

  • Media texts are constructed: deliberately created, framed, edited, and mediated
  • Construction choices shape representation = how reality is re-presented through creator’s perspective
  • Each creator’s ideas & values differ → every media message is unique

“The Medium is the Message” (McLuhan)

  • The medium itself shapes perception of content
  • Some media become the message when they enable otherwise impossible content
  • Key to MIL: recognize each medium’s unique “language” (codes & conventions)

Media Codes

  • Code = system of signs that create meaning
  • Three main types:
    • Symbolic: setting, mise-en-scene, acting, color, clothing, gestures
    • Technical: camerawork, editing, audio, lighting
    • Written: printed or spoken language (text, dialogue, lyrics)

Technical Code Quick Guide

  • Camerawork: shots (EWS, WS, MS, MCU, CU), POV, two-shot, OTS, selective focus, eye/high/low/bird’s/worm’s angles
  • Editing: selection & arrangement of images/sound
  • Audio: dialogue, SFX, music
  • Lighting: quality, direction, source, color

Conventions

  • Convention = accepted way of organizing/using codes; matches audience expectations
  • Categories:
    1. Form conventions – structural norms (e.g., film title → story → end credits; news front-page headline)
    2. Story conventions – narrative patterns (cause-effect, character construction, POV)
    3. Genre conventions – recurring elements that signal genre (horror jump scares, romance meet-cute, etc.)
  • Formats act as templates guiding content & audience targeting (common in TV, radio, digital)

Audience, Producers, Stakeholders

  • Producers: create and distribute content; balance creative, commercial, societal goals
  • Stakeholders: advertisers, governments, owners, critics, activists—fund, regulate, influence media
  • Audience = anyone exposed to the message
    • Mass, niche, primary, secondary
    • Passive vs. active; segmented; global vs. local

Audience Typology

  • The People Assembled – physically/virtually present (concert, stream)
  • The People Addressed – intended/imagined recipients
  • Audience as Happening – event-based reception with real-time interaction
  • Audience as Hearing/Audition – participatory, shaping content (votes, live comments)