Introduction to Media Studies

How are we assessed?

Component 1 - Exam. 35% of your grade

Component 2 - Exam. 35% of your grade

Component 3 - Coursework. 30% of your grade

Component One

Section A: Analysing Media Language and Representation

Q1 - Unseen Product

Q2 - Unseen Product vs Case Study

Examples of a media form includes advertising, marketing, music videos and newspapers.

Section B: Understanding Media Industries and Audiences

Q1 - Industry

Q2 - Audience

Examples of media form which comes up is advertising, marketing, film, newspapers, radio, videogames and media contexts

Textual Analysis Toolkit 

Advertising

Print

• Codes and conventions
• codes are what things actually are
• conventions are what you expect/connote from a media item
• Layout and design
• the way things are composed and put together
• Composition
• how things are put together
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif), colour 
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• everything in the scene
• means 'put in scene'
• Graphics, logos etc.
• Language – slogan/tagline and copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• meaning is weighed down by media language
• Elements of narrative
• Connotation
• what you infer from media language
• a deeper word or meaning of a piece of media language

Moving image

• Codes and conventions
• codes are what things actually are
• conventions are what you expect/connote from a media item
• Camera work – framing, shot types, angle, position, movement
• Editing – pace, type of edits, continuity/montage Structure/narrative
• Sound – music/dialogue/voiceover 
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• everything in the scene
• means 'put in scene'

Advertising

• Advertising does not sell a product!
• Adverts sell an idea or an illusion.
• Adverts sell a lifestyle which is desirable by the target audience.

Brioni Roma Advert

• Adverts sell a lifestyle which is desirable by the target audience.
• simplistic mise-en-scene makes the model the main focus
• colour scheme (black and white) is a masculine colour scheme, however also makes the brand appear luxurious
• top button being undone appeals to a bachelors and makes the model look seductive
• Italian name gives luxury high-end power connotation to it
• serif font which is classy

Roland Barthes - Semiotics

• A sign is anything that can have meaning.
• For example, a tree is a sign.
• A signifier is anything that can create meaning.
• A signification is a deeper meaning