Media Codes, Conventions & Language PDF

CODES, CONVENTIONS & LANGUAGE OF MEDIA  CONTENTS Media Codes a. Symbolic codes b. Technical codes c. Written codes Conventions What is happening in the picture?  MEDIA CODES AND CONVENTIONS Media codes and conventions are like building blocks of all the medi...

CODES, CONVENTIONS & LANGUAGE OF MEDIA  CONTENTS Media Codes a. Symbolic codes b. Technical codes c. Written codes Conventions What is happening in the picture?  MEDIA CODES AND CONVENTIONS Media codes and conventions are like building blocks of all the media around us. All media messages are constructed using a particular set of codes and conventions. Media Codes are the technical, written and symbolic tools used to construct or suggest meaning in media forms and products. Media Conventions are rules or generally accepted ways of constructing form and informing meaning in media products. They can be form, story or genre conventions. What do you think this place is? What made you say so?  SYMBOLIC CODES These are the codes that show what is beneath the surface of what we see. They represent reality. What this means is that these codes live outside the media product themselves, but would be understood in similar ways in the ‘real life’ of the audience. For instance, happiness in a movie is not real happiness for an actor but a representation of it for the audience. Therefore, the tools of representation are signs that make audiences experience this re-presented reality. In media, symbolic codes include setting, mise en scene, acting and color. SETTING Time and place of the narrative or of the film including other additional factors such as climate, landscape, people, and codes of behavior. Can be as small as a room or as big as a field. It can also be a created space just like a studio. It provides answers and understanding to the audience. For example, if a movie is set in New York City, then an opening scene in New York Times Square or the Statue of Liberty can achieve that idea. SETTING Suppose the photograph below is used as the opening scene of a film. Describe it as the setting. What kind of film do you think will be shown? What do you expect the characters will look like? How about their costume? MISE-EN-SCENE It refers to the description of all objects within a frame of the media product and their arrangement. It includes: the positioning and movement of actors on the set, which is called blocking the look or style of a film as well as the mood or atmosphere in a whole film or an individual scene. All the visual elements in a frame including the set design, lighting, space and shot selection, costume and make-up.  MISE-EN-SCENE Analyze the mise-en-scene of the photograph on the right. 1. Based on the set design, what is the mood of the film? What can we expect from the film? 2. What effect does the lighting have on the over-all mood of the scene? 3. Comment on the space and the shot. Why is it focused this way? 4. What do the costumes of the character suggest? Elaborate. ACTING It refers to the actors’ portrayal of characters in media products. It contributes to character development, creating tension or advancing the narrative. An actor’s performance in a film consists of visual elements (appearance, gestures, facial expression) and sound (voice and effects). The character the actor creates is essential to the narrative of the film. The actor portrays a character through facial expression, body language, vocal qualities, movement and body contact. ACTING 1. Describe the facial expression and body language of the actor. 2. Based on the action of the character, what do you think is happening in this scene? 3. What mood does the actor’s over-all acting show?  It is often referred to as the explicit convention when reading any media publication or watching a media text.. COLOR When studying the use of color in a media product, creators look at dominant colors, contrasting foils and color symbolism. Color grading as an editing technique has a psychological effect on an audience’s reading of a narrative. For example, Golden tones of Westerns and Grey wash tones for colder environments and large cities. In film, color is used to set the tone of the scene before any of the actors has even muttered a word of dialogue. Red denotes passion, power, love and danger. Pink signifies femininity, innocence, and beauty. Yellow is associated with joy, naivety, and insanity. Blue symbolizes isolation and calmness. Green represents wealth, fertility, growth and nature. Black indicates evil, the unknown and fear. White signifies innocence, purity, honesty, enlightenment and cleanliness.  TECHNICAL CODES Technical codes refer to the codes that are specific to a media form and have definite meaning or connotation. They do not live outside of them. For instance, our understanding of different camera shots and their connotations make sense when we look at films and photographs, but mean nothing to us outside of those forms. In media, technical codes include camerawork, editing, audio, lighting, visual composition and special effect.  CAMERAWORK It refers to how the camera is operated, positioned and moved for specific effects. The way the camera moves, pans, and the way it is positioned including the angle and the framing and the choice of lens help tell the story. Camerawork can provide an insight to the characters and their lives, place importance on or emphasizes certain objects, events, actions, and help set the mood of a scene and/or provide a point of view. CAMERASHOTS CAMERA ANGLES EDITING Editing is the process of choosing, manipulating and arranging images and sounds. It creates the illusion that a film or any media content is unfolding naturally. Editing is done for four different reasons: graphic edits, rhythmic edits, spatial edits and temporal edits. AUDIO/SOUND Audio or sound can provide powerful emotional accompaniment to a film or other media formats such as advertisements or music videos. It enhances realism by reproducing the sounds one would associate with the actions and events depicted visually. DIEGETIC NON-DIEGETIC SPECIAL EFFECTS Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, SPFX, or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in film, television, theatre, video game and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world. LIGHTING Lighting is the use and manipulation of natural or artificial light to selectively highlight specific elements of the scene. It defines the space within the frame, separate foreground from background, create textures, mold shape, reveal or conceal. Elements of lighting include quality, direction, source and color. WRITTEN CODES Written codes are the formal written language used in a media product. Just like technical and symbolic codes, written codes can be used to advance a narrative, communicate information about a character or issues and themes in the media product. TYPOGRAPHY An important design convention of print is typographical style. Typefaces communicate a variety of meaning for the audience. Typography organizes text and creates meaning. This is done through hierarchy or the use of fonts to emphasize some content over others. The best typography is aesthetically pleasing, invites readers into a publication and encourages them to continue reading while not drawing attention to itself. CONVENTIONS Conventions are accepted ways of using media codes. They are closely connected to the audience expectations of a media product. Different types of conventions include FORM CONVENTIONS, STORY CONVENTIONS, and GENRE CONVENTIONS. Form conventions are the certain ways we expect types of media codes are arranged. For instance an audience expects to have a title of the film at the beginning, and then credits at the end. Newspapers will have a masthead, the most important news on the front page and sports news on the back page. Video games usually start with a tutorial to explain the mechanics of how the game works. CONVENTIONS STORY CONVENTIONS Story conventions are common narrative structures and understandings that are common in story telling media products. Examples of story conventions include narrative structures, cause and effect, character construction and point of view. GENRE CONVENTIONS Genre conventions point to the common use of tropes, characters, settings or themes in a particular type of medium. Genre conventions are closely linked with audience expectations. Genre conventions can be formal or thematic.