Introduction to AS Introduction to AS MediaMediaG322G322 Key Media ConceptsKey Media Concepts

What is ‘Media’? What is ‘Media’?

• Spend 2 minutes with the person next to you and come up with a list of everything you consider

‘‘MediaMedia’.’.

• Now try and come up with a definition of what you

think ‘MediaMedia’ is.

AS MediaAS Media

(Clue: Think of what the verb “to mediate” means)

What is the similarity between a fortune teller with a crystal ball & the way the media world works?

KEY WORDS:

Mediation: the process by which an institution or individual or a technology comes between events that happen in the world and the audience who receive this re-presentation.

The Media:The Media:The media tries to present what is real (Versimilitude) but what tends to happen is visual ‘refraction’.

A media theorist Jean Baudrillard calls this ‘hyper reality’ in which the media creates an artificial or heightened reality.

KEY WORDS:

Verisimilitude: the quality of seeming like what is taken to be the real world of a particular text.

Decoding: the understandings taken from and brought to the text by the audience, the ways the text is understood.

The Media has been ‘The Media has been ‘constructedconstructed’ – very few can ’ – very few can decodedecode the messages! the messages!

Refraction: Refraction:

• I’ve taken what is a seemingly real image of myself (versimilitude)

• However it is clear that this is an artificially constructed image of me (Baudrillard)

• This is a refracted version of myself.

Task: Task:

• In pairs Download the app – ‘Youcam perfect’ onto one of your phones (girls you might want to add ‘YoucamMakeUp’).

• Take a picture of yourself and then use the app to manipulate the image.

• Email to images to me – cd@westgate.slough.sch.uk

Being Analytical: Being Analytical:

• P P - point- point• E E – evidence– evidence• T T – terminology – terminology • E E – explain – explain

Critical ObserversCritical Observers

Through studying Media you will be able to...

• Analyse a media product.

• Understand why it has been constructed in this way.

• Understand how it may have been manipulated or biased in some way & why.

• Question what you read/hear/see.

InterpretationInterpretation:

InterpretationInterpretation:

The word swastika came from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote

auspiciousness, or any piece of luck or well-being. It

is composed of su- meaning "good, well"

and asti "being". Suasti thus means "well-being."

KEY WORDS:

Ideology: The opinions, beliefs and ways of thinking characteristics of a particular person, group or nation.

Polysemic: Different individuals can interpret different meanings from the text.

L.O:L.O: Understand how we Understand how we create meaning through the create meaning through the deconstruction of media deconstruction of media textstexts. . G322G322 Key Media ConceptsKey Media Concepts

All media texts have 2 layers of meaning:

Signifier (aka Denotation): What we actually see.

Signifies (aka Connotation): What you associate with this image – the deeper or hidden meanings and

associations.

KEY WORDS:

Semiology/Semiotics: the study of the meanings of signs

Decoding: Decoding:

How Do We Read Signs?How Do We Read Signs?

• Signifier (Denotation): Red rose with a green

stem. • Signifies (Connotation): a symbol of passion and

love - this is what the rose represents.

KEY WORDS:

Roland Barthes Deconstruction Theory: French literary theorist, critic and philosopher who applied semiotic analysis to cultural and media forms.

How Do We Read Signs?How Do We Read Signs? KEY WORDS:

Roland Barthes Deconstruction Theory: French literary theorist, critic and philosopher who applied semiotic analysis to cultural and media forms.

Facial Expressions:• Shows the emotions /

mood connected with the character or film

How Do We Read Signs?How Do We Read Signs? KEY WORDS:

Roland Barthes Deconstruction Theory: French literary theorist, critic and philosopher who applied semiotic analysis to cultural and media forms.

Body Language:• Shows the emotions /

mood connected with the character or film

How Do We Read Signs?How Do We Read Signs? KEY WORDS:

Roland Barthes Deconstruction Theory: French literary theorist, critic and philosopher who applied semiotic analysis to cultural and media forms.

Lighting:• Lighting can create an

atmosphere, can highlight certain features, or make something seem special.

How Do We Read Signs?How Do We Read Signs?KEY WORDS:

Roland Barthes Deconstruction Theory: French literary theorist, critic and philosopher who applied semiotic analysis to cultural and media forms.

Lighting:• Size, style and colour of the words gives

meaning to the product

• Dominant (or 'hegemonic') reading: the reader fully shares the text's code and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading.

• Negotiated reading: the reader partly shares the text's code and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes resists and modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests.

• Oppositional ('counter-hegemonic') reading: the reader, whose social situation places them in a directly oppositional relation to the dominant code, understands the preferred reading but does not share the text's code and rejects this reading, bringing to bear an alternative frame of reference (radical, feminist etc.)

Stuart Hall – Receptive Theory Stuart Hall – Receptive Theory

Reading Meaning: Reading Meaning:

Change the anchorage…

• How does this change the meaning?

Reading Meaning: Reading Meaning:

Media texts can be POLYSEMIC in nature. (Different individuals can interpret different meanings from the text).

• What are the signifier’s?

• What does this signify?

• What anchorage is used? – How does this effect the meaning?

• Is there any polysemic interpretations you could get from the texts?

Reading Meaning:Reading Meaning: KEY WORDS:

Enigma Code: – Signs in a media text raise questions to the audience which encourages us to keep on watching because we want to find out if we will get the answers to those questions during the programme/series.

L.O: To be able to L.O: To be able to understand the understand the

characteristics of characteristics of Stereotyping. Stereotyping. G322G322 Key Media ConceptsKey Media Concepts

StereotypesStereotypes

In pairs see if you can work out the different stereotypes in this picture. Try to link them to a specific group of people.

I.E – Hippy

• A media representation is not 100% accurate. It is a RE-PRESENTATION that has been CONSTRUCTED. (Refraction)

RepresentationRepresentation KEY WORDS:

Verisimilitude: the quality of seeming like what is taken to be the real world of a particular text.

• The media gives us ways of imagining particular groups/ identities/situations

• We become familiar with these groups.

• Stereotypes are widely circulated ideas or assumptions – this can be quite derogative as it limits our understanding and can lead to prejudice.

Stereotypes:Stereotypes: KEY WORDS:

Branston and Stafford: These theorists said ‘stereotypes are widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups.

Stereotype Definitions: Stereotype Definitions:

• StereotypesMedia Institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. Think of stereotypes as a ‘visual shortcut’. They’re repeated so often that we assume they are normal or ‘true’.

• Task – Think of a stereotypical representation of Scotland or O.A.P’s

• ArchetypesThis is the ‘ultimate’ stereotype. For example, the white stiletto wearing, big busted, brainless blonde bimbo

• Countertype A representation that challenges tradition stereotypical associations of groups, people or places

KEY WORDS:

Cultivation Theory: George Gerbner believed that the more time people spend ‘living’ in the television, the more they are to believe social reality portrayed on television. The Cultivation Theory leaves people with a misconstrued perception of what is true in our world.

Stereotype Characteristics:

1. Categorises and evaluates a group

2. Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position (i.e. women are not equal to men because they are weak and emotional.

3. Often (though not always) negative

KEY WORDS:

Framing: The media’s way of categorising groups like an image. It only ever represents the ‘real’ world at a distant and in a particular way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZB6q_RLHRU#t=441

Categorises and evaluates a group

Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

Categorises and evaluates a group

Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

Categorises and evaluates a group

Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

Categorises and evaluates a group

Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

Categorises and evaluates a group

Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

Categorises and evaluates a group

Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

Categorises and evaluates a group

Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

1. What view of people or issues is conveyed to audiences? – positive/negative?

2. How is that view conveyed?

3. How far are audiences positioned to take up a preferred view (and how far might audiences adopt oppositional or negotiated interpretations)?

4. How far do the representations establish a framework for people’s values, attitudes and beliefs?

The Representation of The Representation of Stereotypes: Stereotypes: