Key Concepts of Media Studies

Media forms and conventions

Form

Form can be explained in relation to the shape or skeleton of a text and in this way is often linked to the narrative

Stories have forms

Forms of soap operas: continuous, multi-stranded storylines, individual episodes frequently ending with a cliffhanger

Micro elements of text: mise-en-scene, editing, cinematography and sound

Think…

What are the forms of:

Action films?

Horror films?

Chick flicks?

What usually happens in the story structure??

Style

Distinctive look of the media text

Ex: individual style of a particular director

Distinctive use of mise-en-scene, lighting, music, camera angles, movement, framing, editing.

Guess!

Tim Burton style (charlie and the chocolate factory, corpse bride, etc)

Alfred Hitchcock (vertigo, psycho, etc)

Steven Speilberg (Jurassic park, jaws, etc)

Genre

A category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content

In media terminology it can be judged by the codes, conventions, mise-en-scene and the style of the media content

Texts from different mediums may belong to the same genre (e.g. a TV programme like Dr Who and a comic book like The Incredible Hulk can both be categorized as Science Fiction.)

Genre does not rely simply on what's in a media text but also on the way it is put together (constructed). This can be important, for example, when distinguishing between a horror movie and a thriller, which can deal with similar subject matter, and look the same — lots of action set at night — but belong to separate genres (a horror film takes the audience into a supernatural place, where a thriller sticks to reality).

Deduce

Conventions

The characteristic ‘ingredients’ of a particular genre and the elements which make it recognizable can be defined as ‘conventions’.

The provide a common link to a group of films/drama/etc.

Ex: soap operas will contain rolling storylines,

recognizable characters and consistent settings. They tackle social issues and have series of episodes.

Horror: females confronting the evil

Further reading

http://www.slideshare.net/andywallis/media-language-6842843