Media Language

What Media Language covers

Media Language is examined in both written papers — the four areas of the theoretical framework and the contexts run through every section of the course, and are applied to whichever set products a centre has chosen. It covers signs, codes and conventions; the media language of audio-visual products (camera, mise-en-scène, editing and sound), of print (layout, typography and image) and of audio and online products; how selection and combination make meaning; and how developing technologies change the language of the media. It also covers Barthes and semiotics, Todorov and narrative structure, Neale and genre theory, genre as dynamic and historically relative, hybridity and subversion, Lévi-Strauss and binary opposition, pastiche, parody and other forms of intertextuality, Baudrillard and hyperreality, media language as a carrier of viewpoints and ideology, and how audiences interpret media language.

The 16 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Signs, codes and conventions in media languageRecall questions on what media language is, technical, symbolic and written codes, the difference between a code and a convention, form and genre conventions, polysemy, and multimodal products.Open →
• Audio-visual media language: camera, mise-en-scène, editing and soundRecall questions on mise-en-scène, camera angles and close-ups, high-key and low-key lighting, handheld camerawork, continuity editing and the 180-degree rule, cross-cutting, jump cuts, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and colour.Open →
• Print media language: layout, typography and imageRecall questions on the masthead, cover lines, the splash, standfirsts, straplines and pull quotes, the dominant image and direct address, serif and sans serif typefaces, white space, grids, colour palettes and photographic cropping.Open →
• Audio and online media languageRecall questions on the modes available to radio, idents, actuality and music beds, mode of address and signposting, and online language including hypertext, navigation menus, algorithmic feeds, hashtags, interactivity and vertical captioned video.Open →
• Combination and selection: how elements work together to make meaningRecall questions on paradigm and syntagm, selection and combination, juxtaposition and the Kuleshov effect, how music, headlines and ordering change the meaning of images, and why omission matters.Open →
• Developing technologies and the changing language of the mediaRecall questions on how digital cameras, computer-generated imagery, on-demand viewing, phone footage, small screens, silent autoplay and virtual reality have changed media language, and on user-generated content and fabricated images.Open →
• Barthes, semiotics and the making of mythRecall questions on semiotics, signifier and signified, denotation and connotation, how myth turns culture into common sense, and the criticisms made of the model.Open →
• Todorov, narratology and narrative structureRecall questions on Todorov's equilibrium, disruption, transformation and new equilibrium, the five-stage version of the model, its fit with serials and its criticisms, and enigmas, non-linear, multi-strand and cliffhanger narratives.Open →
• Neale, genre theory and the intertextual relayRecall questions on Neale's genre theory: repetition and difference, genre as a process, the generic corpus, the intertextual relay, generic and cultural verisimilitude, what genre offers producers and audiences, and the criticisms of the approach.Open →
• Genre as dynamic and historically relativeRecall questions on why genre changes over time, how social change and audience expectation reshape conventions, and why a once-shocking convention becomes ordinary.Open →
• Hybridity and the subversion of genre conventionsRecall questions on genre hybrids and their commercial risk, what subverting a convention means and achieves, revisionist treatments and parody, and how breaking conventions can carry an ideological message.Open →
• Lévi-Strauss, structuralism and binary oppositionRecall questions on structuralism and Lévi-Strauss's study of myth, binary oppositions and their ideological weight, mediating figures, applying binaries to a superhero narrative, and why the method is called reductive and ahistorical.Open →
• Intertextuality: pastiche, parody and the varieties of referenceRecall questions on intertextuality and its origin in Kristeva and Bakhtin, allusion, pastiche, parody and homage, remakes, adaptations and franchises, generic intertextuality, metatextual products, and why advertising borrows references.Open →
• Baudrillard, postmodernism and hyperrealityRecall questions on postmodernism and Baudrillard's ideas of simulation, simulacra, hyperreality and implosion, how reality television and curated social media profiles illustrate them, bricolage, and the criticisms of his position.Open →
• Media language, viewpoints and ideologyRecall questions on ideology, dominant ideology and hegemony, how wording, camera position, framing and selection carry a viewpoint, naturalisation, absence, and counter-ideological media language.Open →
• How audiences interpret media languageRecall questions on polysemy, Stuart Hall's preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings, media literacy and genre knowledge, how context and social position shape decoding, and why codes date.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Media Language further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Denotation vs Connotation

  Denotation: the literal, descriptive level of a sign: what is straightforwardly there before any associations are added. Connotation: The cultural associations, thoughts and feelings a sign carries beyond its literal meaning.

• Code vs Convention

  Code: a system of signs whose meanings are broadly agreed within a culture, so an audience reads them without being told what they mean. Convention: An expected way of doing something in a media form or genre, established through repeated use.

• Paradigm vs Syntagm

  Paradigm: the set of alternatives a producer could have chosen from at one point, so that the meaning of the choice comes partly from what was rejected. Syntagm: The finished combination of the elements actually chosen, whose meaning arises from how the parts are ordered together.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does the term media language refer to?

   Model answer

   Media language is the whole set of elements a product uses to communicate, including its visual, audio, verbal and written choices, together with the codes and conventions that tell an audience how to read them.

2. 2

   Define the term code as it is used in the analysis of media products.

   Model answer

   A code is a system of signs whose meanings are broadly agreed within a culture, so that an audience can decode them without being told what they mean.

3. 3

   What is the difference between a technical code and a symbolic code?

   Model answer

   Technical codes are meanings created by equipment and process choices such as framing, lighting and editing, while symbolic codes are meanings carried by what is placed before the camera or on the page, such as costume, setting, colour and gesture.

4. 4

   Give an example of a written code and explain what it contributes to a media product.

   Model answer

   A newspaper headline is a written code, and its wording, size and capitalisation push the reader towards a particular attitude to the story before a word of the article is read.

5. 5

   Define the term convention.

   Model answer

   A convention is an expected way of doing something in a media form or genre that has become established through repeated use.

6. 6

   What is the difference between a code and a convention?

   Model answer

   A code is a sign system that carries meaning, whereas a convention is a habitual practice of the form or genre, so low-key lighting is a code that has become a convention of the thriller through repetition.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Media Language revision questions

What does Media Language cover in OCR A-Level Media Studies?

16 subtopics: signs, codes and conventions in media language, audio-visual media language: camera, mise-en-scène, editing and sound, print media language: layout, typography and image, audio and online media language, combination and selection: how elements work together to make meaning, developing technologies and the changing language of the media, barthes, semiotics and the making of myth, todorov, narratology and narrative structure, neale, genre theory and the intertextual relay, genre as dynamic and historically relative, hybridity and the subversion of genre conventions, lévi-strauss, structuralism and binary opposition, intertextuality: pastiche, parody and the varieties of reference, baudrillard, postmodernism and hyperreality, media language, viewpoints and ideology and how audiences interpret media language. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Media Language organised?

By the OCR H409 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.