What media language is

Overview

Media language, three broad categories of code used in media analysis and combination of elements.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is meant by media language?

   Model answer

   The whole system of signs, codes and conventions through which a media product communicates meaning to its audience.

2. 2

   Why is the word language used for something largely visual?

   Model answer

   Like a language, its elements are learned, shared and rule-governed, so an audience reads them rather than simply seeing them.

3. 3

   What is a code?

   Model answer

   A system of signs whose meanings are agreed within a culture, so that an element carries a meaning beyond itself.

4. 4

   What is a convention?

   Model answer

   An accepted way of doing something in a form or genre, which audiences expect because they have met it repeatedly.

5. 5

   Distinguish a code from a convention.

   Model answer

   A code is the system by which meaning is carried, while a convention is a customary practice within it that audiences have learned to expect.

6. 6

   Name the three broad categories of code used in media analysis.

   Model answer

   Technical codes, visual codes and audio codes.

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