Key term
WJEC AS-Level Media Studies 603-1976-8
Contexts of Media
Topic overviewThe conceptual framework and its four inter-related areasThe map of critical perspectives across the frameworkOwnership, funding and regulation as industry contextIndustry context, messages and ideologiesHistorical context and its effect on representationsThe time a product is made in and the time it is set inSocial and cultural contexts and the discourses of a productCultural influences: genres, styles, movements and other producersWhy the same product is read differently in different placesWales as a media context: social, economic and industry factorsS4C and Welsh-language broadcastingThe global dimension and media beyond the US and UK
Media Language
Topic overviewWhat media language isTechnical, visual and audio codesPrint design and layout conventionsCamerawork and mise-en-scèneEditing and soundOnline media language and design conventionsMode of addressSemiotics and Roland BarthesNarrative and Tzvetan TodorovGenre theory and Steve NealeStructuralism and Claude Lévi-StraussPostmodernism and Jean BaudrillardIntertextuality and hybridityViewpoints, values and ideology in media languageHow developing technologies change media language
Media Representations
Topic overviewWhat representation meansStereotypes and their usesRepresentations of genderRepresentations of ethnicity and Stuart HallRepresentations of ageRepresentations of place, region and nationRepresentations of Wales and Welsh identityRepresentations of issues and eventsIdentity and David GauntlettPositioning the audienceContext and its effect on representationAnalysing and evaluating representationsRepresentations of social classRepresentation and the global mediaReinforcement of representations across productsConstructing a representation in your own production
Media Industries
Topic overviewWhat a media industry isOwnership and controlFunding modelsRegulation of the mediaPublic service broadcastingProduction, commissioning and financeDistribution, marketing and exhibitionTechnological change and convergenceGlobalisation of the media industriesThe media industries in WalesNews industries and their economicsBrands, intellectual property and franchisesEntering and working in the media industriesIndustry context and its effect on contentAnalysing a product's industry
Media Audiences
Topic overviewWhat an audience isGrouping and categorising audiencesTargeting, attracting and reaching an audienceMedia effects and Albert BanduraCultivation theory and George GerbnerReception theory and Stuart HallThe end of audience and Clay ShirkyFandom and Henry JenkinsUses and gratificationsInteraction, participation and specialised audiencesRegulation, protection and audience harmResearching and measuring audiencesAudience positioning and preferred readingsAudiences and social and cultural circumstanceAudiences and media technologyAnalysing an audience for a product
Advertising, Marketing and Music Video
Topic overviewPrint advertising: layout, typography and design codesAudio-visual advertising: camerawork, editing and soundOnline advertising and its design conventionsCharity and public information campaignsCommercial advertising for consumer goodsHistorical advertising before 1980Barthes, semiotics and the meanings of an advertisementRepresentations of gender in advertising and music videoRepresentations of ethnicity and age, and Stuart Hall on representationGauntlett, identity and the audience as pick-and-mixMusic video: performance, narrative and conceptMusic video before 2000 and the changing formMarketing, audience categories and targetingAudience response, reception theory and media effects
News in the Online Age
Topic overviewDesign and language conventions of print and online newsThe Guardian in print and onlineThe Daily Mirror in print and onlineThe Times in print and onlineBBC News Online and public service newsThe Huffington Post and digital-native newsWales Online and news for a Welsh audienceRadio news conventions and Today on BBC Radio 4Radio Wales Drive and Post PrynhawnNews values and the construction of a news eventRepresentation, ideology and re-presenting reality in newsOwnership, control and public service in newsTechnology, convergence and the circulation of newsNews audiences, citizen journalism and the end of audience
Film Industries: From Wales to Hollywood
Topic overviewFilm language: camerawork, mise-en-scène, editing and soundGenre codes, iconography and Neale's repertoire of elementsNarrative construction and Todorov's equilibriumFilm production and funding in WalesCo-productions, festivals and national cinemaHollywood ownership, vertical integration and diversificationDistribution, marketing and exhibition in a digital ageRegulation of film in the United Kingdom and the BBFCFilm audiences: targeting, positioning and receptionDon't Knock Twice and Drag Me To HellSubmarine and CluelessThe Machine and Blade RunnerY Llyfrgell/The Library Suicides and Shutter IslandYr Ymadawiad/The Passing and The Village
Creating Media Productions
Topic overviewResearching the codes and conventions of a formAudience research and defining a target audienceAnalysing comparable products: genre and competitor researchInvestigative research and the development outlineTreatments, storyboards, scripts and flat plansSchedules, shot lists and risk assessmentProduction in audio-visual, print and online formWorking to a briefApplying media language to construct a representationOriginal material, copyright and ethicsIndependent, collaborative and cross-media productionReflective and critical analysis
Media Language
- 15 subtopics
- 45 things to know
- AS Unit 1 and A2 Unit 3
What Media Language covers
Media Language is assessed in all three sections of Unit 1 at AS. In Unit 3 at A2 each section assesses a different area of the conceptual framework, studied against a wider range of critical perspectives. It covers what media language is, technical, visual and audio codes, print design and layout conventions, camerawork and mise-en-scène, editing and sound, online media language and design conventions, mode of address, semiotics and Roland Barthes, narrative and Tzvetan Todorov, genre theory and Steve Neale, structuralism and Claude Lévi-Strauss, postmodernism and Jean Baudrillard, intertextuality and hybridity, viewpoints, values and ideology in media language and how developing technologies change media language.
Where it is assessed
AS Unit 1 and A2 Unit 3
The conceptual framework, applied in every section of both written units.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 15 subtopics
Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Media Studies students sit this topic in the first year.
- What media language isMedia language, three broad categories of code used in media analysis and combination of elements.Open →
- Technical, visual and audio codesTechnical codes, visual codes and audio codes.Open →
- Print design and layout conventionsCover line, flat plan and puff or a plug on a front page.Open →
- Camerawork and mise-en-scèneCamera distance, point-of-view shot and handheld camera used to signify.Open →
- Editing and soundEditing, in the language of moving image, continuity editing and shot–reverse shot.Open →
- Online media language and design conventionsOnline media language, hyperlink, considered as an element of media language and above the fold.Open →
- Mode of addressMode of address and shared or insider address.Open →
- Semiotics and Roland BarthesSign, in semiotics, two orders of signification Barthes distinguishes and myth in advertising.Open →
- Narrative and Tzvetan TodorovTodorov's five-stage model of narrative, non-linear narrative and enigma code in narrative.Open →
- Genre theory and Steve NealeSteve Neale's central claim about genre, hybridity, in genre and genre hybridity and what it achieves.Open →
- Structuralism and Claude Lévi-StraussStructuralism, applied to media, binary opposition and lévi-Strauss's central claim.Open →
- Postmodernism and Jean BaudrillardPostmodernism, in media study, simulacrum, in Baudrillard's terms and loss of the grand narrative.Open →
- Intertextuality and hybridityIntertextuality in a video game, genre's repertoire of elements being shared across forms and franchise, in media language terms.Open →
- Viewpoints, values and ideology in media languageMedia product carrying a point of view, ideology, in media study and preferred reading.Open →
- How developing technologies change media languageConvergence, in the language of media production and balanced conclusion about technology and media language.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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What do a page's typeface, white space, plan and tabloid or broadsheet style tell a reader?
Process
How do the pace of cutting, montage and cross-cutting shape a sequence, and what separates the two kinds of sound?
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State a balanced conclusion about technology and media language.
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What are technical codes?
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What is meant by camera distance?
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What is meant by online media language?
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What is mode of address?
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What is semiotics?
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What is narrative?
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What is genre?
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What is structuralism, applied to media?
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What is postmodernism, in media study?
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What is intertextuality?
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What is ideology, in media study?
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What is meant by media language?
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What are visual codes?
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Name six elements of print media language on a front page or cover.
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Name three kinds of camera movement and what each conventionally does.
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What is editing, in the language of moving image?
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Name five elements of online media language.
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Give two contrasting modes of address with an example of each.
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What are the two orders of signification Barthes distinguishes?
Process
State Todorov's five-stage model of narrative.
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What is iconography?
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What is a binary opposition?
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What is a simulacrum, in Baudrillard's terms?
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What happens to a reader who misses an intertextual reference?
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How does selection carry ideology?
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Why does a change in technology change media language?
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Why is the word language used for something largely visual?
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What are audio codes?
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What is a masthead?
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What is a handheld camera used to signify?
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Name three conventions of continuity editing.
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How does navigation design carry meaning as well as function?
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What is register?
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What does Barthes mean by myth?
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Why is the final state described as a new equilibrium rather than the original one?
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Give the iconography of the crime drama.
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State Lévi-Strauss's central claim.
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What does Baudrillard mean by hyperreality?
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Give an example of intertextuality in a video game.
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What is meant by a preferred reading?
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How did lightweight cameras change moving image language?
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 meaning of what is shown. Connotation: the cultural association it carries beyond the literal.
A code vs A convention
A code: a system of signs whose meanings a culture agrees. A convention: a customary practice within a form that audiences expect.
Mise-en-scène vs Cinematography
Mise-en-scène: everything arranged within the frame. Cinematography: how that arrangement is photographed.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 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
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
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
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
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
Name the three broad categories of code used in media analysis.
Model answer
Technical codes, visual codes and audio codes.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Media Language revision questions
- Is Media Language examined at AS in WJEC Media Studies?
- Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1 and A2 Unit 3, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Media Language cover in WJEC AS-Level Media Studies?
- 15 subtopics: what media language is, technical, visual and audio codes, print design and layout conventions, camerawork and mise-en-scène, editing and sound, online media language and design conventions, mode of address, semiotics and roland barthes, narrative and tzvetan todorov, genre theory and steve neale, structuralism and claude lévi-strauss, postmodernism and jean baudrillard, intertextuality and hybridity, viewpoints, values and ideology in media language and how developing technologies change media language. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Media Language organised?
- By the WJEC 603-1976-8 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Media Language, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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