Media Language-2

Content Standards: The learners understand media and information codes,

conventions, and messages in relation to consumers, producers, and other
stakeholders.
Performance Standards: The learners shall be able to examine and identify
pertinent media and information codes, conventions and messages given a
visual resource.
Learning Competencies

 Evaluates everyday media and information presentations regarding

codes, convention, and message; and how they affect the audience,
producers, and other stake holders. MIL11/12MILA-IIIf-15
 Produces and assesses the codes, conventions, and messages of a
group presentation.MIL11/12MILA-IIIf-16

Specific Learning Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the learners must be able to:

 Identify codes, convention, and message and how they affect the
audience, producers, and other stake holders.
 Reflect on how important information can be conveyed to create the
desired impression.
 Understand how media texts are presented and interpreted based on
various codes and conventions

 
MEDIA AND INFORMATION LANGUAGE
As media and information literate individuals, we must clearly understand
media and information codes and conventions. We need to see past just the
image and truly understand the message that a media text and media
professionals are communicating.
 
“Media affect us not only through the information that they deliver but
also through their language, codes, and conventions.” (Marshall
McLuhan)
 
Codes and conventions are the "grammar" of media languages that enables
us to understand how media and information works, how they convey
meaning, and why they do what they do" (Alagaran, 2017). Media and
information use “texts” to tell stories. In order to communicate, media and
information uses a language or a combination of language, media language.
 
Let us understand these concepts further! Study the cover pictures of the
different movie genres.  What type of movie does each picture show? What
helped you identify its type?

Colors, writing style, the words and images used, and all other identifying
factors you considered to identify the kind or type of movie each picture
shows are the codes and conventions of media.
 
Media language is an umbrella term that covers all media codes and
conventions. Media codes and conventions can be described as the building
blocks of all the media around us which generally have an agreed meaning, or
connotation to their audience (Young, 2017).
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something.
Codes or Media Codes are systems of signs which create meaning. There
are various types of codes in media Depending on your reference, there are
either three (3) or four (4) types of media codes. We will be studying the three
(3) commonly identified categories of media codes: symbolic codes,
technical codes, and written codes. We will also discuss one other which is
the audio codes. Here is a summary of what these codes are.

TYPES OF CODES IN MEDIA

1. Audio Codes.

This include codes related to sound. Background music, sound effects, and
voice over are under this category. To understand the concept of audio codes
we need to understand the use of Diegetic and Non- Diegetic Sound.

Diegetic Non- Diegetic

(actual sounds) (commentary sounds)

ü Sounds are from noises that are happening ü The sounds in the movie that the audience
in the scene hears, but the characters cannot
ü Any sound that originated within the film’s ü Often used to add drama to moments
world
ü Example: music, a narration, and sound
ü The sounds in the movie that the effects
characters CAN hear
 
ü  Example: people talking, chirping of
birds, footsteps,

Watch this short clip. listen to the difference.  Diegetic vs. Nondiegetic (Links

to an external site.)
Other Audio Codes Terminology

1. Voice-over the voice of an unseen narrator speaking

2. Dialogue - conversation between/among the characters in the story. It
aims to impart information and establish characters and relationships
3. Sound effects - creates/establishes realism
4. Music - creates emotion/ mood

1. Symbolic Codes

These are codes that are used to convey a symbolic -- rather than a literal –
meaning. All the elements that constitute the visual representation of the
media text, such as settings, costumes, lighting, soundtrack, and the body
language of the actors. Symbolic codes are polysemic, can be interpreted in
different ways.
John Fiske came up with the term “polysemy” – the multiple interpretations
which the media evokes. “Poly” meaning many and “Semy” meaning senses
– so “polysemy” means many senses. Polysemy in media allows different
understanding of a certain type of media.  These codes can be interpreted
differently by the audience based on their social and cultural influences.
 

Symbolic Codes

Setting is very important in a film. It has several functions:

Ø to set the time and place where the storyline takes place
SETTING
Ø to set the genre of the film
Ø the time and place of the narrative

 It helps establish the genre or the mood of the media text.

COLOR Red, for instance, is typically seen as a color of passion, danger,

romance, or violence. Green is connected with nature or
sickness, blue with calm or depression
 FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Facial expression help the audience read the characters
emotions. The actors' eyes are the clue to the emotions they are
expressing to the audience.

BODY LANGUAGE/STANCE
Body Language/Stance is how the actors stand and the the
body language that is used to portray the feelings, thoughts and
personality of the character. An important aspect to remember is
that the actor is also instructed by the director during the making
if the film.
ACTING
  BODY SHAPE
Each actor was hired to play a role based on the ideal body
shape needed portray that particular character. Sometimes
actors gain or lose weight or muscle in order to portray these
characters.

VOICE/ACCENT
With voice and accent, an actor can use their voice to give the
audience insight into the character's background and culture.
Many actors work with a vocal coach to assist them in mastering
this accent. Another part of voice includes the tone/volume of
voice. This can communicate emotion with the audience.

MISE EN SCENE Mise en Scene is a French term that translates to "staged". It

refers to everything we see within the frame. This includes: the
  set, costumes, colour, props and overall lighting.

1. Technical Codes

 
Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell a story in a
media text like camera techniques, framing, lighting, etc.
Camera angles and movements combine to create a sequence of images, just
as words, word order and punctuation combine to make the meaning of a
sentence. You need a straightforward set of key terms to describe
them.  Camerawork refers to how the camera is handled, positioned and
moved for specific effects like a high-angle camera shot to create a feeling of
power in a photograph.
Camera Angles. It is based on how the camera is positioned in reference to
the subject.
Example, when we say high angle shot, the shot is take from an area higher
than the subject. It is important that the subject is focused and can be easily
understood or identified. Camera Angles
Low angle: camera looks up – subject looks large – creates an impression of
power
Normal or straight angle: camera looks at the subject from eye-level –
subject looks equal to viewer, who feels equal to, and may even identify with,
subject
High angle: camera looks down – subject appears small – creates an
impression of weakness

Camera Shots


  extreme close up of eyes/face: aggression, discomfort
 close up of head/reaction:intimacy
 head and shoulders– 2–3 people

medium shot
medium-long shot: full-body normal view
long shot: room, normal view
extreme long shot: house, establishing the setting
establishing shot: city, establishing the venue
 
Here is a guide on how it will look on screen, and how to differentiate the
various shot sizes especially for human subjects.

Long Shot Ø establishes the environment around a specific character

or object
Wide (landscape)
Ø reveals to the audience where that character or object is
Long (portrait)
 positioned in reference to the background
 

Ø waist up
Ø useful when more than one subject is in frame
Medium Shot
(MED) Ø allows the audience to be a little closer to the
subject while still seeing the setting
 

Ø  framed from the chest up

Ø allows the audience to clearly see facial gestures and
Medium Close-
emotions without getting too close and personal to the
Up (MCU)
subject
 

Ø emphasizes a subject’s emotion or reaction

Ø very little visual of the surrounding environment
Close-Up (CU)
Ø focus solely on the subject
 

Ø commonly used to place an emphasis on a specific

object or element
Extreme Close- Ø feature a specific object or element for only a short
Up (ECU) period of time on screen
Ø attention solely on the specific object or element
featured

Ø Establishing shot
Extreme Ø character doesn’t necessarily have to be in this shot
long/wide Shot
(ELS/EWS) Ø Shows where the scene is taking place
 

 
FILM TERMS

1. Frame: a single still picture or image

2. Shot: the images that are filmed from the time the camera starts to the
time it stops, with no cuts
3. Sequence: a series of shots on the same subject
4. Cut: stop one shot / abruptly start second; creates the impression of
different places, same time
5. Fade out/in: go to black / go from black to picture; suggests passage
of time, change of place
6. Pan: camera moves from left-to-right or right-to-left across scene from
one subject to another – can be used to create suspense
7. Zoom: camera moves in (tight) or out (wide)
8. Tilt: camera moves vertically, up or down

- Adapted from Mass Media and Popular Culture Resource Binder. Toronto:
Harcourt Brace & Company Canada

1. Editing – theprocess of choosing, manipulating and arranging images

and sound. 
2. Audio – the expressive or naturalistic use of sound. The three aspects
of audio are: dialogue, sound effects, music and silence.

1. Lighting – the manipulation of natural or artificial light to selectively

highlight specific elements of the scene. Elements of lighting include:
Quality, Direction, Source, Color

1. Written Codes. Some examples of written codes are headlines,

captions, speech bubbles, titles and writing style.
CONVENTIONS
Conventions are accepted ways of using media codes. Conventions are
closely connected to the audience expectations of a media product. Different
types of conventions include form conventions, story
conventions and genre conventions.
Form conventions
the certain ways we expect types of media’s codes to be arranged
Examples: (a )the audience expects to have a title of the film at the beginning,
and then credits at the end. (b)Video games usually start with a tutorial to
explain the mechanics of how the game works.
Story Conventions

 Story conventions are common narrative structures and

understandings that are common in story telling media products.
Examples of story conventions include:Narrative structures, Cause and
effect, Character construction, Point of View

Genre Conventions
Genre conventions point to the common use of tropes, characters, settings or
themes in a particular type of medium. Genre conventions are closely linked
with audience expectations. Genre conventions can be formal or thematic.
ADDITIONAL TERMS TO REMEMBER:

1. Messages - the information sent from a source to a receiver.

2. Audience - the group of consumers for whom a media message was
constructed as well asanyone else who is exposed to the message.
3. Producers - People engaged in the process of creating and putting
together media content to make a finished media product.
4. Other stakeholders- Libraries, archives, museums, internet and other
relevant information providers.
5. Semiotics is the study of signs and their meaning in society. A sign is
something which can stand for something else – in other words, a sign is
anything that can convey meaning.

 
“The first step in becoming media and information literate is to
understand how information, ideas and meaning are communicated
through and by various media and other information providers, such as
libraries, archives, museums and the Internet”.
 
Understanding Media Text
Media texts can be understood to include any work, object, or event that
communicates meaning to an audience. Most media texts use words,
graphics, sounds, and/or images, in print, oral, visual, or electronic form, to
communicate information and ideas to their audience.
 

 Print – newspapers/magazines (music, lifestyle, women, men,

teenage), flyer/print based advertising, billboard advertising, advertising
within other texts, weekend supplements
 Broadcast – film, TV, advertising
 E-media – social networking sites, newspaper/current affairs sites, e-
mail/communication, web series
 Social networking –Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Youtube,
etc.
 Television

 
Media text provide a baseline to make dissemination more accurate, more
efficient, and much faster to keep up with the trend. It is also important in data
gathering and preserving / documenting written oral works, and language
translation.