A2 Media Definitions

TYPOGRAPHY 

Typography is the art and method of arranging type to make written language readable and interesting. It involves the style and appearance of printed matter. The arrangement of this type might also involve selecting typefaces, point size, line length and line spacing. 

sources: https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=typography%20definition   AND http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography

TAG LINE

A tag line is a catchphrase or slogan usually used in advertising. For example: Alien uses the short phrase "In space no one can hear you scream" on their posters as a form of advertisement. Another example is "Be afraid, be very afraid" from the film The Fly. This tag line is featured almost all of the time on the posters for the movie. 

      

Source: https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=tagline%20defintion

CODES

Codes are systems of signs that are put together in some kind of sequence to create a meaning. There are a variety of different kinds of codes that can be used including; technical codes, verbal/written codes and symbolic codes. 

Sources: www.frankwbaker.com/codes.ppt 

http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Codes-and-conventions  

TECHNICAL CODES

Technical codes are all the ways in which the equipment is used to tell the story in a media text. In film there are technical codes in the use of camera, lighting, editing and sound whereas in print media it is in the use of photography, fonts and lettering styles. 

Source = underlined link in print screen image.

VERBAL/WRITTEN CODES

This involves anything that is linked to language. For example; headlines, captions, speech bubbles or even the language style.

SYMBOLIC CODES

This shows what is beneath the surface of what the audience see's. For example the meaning behind; objects, setting, body language, clothing and colour. 

CONVENTIONS

Conventions are generally accepted ways of doing a certain thing. Audiences accept these things and become familiar with the mainly through repeated experiences. Conventions in film are usually genre specific, for example there are certain conventions that horror films follow to comply with the accepted ways of their viewers. 

ICONOGRAPHY 

This is used within film to help describe the visual language and genre. In certain genres we expect to see certain features. For example in Horror films the audience expect to see young girls, 'normal' objects, and the use of light and dark. These genre indicators are the iconography of the mise-en-scene or genre. 

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/spingwoodmedia/iconography-in-film-and-television?related=2

LEVI STRAUSS - BINARY OPPOSITES 

Levi Strauss was a French anthropologist who lived in the early 1900's. He believed that we understand certain words not from the meaning themselves but more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its opposite. He called this theory 'Binary Opposites'.  For example our understanding of the word 'villain' comes from the difference between that word and the opposing word 'hero'. Binary Opposites are used very frequently within films, especially the Horror genre. Many Horror films include sets of Binary Opposites such as; good and evil, sane and insane or human and supernatural. Binary Opposites used to be very simple to spot as it was usually just the difference between good and evil however in recent films spotting the Binary Opposite sets have become a lot more complex. 

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/laurenminns/strauss-binary-opposites