G235: Critical
Perspectives in Media
Theoretical Evaluation
of Production
1(b) Media Language

Aims/Objectives
• To reinforce the basic media language
that create meaning in texts.
• To have a basic understanding of how
to evaluate your coursework against
the media language that you used.

Importance of media language
• Every medium has its own ‘language’ – or
combination of languages – that it uses to
communicate meaning. Television, for
example, uses verbal and written language
as well as the languages of moving images
and sound.
• We call these ‘languages’ because they use
familiar codes and conventions that are
generally understood.

• Media messages are constructed using a
creative language with its own rules. Each
form of communication-- whether
newspapers, TV game shows or horror
movies-- has its own creative language:
scary music heightens fear, camera close-
ups convey intimacy, big headlines signal
significance.

• Understanding the grammar, syntax and
metaphor system of media language,
especially the language of sounds and
visuals which can reach beyond the rational
to our deepest emotional core, increases
our appreciation and enjoyment of media
experiences as well as helps us to be less
susceptible to manipulation.
• E.g the example from Men’s
Health is so transparent once
you know how to read a media
text (and you can’t ‘grow’
muscle....)

Denotation, Connotation and
Myth
• In semiotics, denotation and connotation
are terms describing the relationship
between the signifier and its signified.

• Barthes (1977) argued that in film
connotation can be (analytically)
distinguished from denotation.
• As John Fiske (1982) puts it “denotation is
what is filmed, connotation is how it is
filmed”.

Making connections?
• Evaluating media language is an evaluation of
all micro elements and how they have
created meaning to inform us about genre,
narrative, representations/ ideology,
targeting of audiences.
• This requires us to use semiotic terminology
to explain our encoding of elements and codes
and conventions within our texts.
• We must also remember to discuss the
preferred meaning (Hall, 1980) that we
wanted our audience to DECODE.

Micro Elements: Mise-en-Scene
• Mise-en-scène constitutes the key aspect of
the pre-production phase of the film and
can be taken to include all aspects of
production design and Cinematography.
• Mise-en-Scene creates the diegetic world -
the fictional space and time implied by the
narrative, i.e. the world in which the story
takes place.

Aspects of Mise-en-Scene –
video and print style
1. Location - settings, set-design and
iconography
2. Character – Costume, Properties and
Make Up, Actors and Gesture
• Cinematography - Lighting and
Colour
• Layout and Page Design – colour,
juxtaposition of elements.

Micro Elements: Camerawork
• There are Four aspects to camerawork
that you need to understand:
• Shot Types – particularly relevant for
print.
• Camera Composition
• Camera Movement
• Camera Angles

Link to Propp (1928)
• The villain — struggles against the hero.
• The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero
some magical object.
• The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
• The princess and her father — gives the task to the
hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero,
often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted
that functionally, the princess and the father can not
be clearly distinguished.
• The dispatcher — character who makes the lack
known and sends the hero off.
• The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the
donor, weds the princess.
• [False hero] — takes credit for the hero’s actions or
tries to marry the princess.

Micro Elements: Editing
• Editing is a post-production technique in
which the footage shot during production is
cut up and reassembled in such a way as to
tell the story.
• TV shows are not filmed in chronological
order.
• They are filmed out of order in short
sequences, called ‘takes’, which then have
to be assembled in the correct order.

• Long Takes: takes of an unusually long
length.
• Short Takes: takes that only last for a few
seconds.
• There are two basic types of editing:
5.Continuity and…
6.Non-Continuity.

Continuity
• Establishing/Re-establishing Shot
• Transitions.
• The 180° Line Rule.
• Action Match.
• Crosscutting.
• Cutaway.
• Insert Shots.
• Shot-Reverse Shot Structures.
• Eyeline Match.

The Structure Of The Classic Narrative
System
• According to Pam Cook (1985), the
standard Hollywood narrative structure
should have:
• Linearity of cause and effect within an
overall trajectory of enigma resolution.
• A high degree of narrative closure.
• A fictional world that contains
verisimilitude especially governed by
spatial and temporal coherence.

Non-Continuity
1. Montage Sequence.
2. Flash Back/Forward.
3. Ellipsis.
4. Graphic Match.

Micro Elements: Sound
• Sound is layered on tracks in order to
create meaning. On Premiere you used
multiple audio tracks (one for dialogue and
music). You can have sound bridges and
sound motifs to enhance meaning.
• There are 2 types of sound:
• Diegetic
• Non-diegetic sound

• Diegetic Sound, which refers to sound whose
origin is to be located in the story world such as
the voices of the actors, sound effects etc.
• Non-diegetic Sound, which refers to sounds not
explained in terms of any perceived source within
the story world, such as mood music, or ‘voice-of-
God’ type commentaries.
• Music added to enhance the show’s action is the
most common form of non-diegetic sound.

• Diegetic sound includes:
• Dialogue
• Sound Effects and in some cases…
• Music

• Non- Diegetic sound includes:
3. Incidental Music
4. Voice Over/Narration
5. Non-diegetic sound effects (which can
be asynchronous)

Think of this question as the first part
of your revision...
• “Media is communication”. Discuss the
ways that you have used media language to
create meanings in one of your media
products.