PSEB SS Media Studies flashcards
PSEB SS Media Studies · Build recall with a focused review session.
33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Media text
- Any constructed communication product - film, advertisement, news item, meme, game - analysed as a set of choices rather than a neutral window on reality.
- Denotation
- The literal, descriptive, first-order meaning of a sign: what is plainly shown or stated, before associations or cultural values are considered.
- Connotation
- The cultural, emotional, or ideological associations a sign carries beyond its literal meaning; shaped by context, audience, and convention.
- Signifier and signified
- Saussure's two parts of a sign: the signifier is the physical form (word, image, sound), the signified is the concept it evokes in the mind.
- Myth (Barthes)
- Barthes' second-order meaning: connotation presented as natural and obvious, so that culturally constructed values appear simply factual.
- Genre conventions
- The recurring elements audiences expect from a genre - iconography, settings, character types, narrative patterns, style - which producers repeat and vary.
- Hybrid genre
- A text combining conventions of two or more genres, such as a horror-comedy or docudrama; hybridity refreshes genres and targets wider audiences.
- Propp's character functions
- Vladimir Propp's recurring narrative roles: hero, villain, donor, helper, princess, dispatcher, and false hero, identified from folk-tale analysis.
- Todorov's narrative model
- A narrative begins in equilibrium, is disrupted by an event, and ends in a new equilibrium; useful for plotting trailers, adverts, and news stories.
- Binary opposition
- Levi-Strauss's idea that meaning is produced through paired opposites such as good/evil, nature/culture, us/them, structuring a text's underlying conflicts.
- Mise-en-scène
- Everything placed within the frame: setting, lighting, costume, make-up, props, and actor positioning and movement, all carrying meaning.
- Diegetic sound
- Sound whose source exists within the story world, such as dialogue, footsteps, or a radio playing in the scene.
- Non-diegetic sound
- Sound added from outside the story world - voiceover, soundtrack, mood music - that guides audience interpretation of the images.
- Continuity editing
- Editing that hides cuts to sustain coherent space and time, using shot/reverse shot, eyeline matches, 180-degree rule, and match-on-action.
- Montage
- Juxtaposing shots so that meaning arises from their collision or sequence rather than from any single image; used for compression and persuasion.
- Uses and gratifications
- An audience-centred model claiming people actively use media for information, personal identity, social integration, and entertainment rather than being passive.
- Encoding/decoding
- Stuart Hall's model: producers encode preferred meanings; audiences decode them as dominant, negotiated, or oppositional readings depending on their social position.
- Hypodermic needle model
- An early, largely discredited effects model treating audiences as passive receivers directly injected with messages they are assumed to copy.
- Stereotype
- A simplified, generalised, and often evaluative representation of a social group that reduces individuals to a few assumed characteristics.
- Countertype
- A representation deliberately constructed to challenge a dominant stereotype by showing complexity, agency, or contradictory traits of a group.
- Male gaze
- Laura Mulvey's concept describing camerawork and narrative that frame women as objects of a masculine spectator's desire and control.
- Hegemony
- Gramsci's term for dominance maintained through consent and cultural leadership rather than force, so that ruling values appear common sense.
- Agenda-setting
- The theory that media may not tell audiences what to think but strongly influence what issues audiences think about and rank as important.
- Cultivation theory
- Gerbner's claim that heavy, repeated exposure to media, especially television, gradually shapes audiences' perceptions of social reality.
- Public service broadcasting
- Broadcasting funded publicly, by licence fee or state, mandated to serve all citizens with universal, diverse, and impartial content rather than profit.
- Media convergence
- The merging of previously separate media technologies, industries, and platforms, enabling one device to deliver text, audio, video, and interactive services.
- Gatekeeping
- The process by which editors and platforms select which information passes through to audiences, deciding what is included, excluded, and prioritised.
- Filter bubble
- A personalised information environment created by recommendation algorithms that limits exposure to viewpoints different from the user's own.
- Fair use
- A legal doctrine permitting limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, review, news reporting, or education.
- Defamation
- Publishing a false statement that damages a person's reputation; defences include truth, fair comment, and privilege.
- Unique selling proposition
- An advertising claim identifying the one distinctive benefit that sets a product apart from competitors, ideally specific and memorable.
- Bandwagon technique
- A persuasive appeal suggesting everyone is buying or believing something, so the audience should join the majority to avoid exclusion.
- Citizen journalism
- News gathering and publishing by ordinary people, often via mobile devices and social platforms, bypassing professional editorial gatekeepers.