NCEA Level 3 Media Studies flashcards
NCEA Level 3 Media Studies · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Media text
- Any constructed media product (film, advertisement, news item) that communicates meaning through codes and conventions; analysis examines how it creates meaning for audiences.
- Technical codes
- Production elements such as camera angles, editing, sound, and lighting that create meaning and guide audience response in a media text.
- Symbolic codes
- Visual and aural elements like colour, costume, setting, and body language that convey meaning beyond the literal, often reinforcing themes or character.
- Representation
- The process by which media construct and present aspects of reality (people, places, events); involves selection, omission, and framing, often reflecting power relations.
- Stereotype
- A simplified, generalised, and often exaggerated representation of a group, which can reinforce prejudice and limit understanding of diversity.
- Ideology
- A system of beliefs and values embedded in a media text; texts can naturalise or challenge dominant ideologies such as capitalism, patriarchy, or nationalism.
- Hegemony
- The dominance of one social group's values and norms across society, often maintained through media representations that make those values appear natural and universal.
- Audience reception theory
- Stuart Hall's model: audiences decode texts through preferred, negotiated, or oppositional readings, shaped by their social position and experiences.
- Uses and gratifications
- Audience theory suggesting people actively choose media to satisfy needs such as information, personal identity, integration, and entertainment.
- Hypodermic model
- An early audience theory assuming media messages are injected directly into passive audiences, causing immediate and uniform effects; now largely discredited.
- Narrative
- The structured sequence of events in a media text; analysed through models like Todorov's equilibrium and Propp's character roles to reveal meaning.
- Genre
- A category of media texts sharing conventions (themes, settings, iconography); genres evolve through repetition and variation, shaping audience expectations.
- Intertextuality
- The referencing of other media texts within a text, creating layers of meaning and appealing to audiences' prior knowledge of genres and culture.
- Institution
- The organisations (production companies, broadcasters, platforms) that produce and distribute media, influencing content through economic and regulatory pressures.
- Media ownership
- Concentration of media companies into large conglomerates can reduce diversity of voices and shape content to serve commercial or political interests.
- Public service broadcasting
- Broadcasting funded by the public (e.g., licence fees) to serve the public interest, providing diverse, educational, and impartial content rather than purely commercial output.
- Regulation
- Rules and bodies (e.g., classification offices, advertising standards) that govern media content to protect audiences, ensure fairness, and uphold legal standards.
- Media convergence
- The merging of previously separate media (audio, video, text) and platforms due to digital technology, changing production, distribution, and audience consumption patterns.
- Participatory culture
- A culture where audiences actively create and share media content (e.g., fan fiction, social media), blurring the line between producer and consumer.
- Encoding/decoding
- Stuart Hall's model: producers encode meaning into texts, and audiences decode them differently based on their social and cultural contexts.
- Preferred reading
- The meaning intended by the producer, which aligns with dominant ideology; audiences may accept, negotiate, or oppose this reading.
- Oppositional reading
- When an audience interprets a media text in a way that contradicts the producer's intended meaning, often due to differing social or cultural perspectives.
- Negotiated reading
- An audience interpretation that partly accepts and partly challenges the preferred reading, adapting it to their own experiences and values.
- Semiotics
- The study of signs and symbols in media; analysts examine denotation (literal meaning) and connotation (associated meanings) to understand how texts communicate.
- Denotation
- The literal, descriptive meaning of a sign or image in a media text, as opposed to its associated or implied meanings (connotations).
- Connotation
- The cultural or emotional associations evoked by a sign or image, which shape audience interpretation beyond its literal meaning.
- Mise-en-scène
- Everything visible in a film frame: set, props, costume, lighting, and actor placement; contributes to meaning and atmosphere.
- Editing
- The process of selecting and arranging shots to create meaning, pace, and continuity; techniques include cuts, dissolves, and montage.
- Sound design
- The creation and manipulation of audio elements (dialogue, music, effects) to enhance meaning, mood, and realism in a media text.
- Target audience
- The specific group of people a media text is designed to reach, defined by demographics (age, gender, income) and psychographics (values, interests).
- Media effects
- Theories about how media influence audiences, including cultivation theory (TV shapes perceptions of reality) and agenda-setting (media determines public priorities).
- Moral panic
- A widespread public fear about a social issue or group, often amplified by media coverage, leading to disproportionate concern and calls for regulation.