Media Language | OCR A-Level Media Studies (H409)
Media Language
- 233 questions
- 16 subtopics
- The media theoretical framework, examined on both papers
- Component 01 and Component 02
Media Language is examined in both written papers — the four areas of the theoretical framework and the contexts run through every section of the course, and are applied to whichever set products a centre has chosen.
It covers signs, codes and conventions; the media language of audio-visual products (camera, mise-en-scène, editing and sound), of print (layout, typography and image) and of audio and online products; how selection and combination make meaning; and how developing technologies change the language of the media. It also covers Barthes and semiotics, Todorov and narrative structure, Neale and genre theory, genre as dynamic and historically relative, hybridity and subversion, Lévi-Strauss and binary opposition, pastiche, parody and other forms of intertextuality, Baudrillard and hyperreality, media language as a carrier of viewpoints and ideology, and how audiences interpret media language.
Sample questions from Media Language
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Signs, codes and conventions in media language
Define the term convention.
Show the answer
A convention is an expected way of doing something in a media form or genre that has become established through repeated use. -
Print media language: layout, typography and image
What is the splash in a newspaper?
Show the answer
The splash is the lead story on the front page, given the largest headline and the most space because the paper judges it the most important or most saleable story. -
Combination and selection: how elements work together to make meaning
Define the terms selection and combination as stages in constructing a media product.
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Selection is deciding which elements to include and which to leave out, and combination is deciding how the selected elements are arranged in relation to one another. -
Barthes, semiotics and the making of myth
What did Barthes mean by myth?
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Barthes used myth for the level at which denotations and connotations combine into a wider ideological meaning, a shared story a culture tells itself and treats as obvious. -
Neale, genre theory and the intertextual relay
Define the term generic corpus.
Show the answer
The generic corpus is the whole body of products that count as belonging to a genre at a given moment. -
Hybridity and the subversion of genre conventions
Give an example of subverting a genre convention and state its effect.
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Staging a horror sequence in bright daylight subverts the convention that threat arrives with darkness, and the effect is to unsettle the audience by removing the safety they associate with the light. -
Intertextuality: pastiche, parody and the varieties of reference
State the key difference between pastiche and parody.
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Both copy a style, but parody exaggerates it for comic or critical effect while pastiche reproduces it straight, so pastiche makes no joke at the expense of its source. -
Media language, viewpoints and ideology
Why is selection an ideological act?
Show the answer
Every product includes some material and excludes the rest, and the pattern of what is habitually chosen and habitually left out establishes what counts as normal, important and worth attention.
The 16 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Signs, codes and conventions in media language | Recall questions on what media language is, technical, symbolic and written codes, the difference between a code and a convention, form and genre conventions, polysemy, and multimodal products. | 13 |
| Audio-visual media language: camera, mise-en-scène, editing and sound | Recall questions on mise-en-scène, camera angles and close-ups, high-key and low-key lighting, handheld camerawork, continuity editing and the 180-degree rule, cross-cutting, jump cuts, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and colour. | 16 |
| Print media language: layout, typography and image | Recall questions on the masthead, cover lines, the splash, standfirsts, straplines and pull quotes, the dominant image and direct address, serif and sans serif typefaces, white space, grids, colour palettes and photographic cropping. | 14 |
| Audio and online media language | Recall questions on the modes available to radio, idents, actuality and music beds, mode of address and signposting, and online language including hypertext, navigation menus, algorithmic feeds, hashtags, interactivity and vertical captioned video. | 14 |
| Combination and selection: how elements work together to make meaning | Recall questions on paradigm and syntagm, selection and combination, juxtaposition and the Kuleshov effect, how music, headlines and ordering change the meaning of images, and why omission matters. | 13 |
| Developing technologies and the changing language of the media | Recall questions on how digital cameras, computer-generated imagery, on-demand viewing, phone footage, small screens, silent autoplay and virtual reality have changed media language, and on user-generated content and fabricated images. | 14 |
| Barthes, semiotics and the making of myth | Recall questions on semiotics, signifier and signified, denotation and connotation, how myth turns culture into common sense, and the criticisms made of the model. | 16 |
| Todorov, narratology and narrative structure | Recall questions on Todorov's equilibrium, disruption, transformation and new equilibrium, the five-stage version of the model, its fit with serials and its criticisms, and enigmas, non-linear, multi-strand and cliffhanger narratives. | 17 |
| Neale, genre theory and the intertextual relay | Recall questions on Neale's genre theory: repetition and difference, genre as a process, the generic corpus, the intertextual relay, generic and cultural verisimilitude, what genre offers producers and audiences, and the criticisms of the approach. | 16 |
| Genre as dynamic and historically relative | Recall questions on why genre changes over time, how social change and audience expectation reshape conventions, and why a once-shocking convention becomes ordinary. | 14 |
| Hybridity and the subversion of genre conventions | Recall questions on genre hybrids and their commercial risk, what subverting a convention means and achieves, revisionist treatments and parody, and how breaking conventions can carry an ideological message. | 14 |
| Lévi-Strauss, structuralism and binary opposition | Recall questions on structuralism and Lévi-Strauss's study of myth, binary oppositions and their ideological weight, mediating figures, applying binaries to a superhero narrative, and why the method is called reductive and ahistorical. | 15 |
| Intertextuality: pastiche, parody and the varieties of reference | Recall questions on intertextuality and its origin in Kristeva and Bakhtin, allusion, pastiche, parody and homage, remakes, adaptations and franchises, generic intertextuality, metatextual products, and why advertising borrows references. | 15 |
| Baudrillard, postmodernism and hyperreality | Recall questions on postmodernism and Baudrillard's ideas of simulation, simulacra, hyperreality and implosion, how reality television and curated social media profiles illustrate them, bricolage, and the criticisms of his position. | 16 |
| Media language, viewpoints and ideology | Recall questions on ideology, dominant ideology and hegemony, how wording, camera position, framing and selection carry a viewpoint, naturalisation, absence, and counter-ideological media language. | 13 |
| How audiences interpret media language | Recall questions on polysemy, Stuart Hall's preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings, media literacy and genre knowledge, how context and social position shape decoding, and why codes date. | 13 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
OCR A-Level Media Studies Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,986 questions with their answers.