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Aesthetic Code: “Aesthetic” means anything to do with the text as a work of art: if you respond to a painting in an aesthetic way you are interested in things like use of colour and form to create a particular emotion. So, with a moving image text, aesthetic codes are elements like makeup, script writing, costume and set design – elements that need some kind of artistic talent and are not purely technical. Be aware that the dividing line between technical and aesthetic codes is not always clear. For example, you need technical skill to operate a camera or edit video, but you also need some sense of which shots work best artistically to create a particular ambience (atmosphere).
Anchorage: Where one part or element of a media text is used to “pin down” another. For example, the film Duel contains several sequences of close-ups indicating that David Mann is physically and emotionally stressed and is having difficulty controlling his car. There is frequent use of scripted voice-over to anchor the meaning of these shots and make it clear exactly what he is thinking – which, without the voice-over, may be open to interpretation.
Audience: The social group that the text is aimed at. This can be more or less inclusive, according to how mainstream the text is. Different genres have different ways of making sections of the audience able to understand them. For example, only those who had seen at least some documentaries of rock bands on tour, would able to recognise that This Is Spinal Tap is a spoof. The audience is accustomed to the narrative conventions of this kind of documentary, and also to the way in which only certain types of behaviour are commonly represented within this genre – for example the tantrum over the food provided in the dressing room.
Connotation: This is any extra meaning added by techniques of production and post-production. It is very closely related to construction. Some of The Blair Witch Project is shot on a camcorder – which gives an impression (connotation) of intimacy and makes you think that the events are real. The connotation of camcorder footage is: reality captured without very much thought or planning – the moving image equivalent of a snapshot photo. A higher budget, more photographically accurate format like 35mm film is ironically more likely to have connotations of fiction and storytelling: we expect polished, high quality camera work from fictional texts.
Construction: Once the material has been selected for inclusion in the text, the creators need to decide what order to present the information in, and decide on how to use techniques like editing, voice-over and graphics. Anything about how the raw filmed material has been processed after filming (post-production) is an aspect of construction. Although DA Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back may appear to be a window on the world, it has been constructed in a particular order, and things that are placed together (juxtaposed) create meaning by association: the interview with the science student shoots Dylan with either a fairly low angle or an extreme close-up, and there are far more shots of his face included in the edit, thus making his views seem more prominent.
Denotation: Simply what is there in front of you and what you are hearing on the soundtrack. Very closely related to selection. The denotation of many of the scenes in The Blair Witch Project consists of a handheld POV (Point Of View) shot simulating someone running through dark woods, with the voice of an agitated person and heavy breathing on the soundtrack.
Diegesis: Any part of a text that is part of the world of the film, and could be really there, is a diegetic element. So any dialogue or sound emerging from the natural surroundings would be a diegetic element. Anything added in post-production to change the meaning of what you are seeing on the screen, is a non-diegetic element. So the use of a musical soundtrack where you can’t see any musicians is a non-diegetic element. A scripted, recorded voice-over is a non-diegetic element because the person saying it is not really there and is therefore outside the real world of the film you are watching.
Genre: The type of text, and which technical and aesthetic elements are typical of this kind of text. For example which narrative conventions and technical codes are most typical of soap operas or TV advertisements? Is a high budget Hollywood horror movie or a low budget British independently made social drama more likely to make frequent use of stereotypes?
Iconography: The use of visual signs or symbols to set up patterns of meaning within the text; for example, using costume to indicate the moral make-up of characters – frequently used in science fiction and horror. Characters who have a dirty appearance are often morally dubious. Iconography is strongly linked to representation and ideology.
Ideology: What the creators of the media text want you to think or want you to believe in. It has to do with factors like religion, politics and sexuality. For example, a romantic comedy may promote the idea that the only thing that is important in life is to be in a relationship with a soul-mate, and that once this happens all your other problems will be put into perspective. But a less mainstream, independent film (not affiliated to a studio with a pre-planned, binding financial deal) may offer a more complex view of human psychology and may even represent characters in a way that some members of the audience find alienating. Think about the representation of the central character in Memento and how his behaviour should be seen from an ideological perspective.
Institution: Any issue to with the commercial situation (context) in which the text was produced. Is it simply intended to make money, or does it have more complex moral and artistic agendas? The issue of how a film develops cult status is largely related to institution. A film that originally was made on a low budget for pure artistic expression, may subsequently become an unexpected commercial success. Or, a film made on a high budget may be commercially unsuccessful but then be adopted by a restricted section of the audience many years later.
Juxtaposition: Placing one thing alongside another, and very often changing the meaning of the text by doing that. This applies in film editing, where an event is seen to lead to another simply by introducing a cut so that there appears to be a connection between the two events. In reality, the two scenes may have been filmed months apart, but the technical code of editing creates a juxtaposition whereby narrative emerges. Intercutting is a form of juxtaposition where two situations can be linked by having them alternate on the screen. A car chase would be a simple example of this.
Media Access: Linked to audience. It’s basically about who is able to understand the text and get anything from it. So, it could be argued that an advertisement for computer games, containing technical terminology, is relatively limited in terms of media access. A more general issue related to media access is the extent to which UK broadcast fiction represents an ethnically wide range of social groups. Are there any sections of the population which are rarely or never represented on television?
Mise-en-scène: How the director composes individual shots; what he or she has chosen to put in the camera frame – similar to the concept of composition in art or photography. How a director composes shots is a very important marker of their style. It also encompasses things like lighting, costume, props, make-up, camera focus, use of colour, choice of location and use of special effects. One interesting mise-en-scène issue in modern film making is whether a director chooses to use CGI to realise special effects, or whether they use more traditional methods. The Kill Bill films are notable for having no CGI at all.
Metaphor: Closely linked to subtext, but more to do with how individual parts of the text can stand for other things. What does the truck driver in Duel represent? The use of androids in much sci-fi film fiction has a lot to do with how we see ourselves as parents. The child grows to be independent of its creator, and even comes to hate it’s creator, wanting some kind of explanation about why it has been brought into the world. Conversely, the creator wants a duty of respect and obedience from the child. So, the use of androids as a social group in sci-fi is a metaphor for the generation gap.
Metonymy: Using part of something to mean all of it. Often used as a narrative convention. For example, a scream may be used to indicate that a murder has taken place. You would expect frequent use of metonymy in compressed narrative forms like
trailers and advertisements.
Narrative: Storytelling and how the story is structured. The plot can be linear, or contain frequent time jumps (most often into the past). There can also be only one narrative thread with one group of characters, or multiple threads which sometimes interact. Todorov’s is the stability-threat-resolution model, and most narratives conform to this to a greater or lesser extent. How long it is before the threat (or “enigma” – mystery) emerges can be an indicator of the genre. For example, in a horror movie the threat might emerge very near the start, but in a romantic comedy it might take longer. Propp’s model analyses folk tales in terms of heroes, villains, battles and journeys. Be aware that you need to use your judgment about how to decide who the heroes and villains are and what constitutes a battle. Also remember that non-fiction texts like documentaries have narrative structure to the same extent as fictional ones.
Readings: An oppositional reading is where the audience rejects all of the values (ideology) that the text is trying to put across, and can gain no access to it. A preferred reading is where the audience accepts all of these ideological frameworks. For example, a preferred reading of Titanic would be that you are uplifted by a story of courage and love in the face of adversity, but saddened by the fact that sometimes people have to sacrifice their lives to save others. A negotiated reading is where the audience accepts some of the ideological content of the text, but opposes other parts of it.
Representation: The processes of selection and construction make you see people and issues in a specific way. So, a fictional film about the future might be trying to tell us what might happen if we keep pursuing technological advancement without thinking about the consequences. If the film were to invent a fictional group, and call them androids or robots, the way these robots are treated by the society of the future is meant to tell us something about the way we treat each other now. The “replicants” in Blade Runner are feared by humans – but is that only because we don’t understand them? Representation in a media text looks at issues like race and religion, and at social groups like the police, homeless people and students – they are represented (portrayed) in a way that is trying to make some kind of point.
Selection: A moving image media text shows things from the real world. The parts of the real world which are chosen to be included in the media text, are aspects of selection. For example, Martin Bashir’s Michael Jackson documentary made a very careful selection of material for inclusion in the final edit, so that the audience received a particular impression of Michael Jackson’s lifestyle.
Stereotype: This is an exaggerated social type, which a large section of the audience are going to recognise. A stereotypical representation will not aim for subtlety, but will include only very easily recognisable features; for example, the stereotypical hardened, cynical cop in Blade Runner. Where the exploration of the social group or issue is aiming for subtlety, the text will make fewer references to stereotypes. All texts access stereotypes to some extent, but texts in the mainstream of popular culture will access them more frequently – for example, soap operas and advertisements.
Subtext: Any hidden messages in the text, which are not immediately obvious to the viewer; ways in which the text can be read other than entirely literally. For example, Duel could be seen as an exploration of the more instinctive, less civilised side of human nature battling against the civilised, psychologically and sexually repressed modern man. Subtextual readings often involve the discussion of metaphors.
Technical Code: A code is any way of creating meaning in a media text, which the audience understands. Technical codes can only be achieved with the use of technology specific to the medium. So, in film, use of black and white photography is a technical code which has come to be associated with (have connotations of) memory and reliving past experiences – as with the black and white sections in Memento.
AS Media Course Materials & Notes 