Overview of Key Concepts Unit

The purpose of this unit is firstly to assess your media textual analysis skills  and your understanding of the concept of representation using a short unseen moving image extract. Secondly the unit assesses your knowledge and understanding of the music industry and its production processes, distribution strategies, use of technologies and related issues concerning audience reception and consumption of media texts.

The exam lasts 2 hours (including 30 minutes for viewing and making notes on the moving image extract). The paper is marked out of 100 with 50 marks awarded for each question. You will sit the paper in June 2016.

Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation

You will be required to answer one compulsory question relating to technical aspects of the language and conventions of the TV drama and how this contributes to the representation of individuals, groups, events or places.

We will study, using a variety of case studies, how cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound and editing contribute to the construction of specific representations.

Cinematography covers: camera shots, angle, movement and composition.

Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot and variations of these

Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle

Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, reverse zoom

Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls

Editing includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems

Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert

Other Transition: dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post production and visual effects.

Sound

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects; sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective

Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound

Mise-en-Scene

Production Design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties

Lighting; colour design

Regarding representation, we will analyse how the following are represented;

Gender

Age

Ethnicity

Sexuality

Class and Status

Physical ability/disability

Regional identity

Section B: Institutions and Audiences

We will be studying the music industry:

A study of a particular record label within the contemporary music industry that targets a British audience, including its patterns of production, distribution, marketing and consumption by audiences. This should be accompanied by study of the strategies used by record labels to counter the practice of file sharing and their impact on music production, marketing and consumption with regards to the following:

The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice

The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing

The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange

The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences

The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences

The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions

The ways in which your own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.