AQA A-Level Media Studies media language overview quiz quiz

The signifier is the mental concept and the signified is the physical form that carries it

They both refer to exactly the same thing, the literal denoted meaning of a sign

The signifier is the physical form and the signified is the concept it represents

The signifier carries the cultural meaning while the signified gives the literal meaning

Denotation

Anchorage

Iconography

Connotation

The way constructed, ideological meanings come to seem natural and obvious

A traditional folk story or legend that is reused as the basis for media narratives

The literal, denoted meaning of a sign before any cultural associations are added

A deliberately false or misleading statement put out by the mainstream media

A simple beginning, then a middle, and finally an end

Equilibrium, disruption, new equilibrium

The hero, the villain and the helper character

Repetition, then difference, then genre hybridity

Levi-Strauss

Barthes

Propp

Neale

Recurring character functions like the hero

A process of repetition and gradual difference

The interplay of denotation and connotation

Binary oppositions such as good against evil

A process of repetition and difference

A fixed, unchanging list of rules and conventions

A purely commercial marketing category for selling products

A particular type of binary opposition between texts

To increase the polysemy of an image so it offers many possible readings

To fix one preferred reading of a polysemic image

To make a direct reference to another well known media text

To classify a media product firmly into one particular genre

Homage

Pastiche

Parody

Hybridity

Vulnerability and weakness

Calm and safety

Confusion and disorientation

Power, dominance or threat

A soundtrack added for the audience that the characters cannot hear

A character speaking lines of dialogue out loud to another character on screen

A door slamming loudly within the scene as part of the on-screen action itself

Footsteps heard within the world of the product as a character walks across a room

The editing of separate shots together to build a continuous sequence in post-production

Everything placed within the frame, such as setting, props, costume and lighting

The movement of the camera itself, such as panning, tracking and craning shots

The relationship and references that connect one media text to another media text