An Introductory to Media: Key Terms
Thursday, September 24, 2015There are many key definitions that make up the progress of a film or piece of media. These include:
Mise-en-scene: The arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play. It includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterize the spaces filmed. It is French for 'Put into the scene'.
Narrative: A spoken or written account of connected events; a story.
Genre: A specific type of film, media or writing. There are many variations of genre within the film industry, the most popular ones being:
Action: An action story is similar to adventure and are often categorized together. The protagonist usually takes a risky turn, which leads to desperate situations (including explosions, fight scenes, daring escapes, etc..). Film example: Transformers
Adventure: An adventure story is about a protagonist who journeys to epic or distant places to accomplish something. It can have many other genre elements included within it, because it is a very open genre. Film example: Indiana Jones
Comedy: Comedy is a story that tells about a series of funny or comical events, intended to make the audience laugh. Film example: Ted
Science Fiction (Sci-Fi): A story that is similar to fantasy and uses scientific understanding to explain the universe that it takes in. It generally includes or is centered on the presumed effects or ramifications of computers or machines; travel through space, time or alternate universes, and alien life-forms. Film example: Star Wars
Horror: A horror story is deliberately told to frighten or disturb the audience, through violence, gore, suspense or shock. Horror films usually consists of a shasher (e.g. serial killer), monster, fictional monsters or a ghost story & a haunted setting. Film example: Scream
Thriller: A story that is usually a mix of fear and excitement and contains a dark or serious theme. It has traits from the suspense genre or the action, adventure or mystery genres, but the level of terror makes it borderline horror fiction at times as well. Film example: Shutter Island
Romance: A story that is about character's relationships, or engagements between them. It has produced a wide array of subgenres such as comedy and adventure. Film example: The Notebook
Originality: The ability to think independently and creatively, and producing ideas which are unusual and dissimilar to others.
Creativity: The use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.
- Why are Originality and Creativity so important when it comes to filmmaking?
Originality and creativity are very important when it comes to filmmaking because these abilities affect the popularity of the film. In the modern world, the film industry is bigger than ever so its incredibly difficult to think of something original that stands out against other films. Therefore, people appreciate it when they watch a film which captures originality and creativity.
Representation: The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.
Media Ownership: The process where progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media.
Synergy: The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations or substances to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
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