Key+Media+Concepts

=Key Media Concepts=

Key media concepts underpin the study of aspects of media and are essential to students’ critical reading of media texts and products. They provide an investigative framework to support students’ critical analysis and production tasks. These key media concepts will introduce students to, and support their understanding of, contemporary media construction and dissemination, and the social impact of media texts and products.

 Students come to understand that media texts are the product of a process of selecting and organising images, sounds, and words. Their study leads them to understand how individuals and organisations construct meaning, and how individuals interpret meaning. Using this key media concept, students will determine the extent to which a media text has been mediated, changed, or constructed to suit the needs or expectations of the audience or creator of the text. Students also examine how media texts present individual behaviour or attitudes as natural. Students reflect on the accuracy, appropriateness, and fairness of these representations.  Media use conventions to communicate with audiences. Through these conventions, media present messages that are determined partly by the ideas and values of the media organisation and partly by the audiences as they construct meaning. A convention refers to the way in which messages are normally communicated within a particular medium, for example, moving images in a fixed frame in film and television, or the arrangement of icons on an Internet site. Media conventions are cultural; they develop over time and reflect the society that produces them. Students develop a critical vocabulary with which to express their understanding of media conventions. Students could pose some of the following questions when examining media conventions: · What non-verbal elements have been used to communicate meaning? · How does the soundtrack or language used in the text contribute to the overall meaning? · Are there symbols or images that contribute to understanding of the text? · To what extent has editing been used to enhance or change meaning? · Are sets, setting, and camera positioning important in structuring the text? · In what ways do the creators of new media use or challenge traditional conventions?  Individuals and organisations produce and distribute media texts. An individual or organisation has many reasons for producing a text: to sell a product or service, to persuade people to adopt a particular point of view, or to satisfy a need to be creative. With the wide use of information and communication technologies, small organisations are now able to communicate their ideas and views. As a consequence, many alternative voices can be heard, and audiences can respond to the ideas and opinions generated in and through media. When students examine an issue or a media text, they need to reflect on what they know about the institution that produced the media text. Students reflect on how the media text was distributed to its audience, as well as the ways in which the ownership or control of the media organisation influenced the content or presentation of an issue.  Every day, students are the audience for various media texts. The radio station they listen to, the advertising poster they see on a shop window, the television program they watch, and the website they visit — these are all texts that students may encounter in a typical day. Some media audiences are very small and local, whereas others are massive and global. The reading of a media text will not be the same for all members of its audience; individuals bring their own opinions and interpretations to the reading of a text. Audiences are able to resist messages that they receive; an individual may question a view or portrayal of reality presented in a media text. When students examine a media text they will reflect on what they know about the audience for that text. Students will consider the ways in which the audience could be influenced by the structure or content of the text and the alternative readings that are possible.
 * ==Media Representations ==
 * ==Media Conventions ==
 * ==Media Organisations ==
 * ==Media Audiences ==