Com 340: TV Crit Exam 2 Study Guide

Updated: 04/15/2003

Your exam will be a standard "Mc Attack" with one exception. In stead of several essays, you will write ONE fifty-point essay which will be a semiotic/discourse analysis of an episode shown in class. Be prepared!

The following key words will assist your study. If you can define each of these, apply them to textual analysis, and explain their relationships, you should be okay. Good Luck!

Key Word List for Exam 2:

Semiotics:

Sign

Signifier

Signified

Meaning

Text

Deconstruction

Icon

Index

Symbol

Conventions

Informal conventions

Formal conventions

Codes

Sign System

Types of Codes

Connotation

Metaphor

Metonymy

Values

Ideology

Myths

Token

Code Levels

Reality Codes

Technical Codes

Representational Codes

Ideological Codes

Applications of Technical and reality codes

Three ways media aesthetics differ from traditional aesthetics:

Three areas of attention controlled by camera work:

Horizontal plane

Vertical plane

Up angle

Down angle

Reportorial

Subjective

Objective

Focus

ECU's are used primarily to express ___________________; Why?

Reaction Shots

Over the Shoulder Shots

Reverse angle

Cross shot

hand-held camera motion

shot duration and transition

cut

dissolve (connotes...)

shot duration: quick

shot duration: slow

Shapes

straight lines

curved lines

circles

triangles

white

black

red

blud

green

yellow

orange

purple

brown

functions of color

informational

compositional

expressive

de-saturation theory

lighting: (def)

types of shadows: cast

types of shadows: attached

falloff

outer orientation functions

--spatial

--tactile

--time

inner orientation functions

--establishing mood

--predictive lighting

--dramatic agent

flat lighting

high contrast/chiaroscuro lighting (includes cameo and silhouetted lighting; more dramatic)

Characteristics of composition

harmony

discord

functional (harmony or disharmony)

literary (harmony or disharmony)

elemental (harmony or disharmony)

gradation

contrast

unity

means of emphasizing unity

Field Forces

--main directions

--magnetism of the frame

--asymmetry of the screen

--figure and ground

--psychological closure

--vectors

graphic vectors

index vectors

motion vectors

balance

screen center -- most stabile position

distribution of vectors

converging vectors

continuing vectors

diverging vectors

high magnitude index vectors and motion vectors require "nose room" or "lead room"

structural stages of balance:

-- stabile

-- neutral

-- labile

dimensional structure

--x axis

-- y axis

-- z axis

five elements of aesthetics of three-dimensional field

positive volume

negative volume

volume duality

graphic depth vectors

--overlapping planes

--relative size

--height in plane

--linear perspective (forced perspective)

--arial perspective

--light, shadows, color

depth characteristics of lenses

Wide angle lens

Long lens

Structuring sequence of planes

Articulating the Z axis

blocking along the z axis

Discourse analysis

Program

Texts

Discourse

discourse of villainy

lighting

editing

music

casting

setting

costuming

(Use Mirror Mirror for examples of above)

Make-up

Dialogue

Ideological Codes

Documentary camera work

realism

hegemony

hidden qualities of discursive power

cultural capital

high culture

popular culture

incorporation

validate ideology

"A discourse will stem from a socially identifiable point and will serve to make their sense of REAL appear COMMON sense." Fiske

"It is the "Hidden" qualities of discursive power which enables it to present itself as common sense -- objective, innocent reflection of the real." Fiske

Be able to explain each of these sentences/concepts and apply them to a specific program or episode.

Good luck!!

Dr. Janet McMullen