AQA GCSE Media Studies Student Book

10 The same is true to some extent of mass media communication. Receivers use social media to comment on films, videos, games, television and music. Receivers are often encouraged to provide feedback in which they react to the content of messages to express an opinion or a comment. So, the idea of communication simply going in one direction along a straight line is limited, to say the least. Another difficulty for the linear model is that it doesn’t tell you much about the messages themselves. As media studies students, you want to know all about those messages, not just how they are sent and received but what is in them and, above all, what they mean. How are meanings made? This really is one of the key questions in media studies. It’s also quite a difficult question and in order to get to grips with it you need to move beyond the linear model to a rather different approach called semiotics . A starting point is the idea of a code . You have probably played about with secret codes at some stage in your lives. In stories (often spy stories) the secret code contains some information that has been put into a form that is inaccessible to everyone, unless they have the specific knowledge that enables them to crack the code. By using a secret code, the sender of the message has made it completely meaningless to anyone except a receiver who has the key to that secret code. Sometimes, clever outsiders are able to crack the codes by working out the patterns and rules in the jumble of letters or numbers or shapes. Secret codes are popular in adventure stories because people have a fascination with the idea of messages with meanings that are locked away and hidden from them. This familiar idea of the secret code is a useful starting point as you begin to explore semiotics and codes. A code is a communication system with the following three elements: • SIGNS – anything that expresses a meaning is a sign. This could be a written or spoken word, an image, a sound, a gesture or an item of clothing. • RULES – signs are nearly always used in combination with other signs to create meanings. For example, the words in a sentence are organised together using rules. For a language such as English we call these rules ‘grammar’. In media studies the rules are called conventions . • SHARED UNDERSTANDING – just like the secret code discussed earlier, a code only works when people share a knowledge and understanding of the rules and signs. Of course, most codes aren’t secret at all; all of us use and understand numerous different codes. The title of this chapter, ‘Media Language’, suggests that the media create meanings in the same way as languages such as English, German or Chinese do. This is because these languages are codes, each with their signs, rules and shared understanding. The mass media also have many codes that work in a similar way. Semiotics The use and study of signs, sign systems and their meanings. Also known as semiology. Conventions Established rules or shared understandings are used in media products as ‘the way we do things’. Conventions are more likely to be taken for granted than formally stated. Key terms Have you ever used social media to give feedback to a media producer? Quick question 1.2 If you read music when you play a musical instrument you are reading a code. Why is music notation a code? Can you think of any other examples of codes? Quick question 1.3 Feedback is an essential part of the communication process. Top secret job: women were employed as code breakers duringWorldWar II. AQA GCSE Media Studies

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