What is media

The main means of mass communication through broadcasting, publishing and internet.

What is media studies

The study of the history and effects of media on society and how they have changed over time.

What is the point in media studies

To develop your understanding in mass communication and learn how to influence people through the means of media techniques.

• Roland Barthes (his ideas of dominant signs / dominant ideology)-
  Was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic and semiotician
  His Ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of many schools of theory, including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, design theory, anthropology, and post-structuralism
• C. S. Pierce (and his categories of sign)
  Was a America philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist.
  he categorized into three distinct categories
  An iconic sign ,An indexical sign, A symbolic sign
• Ferdinand de Saussure (the separation of object and meaning)
• Semiotics– The study of signs and symbols
• Sign- An object or event in relation to something.
• Signifier- A signs physical form,
  
• Signified-the meaning expressed by a sign
• an iconic sign– Look like their signified, making the relationships between the two very straightforward and obvious eg a photograph of a person
• an indexical sign- signs where the signifier is caused by the signified, e.g., smoke signifies fire.
• a symbolic sign– A symbol is a mark, sign or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. … Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and beliefs, eg. red octagon means stop.
• Code– a system of words , letters or symbols used to represented others.
• Dominant Signifier, the concept that a signifier refers symbolic (arbitrary) signs.
• Anchorage– Anchorage is when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the amount of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily.
• Ideology– An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture or society about how that society should function.
• Paradigm– a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitutes legitimate contributions to a field.
• Syntagm– where signs occur in sequence or parallel and operate together to create meaning.For example, the letters in a word have syntagmatic relationship with one another,
• Denotation– Denotation is the first level of analysis: what the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal, and avoids being a metaphor.
• Connotation-an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
• myth-A story that is believed but had no evidence of truth
• A radical text-texts that challenge the dominant ideology
• A reactionary text– that supports the dominant ideology

1. Roland Barthes – was a french theorist, semiotician, philosopher and critic who wrote a book on mythologies. Which was a collection of essays taken from Les Lettres nouvelles, examining the tendency of contemporary social value systems to create modern myths.
2. C. S. Peirce – Charles was an American philosopher, mathematician, and a scientist who was also known as “the father of pragmatism”. He was educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for thirty years. Pierce’s theory of signs is known to be one of the most complex semiotic theories due to its extensive claim. Anything is a sign—not absolutely as itself, but instead in some relation or other. It defines three roles encompassing (1) the sign, (2) the sign’s subject matter, and (3) the sign’s meaning or consequence as formed into a kind of effect called its interpretant.
3. Ferdinand de Saussure – Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist and semiotician. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics, and semiology in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the founders of 20th-century linguistics and one of two major founders of semiotics/semiology.
4. Semiotics – The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.
5. Sign – A gesture, an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else .
6. Signifier –  A sign’s physical form (such as a sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning.
7. Signified – The meaning or idea expressed by a sign, as distinct from the physical form in which it is expressed.
8. an iconic sign –  Is a direct connection to an object e.g. it looks or sounds like the object.
9. an indexical sign –  Is which has an indirect link to its’ object e.g. the word “rose” makes you think of flowers.
10. a symbolic sign –  Is which has a random link based on a shared knowledge or an agreement, e.g. letters, shapes, colours, sound effects, facial expressions.
11. Code – A system of words, letters, figures, or symbols used to represent another meaning.
12. Dominant Signifier – The main sign
13. Anchorage – Anchorage is when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the amount of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily. for instance, in a newspaper, pictures are accompanied by a caption that allows us to understand what the picture is showing us
14. Paradigm –  a collection of signs/ things
15. Syntagm –  A sign within a sequence, changing it’s meaning
16. Signifcation – The representation of a meaning.
17. Denotation –  The primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests. (Bathes)
18. Connotation – A certain meaning of a sign.
19. Myth – A story that is believed but had no evidence of truthDominant Ideology, 
20. Radical text – texts which challenge the dominant ideology or myths which can be referred to as ‘radical’.
21. Dominant Ideology – An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture or society about how that society should function. Dominant ideologies.
22. A reactionary text – the opposite of radical text supports Dominant ideas

M

I have started my front cover by planning how Id create the cover. I created this all from hand drawing. Through my creative skills, I wanted to use them to design a colorful and eye-catching piece of work. I decided to draw Game of Thrones, as it would interest the older generation, as it is a very popular tv series at the moment. I would say it relates to gaming due to the title “Game of Thrones”. Furthermore, they have made Game of Thrones XBOX games for people to play. I think this was I good idea to put on my poster, as this PlayStation game is quite thrilling and exciting for many people. Also, having the dark colors can give a sense of evilness and spookiness, which can intrigue people who have an interest in eerie games. However, with having the dull colors from the drawing of the night king, it could possibly give an idea that the game is quite boring, yet it depends on how people view things.

I have also decided to draw the PlayStation game Avatar. In my opinion, this was a good idea as the characters have unique colors and features, therefore having the characters displayed on the front cover of a gaming magazine can be really outstanding and attractive. With the bold, bright colors of the blue and purple, it gives off a tranquil atmosphere.

I think the contrast of the grey, dark colors and the bright blue colors make the magazine front cover more interesting to look at, as the front cover page isn’t just full of bright colors, there is various colors of bright and dark.

I would say the Game of Thornes game is aimed towards adults, due to the graphics of the game and the fighting involved. However, on the other hand, for the Avatar game, I would say that it is more aimed towards the younger generation, as it is more fanciful and pg.

In my opinion, I think that the strongest areas of my magazine front cover is the Avatar drawing. I feel that it stands out the most, with its bright mix of blue and purple colors. Due to the characters in the Avatar game looking unique and bizarre (aliens) I would think that this would fascinate people and intrigue them into purchasing the magazine, as they may want to know more about it.

I have chosen to write words that best describe the games, e.g. for the Game of Thornes game, I have written ‘rivalry’ ‘powerful’ ‘medieval’ etc. This advertises the game being deadly and violent. On the other hand, for the game Avatar, I have written a description besides the picture, and I have enhanced the main words, such as ‘hero’ ‘epic’ and ‘beyond imagination’. This gives the reader an idea about what the game is, and how it is a very imaginative game full of fantasies.