Overview

In this post I will look at some of the conventions and key terminology associated with moving image. It would be useful to look at this post together with my post on Narrative. In this post moving image refers to Film, TV, adverts, animations, installations and other moving image products.

Moving Image Conventions

Different MEDIA FORMS have different MEDIA LANGUAGES as an introduction it is worth looking overall at what constitutes the LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE – in other words, key terminology – which also suggests that there is a GRAMMAR or CONVENTION or set of rules

The following recognised conventions should help students to deconstruct key moving image media texts and will also help students to create their own moving image products, working within or against these conventions. Remember the key is to know what the rules are before trying to break them. It is also worth pointing out that when students make their own products, they often struggle with aesthetic concepts of SPACE, SIZE and SCALE and I have another post which looks at this in more detail.

As alluded to, when looking at moving image products, it is useful to make a link to NARRATIVE THEORY as most often the key ideas, codes and conventions that are put to use for moving image products, are usually put together to serve ideas around NARRATIVE. For example, character, theme, motivation, empathy, ideology and so on.

The first and most distinctive tool of a moving image product is the camera. The camera is used to create images and although I write about photography and a more detailed use of the camera in another post, I would just like to re-cap some of the key features of the camera in terms of creating a moving image product.